Contemporary Artists Engaging the Environment Scoop.

it Resource Archive By Karen Anderson

The Scoop.it curated collection, Contemporary Environmental Artists is a collection of artists working currently to promote interaction and consideration of human relationships with the earth. At the core of all of us is a connection to the environment. There are many roadblocks in our lives to keeping us away from the natural world. Some of those road blocks are technology, urban and suburban living, and use of habitat for energy extraction and development. Currently there is a move for environmental activism within the scope of art making. The artists contained in this collection speak to this movement. I will begin with organizations formed specifically for participation by eco-artists, followed by individual artists. Some of the artists create installations literally out in nature, while others create indoors. Some of the artwork is in the form of action and collaborative involvement. Not all of the artists included in this collection create environmental art exclusively. All were selected to represent female and multicultural artists. Art and Spirit Across the Lands (2010) is a keynote address given to a conference of WEAD ( Women Envioronment Artists Directory) by artist/activist Amalia Mesa Bains reflecting on ten years after the attacks on the World Trade Towers and ensuing manmade and natural disasters affecting the relationship of man to the environment since. She calls for a healing to begin in the form of artists pursuing a conscious relationship to our local environments. Bains relates We must bring to the forefront the practices that enable artists to do social justice work. It is critical that we make linkages between the peril of the earth and the role of the artist and their practices of reflection, analysis, or activism. Her essay is one that leaves a lasting impression and gives every artist an action plan. While the WEAD site features many more accomplished female environmental artists, I chose to include artist Elizabeth Staneks (2010) Dispersal Project, before moving on to other sources to complete this collection. Stanek connects us to the environment by the representation of leaves. She uses the leaf as a symbol for people we collect in our life and how fleeting but important those relationships are. She likens the botanical term disperse with human group

interaction to show how necessary nutrients are needed to promote growth; biological processes in plants and relationships in humans. Canada, as usual, breaks new ground in their art making with the collaborative organization called No. 9. The groups mission is to bring education and public art making together to promote social activism for environmental issues. The founders believe that art can be the dialogue for cultural awareness and change. Another group that focuses environment social justice by creating sensitivity and interaction between humans and the land is The Land Foundation (2011). The Land Foundation is an involvement of many artists from all over the world in engaging humans in their food production to educate them on a direct connection to where their food originates from. Artist Rirkrit Tiravanija is an international acclaimed artist educator that is one of the founding members of this group. A group of students at the New Mexico State University is collaborating to make jewelry out of repurposed objects to donate to a Seattle fundraiser to help students in a middle school renovate their art room. Designer Eileen Fisher, who donates used clothing for the creation of the donated projects, sponsors the fundraiser. Across the world in Namibia, Africa another group of people creates art work that speaks to their historical relationship with the land. The Sans tribal group has been limited in their involvement with modern modalities. Their art making is fresh and shows the intimacy with the habitat and species they have survived in conjunction with for centuries. The individual artists were purposely picked for this collection due to their diversity in method. At the fore front of them is the underwater sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor. Taylor has created a magical underwater installation in which the art work morphs from sculptures to become habitat for ocean creatures. The remaining individual artists, Corrie Wright (Floating Land, 2009) , Francois Frechet (Francois Frechet, 2013), Jorge Pardo (Transforming place, 2013), Alice Betts (Alice Betts, 2006), Claudia Borgna( C.Borgna, 2013), Junichir ISHII (J, ISHII, 2013), Caleb Nussear (Landsat Seven, 2006), and Lynne Hull (Lynne Hull, 2013) either create exclusively outdoor installations or have created a substantial outdoor installation of note in remote locations. Please enjoy this collection as much as I have in learning how artists are involving themselves in preserving the natural environment.

References Alice Betts, (2006). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.edinburghsculpture.org/artists/alice-betts Bains, A. (2010). Art and spirit across the landscape. Womens Environmetal Artists Directory. Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://weadartists.org/art-and-spirit-across-thelandscape Birds of Brooklyn: An aural landscape. (2010). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://birdsofbrooklyn.org/about/ Borgna, C. (2013). Biography. Claudia Borgna-Keep Free. Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.claudiaborgna.keepfree.de/cb/Me.html Contemporary art and the environment. (2013). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.no9.ca/mission.php Floating Land. (2009). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.corriewright.com.au/index.php/collaboration/floating-land-2009 Francois, Frechet. (2013). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.artinnature.org/card/francois-frechet/ Gregg, E. (2013). Changing colours of the Kalahari. IOL Travel. Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.iol.co.za/travel/world/africa/changing-colours-of-the-kalahari1.1577405#.UjS-CcakpyU ISHII, J. (2013). Artist statement. Project Andini. Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://projectandini.org/home/artist-statement-junichiro-ishi/ Jason de Caires Taylor. (2013). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.underwatersculpture.com/

Landsat Seven by Caleb Nussear. (2006). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://vaudevillepark.org/events/landsat-seven-caleb-nussear Lynne Hull-Creating trans-species art and sculpture for wildlife. (2013). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://eco-art.org/ NMSU students craft green jewelry for fundraiser. (2013). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://krwg.org/post/nmsu-students-craft-green-jewelry-fundraiser Stanek, E. (2010). The dispersal project- Connecting art and botany. Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://weadartists.org/northwest-us-the-dispersal-project The Land Foundation. (2013). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.newmuseum.org/artspaces/view/the-land-foundation Transforming place,site and locality in contemporary art. (2013). Retrieved September 14, 2013, from http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/conference/transforming-place-siteand-locality-contemporary-art