Since 2021, Dr. Guertin and Betsy Wilkening have been masterfully blending fiber art with critical scientific topics like global warming, climate change, and environmental threats, all while offering potential solutions. In 2024, Dr. Decker proposed an innovative expansion: a multimodal ekphrastic project that pairs powerful poetry with evocative art.

 

This book is the stunning result. You'll find a diverse array of artwork—from exquisite fiber art quilts to compelling drawings, paintings, and even museum pieces—each carefully selected to illuminate the theme of "making the unseen, seen" and to forge a powerful connection between science and art through the medium of poetry.

 

We strongly encourage you to delve into the Artist/Scientist Statements at the back of the book. These illuminating insights provide brief, accessible explanations that enhance the thoughtful poems, making complex scientific topics relatable and engaging for everyone.

 

It has been a true joy to bring this project to life. We hope you'll return to these pages again and again, discovering new layers of meaning with each reading.

 

Contributors to this book include: Donald Beagle, Emily Bilman, Joyce Brinkman, Sarah-Beth Bradley, Megan Brown, Emma M. Burkett, Samantha Carr, Joan Ellen Casey, Loralee Clark, Tricia Coulson, Marcela Bianchessi da Cunha-Santino, Dr. Kathleen P. Decker, Zoey Dudding, Jae Dyche, Christie King Eckardt , Kerry Faraone, Catalina Florina Florescu, Anna Isabella Fratarcangelo, Chapman Hood Frazier, Dennis Owen Frohlich, Gail Giewont, Dr. Michale Glennon, Marjorie Gowdy, Jody Gruendel, Dr. Laura Guertin, Cathy Hailey, Lauren Haygood, Kate Hedstrom, Wayne David Hubbard, Mark Hudson, Piper Jameson, Robert J. Keeler, Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Barbara Martina Linde, Sally Harcum Maxwell, Greg McNamara, Susan Copley Novack, Holly Panzera, Sarah Parker, Tessa Peixoto, Suzanne Underwood Rhodes, Lynne Schreiber, Mattie Quesenberry Smith, Ron Smith, Alica Swain, Johannes Vermeer, Betsy Wilkening, Diana Woodcock, Nicole Zwolinski.

A Cry From the Heart
 
Outrageous is the summary of a twenty plus year crusade to bring accountability to three mass shootings. Cariens is no Don Quixote, but a voice—a clear one—calling on public officials to honestly come to grips with what happened and learn from it so that these tragedies become less likely. 
Martin Petersen, author of City of Lost Souls
 
Despite its humble tone, Outrageous ranks among the most important books of the twenty-first century. It is a page-turner written by an insider with passion and factual accuracy. It witnesses the role of power in the United States, not only in mass shootings, but in ways that have infected the judiciary and have overturned right and wrong. The reader is spellbound by true stories that seem incredible, and heights of evil that seem scarcely possible. In a world partially overrun by narcissists, concealers, prevaricators, and all manner of wolves in sheep’s clothing, Cariens speaks to the good at heart, and goes straight to the issue of those reeling from the impact of tragically spilled blood followed by swift and ruthless cover ups. Amid profound moral depravity, the light of goodness prevails in Outrageous, victims’ voices are heard, and the wrongdoers --- finally --- are justly accused.
 
-Dr. Shannon Greene is the author of 24 books. She is the only person to win a law settlement, pro se, in the wake of the Virginia Beach mass shooting.