Everest Orlikowski’s “Altered Interactions” - 2025 Winner

Everest Orlikowski’s “Altered Interactions” 
Alternative/New Media: Fabric, thread, and batting 
Cross Plains, WI 

This quilt depicts the altered interactions between Great Lake fish species and their surrounding environment due to climate change. Three main ecological concepts are present in this quilt: northward range shifts, changes in the strength and duration of lake stratification, and the temperature-oxygen squeeze experienced by cold water fish. Cold and cool water fish are shifting their ranges north to continue living in their optimal water temperature while warm water fish are expanding into waters they previously were unable to occupy due to warming temperatures. The expansion of warm water fish is disrupting the ecosystem as they outcompete fish in areas they are not native. The two smallmouth bass in Altered Interactions represent warm water fish outcompeting the native cool water fish, represented by the walleye. Increased strength and duration of stratification is represented by the layered blue background. The lake trout at the bottom of the quilt portrays the temperature-oxygen squeeze. The temperature-oxygen squeeze occurs when the habitat for cold water fish is limited both from the top due to non-optimal temperatures and from the bottom when there are hypoxic or anoxic conditions in the hypolimnion. These hypoxic or anoxic conditions are caused by the combination of prolonged stratification (due to climate change) and dead harmful algal blooms (also due to climate change) sinking to the bottom of the lake and consuming oxygen.