A comet once blazed across the night sky, but in the hands of Michael Tomb and Marcia Zach, its trail is reborn in green—woven from leaves, fruit, and the delicate breath of a garden’s afternoon.

Comet Toma Verde is no ordinary photograph. It is a moment captured between the cosmic and the organic, where the fleeting majesty of Comet Neowise is reimagined not through lenses aimed at the stars, but through the living materials of Earth itself. In this ephemeral “organic collage,” showcased as part of the 2nd Annual The Sky Above 2025 international exhibition, the artists have crafted a celestial homage from the textures and colors of their own backyard harvest—hosta leaves, tomatillo, ground cherries, blossoms, and handpicked herbs forming a vibrant sky rich with movement, memory, and meaning.

At the heart of the composition lies a glowing green tomatillo—a stand-in for the comet’s core—trailing a vivid stream of slender pods that arc across a sky layered in deep blue and green foliage. Golden ground cherries punctuate the scene like distant stars, while reddish clay discs below evoke scorched planets or the dry terrain of an imagined Martian plain. The artists’ eye for balance and rhythm is profound: every shape and curve contributes to a sense of celestial choreography, even as the materials whisper of earthbound origins.

This is the gift of Tomb and Zach’s work—the ability to bridge two worlds. Their “organic collage” method is a radical practice of sustainability and imagination, built from their deep engagement with urban gardening, seed saving, and seasonal growth. The compositions they assemble last only a few hours at most, existing physically for a single breath of time before they wilt and dissolve. What remains is the photograph—part document, part dream. A trace of what was, and what could be.

In Comet Toma Verde, that trace becomes a meditation on the impermanence of beauty and the interconnectedness of all things—from stardust to seedpod. The artists’ choice to work en plein air, directly in their garden studio, reflects a devotion to process and presence. As caretakers of both plants and images, Tomb and Zach cultivate not just art, but ethos: one rooted in attention, reverence, and sustainability.

Their artistic voice is not loud, but it is undeniable. Their photographs have graced seed catalogs and municipal campaigns, been featured in exhibitions centered on climate change and Ecotopia, and captured the attention of national media like CBS Sunday Morning. But at its core, their work remains deeply personal—an ongoing performance of life lived in creative collaboration, shaped by the rhythms of growth, decay, and rediscovery.

The Sky Above exhibition calls artists to reflect on the heavens. Michael and Marcia respond not with telescope or software, but with soil and sunlight. Their vision is one of wonder grounded in care—an invitation to see the cosmos in the garden, the future in a leaf, and the extraordinary in what we grow with our own hands.

To follow their ongoing journey through garden-grown imagination and celestial storytelling, you can explore more of their work on their official website, discover behind-the-scenes glimpses and current creations on Instagram, or view their artist portfolio on Biafarin.