It is essential that her medium is ceramic, she says, “as calcium carbonate happens to be both a glaze ingredient and the compound precipitated by corals to sculpt their stony structures.” Her enormous and intricate ceramic sculptural works are inspired by the beauty and fragility of marine life in response to human-caused threats. “Not only does the chemical makeup of my work parallel that of a natural reef, but porcelain tentacles and the bodies of living corals share a sense of fragility that compels observers to look but not touch.” Courtney lives and works in Los Angeles but you can jump in from wherever you are and see her work here.