* ECOART PERFORMANCE SERIES *
> ecoartspace >
All lectures will be held
on Saturday's at 4:00pm
at art center college of design
in the 'the wind tunnel' exhibition hall
> September 18th > * Kathryn Miller *
NATURE
VS PAVEMENT
As thick brush strokes of asphalt, concrete and buildings complete the seminal
artwork we have created to live in, the question remains--What happens to Nature
as we know it?
Kathryn Miller's work is based on an interest in the natural environment and
the desire to look more closely at life supporting systems. In recent projects
she has used various methods to intervene with degraded and compromised areas
of the landscape in order to restore local wildlife, create more self-sustaining
plant communities and clean up contaminated water. Miller holds a BS and MA
in biology and a MFA in sculpture and is Professor of Art at Pitzer College
in Claremont, California. / www.greenmuseum.org
> September 25th > * Doug Buis *
POUCH
COVE ARCHIVES
Pouch Cove Archives, outlines events which took place in 1968 and 1973, during
the German artist Furter Verein's first visit to Newfoundland, Canada. During
his treks, Verein became obsessed with icebergs, trying to prove that they were
created in the vortex of a climactic anomaly created by the confluence of the
Gulfstream and the Arctic Current.
Doug Buis has developed his own language of sculpture while building inventive
and topical contraptions that seize on social, environmental, and technological
issues. Buis emancipates sculpture from a purely aesthetic paradigm to highlight
the very real concerns of North Americans, undergoing rapid technological and
environmental change. Canadian born Buis earned an MFA at York University in
Toronto, Canada. He currently teaches sculpture at California State University,
Long Beach. / www.sculpture.org
> October 2nd > * Ruth Wallen *
WHOSE
HOME FOR SALE?
Southern California real estate development and marketing practices ignore local
biological, historical, and cultural legacies while invoking idealized fantasies
of the good life. Ruth Wallen is dedicated to encouraging dialogue about ecological
issues in her multilayered installations, performances and artists books. Public
installations include two interactive "nature walks" at the San Bernardino
Children's Forest and Tijuana River Estuary. Wallen holds an MFA in Visual
Arts and a BA with Distinction in Environmental Science. She is core faculty
in the MFA program in interdisciplinary arts at Goddard College and a lecturer
at the University of California, San Diego. / http://communication.ucsd.edu/rwallen
<NO LECTURE on October 9th>
> October 16th > SUSAN LEIBOVITZ STEINMAN
THE
ART OF APPLES: RETURN, RELINQUISH, REPLENISH
Not “as American as apple pie,” apples are immigrants and clones—perfect
for seeding ideas on biodiversity, soil depletion vs. replenishment, the absurdity
of pesticides, and the importance of wild plants. California USA artist Susan
Leibovitz Steinman combines discarded human objects with healthy plant-life
to create large scale participatory public artworks that integrate art, ecology,
and community activism. Born in Texas USA, she holds a Master of Fine
Arts in Sculpture with High Distinction from California College of Art, and
is editor/coproducer of WEAD--Women Environmental Artists Directory. In 2003
she was artist in residence with the National Park Service. / http://www.steinmanstudio.com
>
Saturday, October 16th at 5PM > * PANEL DISCUSSION *
TEACHART "Blackboard Lectures and other strategies for environmental art"
Rudolph Steiner believed that his blackboards were not merely illustrations,
but a necessary part of the process of awareness: "This is not just a question
of understanding things in one's head in order to express them in words, but
a comprehensive and total experience." Joseph Beuys’ public discussions—lectures
on politics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and social relations that often served
as catalysts for other work—exemplifed his role as artist, teacher, and
activist. Artists Kathryn Miller, Doug Buis, Ruth Wallen and Susan Leibovitz
Steinman join together with special guests (TBA) in a panel discussion to explore
the potential for artists to "TEACHART" through story-telling and
idea sharing via performative lectures when addressing aesthetics and ecology.
Lecture series organizer, Patricia Watts, founder and curator of www.ecoartspace.org,
will be the moderator.
* a complete calendar of events for the gardenLAb experiment in the wind tunnel can be found here here *
Ecoartspace is a non-profit organization supporting artists who create works that raise environmental awareness and inspire visions of a sustainable relationship between humans and the natural world. Our activities include curating exhibitions, working with schools and children on art and ecology based curriculum and serving as an information and consulting resource for artists, museums, educators and others who seek to address ecological issues creatively in their work.
ecoartspace is actively involved with an international community of artists, curators, writers and theorists who are working to find ways to creatively solve ecological problems. Our philosophy embodies a broader concept of art in its relationship to the world and seeks to connect human beings into larger ecological systems.
By breaking out of the traditional confines of what is considered art and engaging in real world issues - ecoartists are allowing their art to have a function. They are reaching out across disciplines and helping to bridge the gap between art and life by raising awareness and appreciation for our natural resources. By giving aesthetic form to restored natural areas and urban sites, they are engaging in a collaborative process with nature, practicing a socially relevant art. Ecoartists challenge perceptions using metaphor, poetry, symbols, images and narrative to translate ideas. They can see broad patterns that others may overlook. By implementing a participatory structure with the diverse people that make up communities, -politicians, urban planners, architects, scientists, educators and stakeholders- these artists are pointing the way towards a new paradigm of environmental consciousness and sensitivity.
ecoartspace is working to build public awareness about these innovative and inventive artist solutions taking place all over the world. We seek to develop relationships with institutions or individuals that share our vision and who are interested in developing a similar program and/or curriculum in their own communities.
> bio >
tricia watts is a 90's pioneer in reinventing a movement which started in the 1960's, known as earth art. Watts has been curating art exhibitions outdoors in nature since 1998 and has specialized in ecoart since 1994. She has worked part-time for the last two years as the education coordinator for the Topanga Creek Watershed Committee writing curriculum and working alongside community members, biologists and volunteers to implement a sustainable hands-on restoration project. Watts sees the ecoart movement as a paradigm shift in how we define what is art. She believes that we are in a period where art and science are merging with one another, expanding our ways of seeing.
Watts has participated on several ecoart panels including: "Envisioning the Future: Art, Science and Technology," at Cal Poly Pomona; "Cross-Pollination: Art, Culture and Community," at the Los Angeles Arboretum; "Post Landscape: Art and Ecology," at Pomona College Museum of Art; "Grassroots: Art in the Environment," for Art Culture Nature at Northern Arizona University; "Taking Nature Seriously: Artist as Visionary," at the University of Oregon; and "Positive Activism: A New Approach to Saving Our Water," for the California Water and Waterways conference at the University of Irvine.
She is currently working on a large group show for the Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding, California titled "Bug-Eyed: Art, Culture, Insects." 6 August 2004 - 27 March 2005. Watts curated Escondido Phoenix, an outdoor artists-in-residency program in Malibu, June 1999, which included 10 Los Angeles artists; and "Art and Nature" at Rico Gallery, Santa Monica, in January 1998, which included installations by Nils-Udo of Germany and the Nine Mile Run Greenway Reclamation Project in Pittsburgh. She wrote an art and science curriculum for the exhibition "By Nature's Design," which was distributed to over 80 teachers in Carlsbad, California. Watts holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri; and an M.A. in Museum Studies/Exhibition Design from California State University, Fullerton.
@ links @
Ruth Wallen
http://communication.ucsd.edu/rwallen/
Susan Steinman
http://www.steinmanstudio.com/
Kathryn Miller
http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/millerk/
http://www.greenmuseum.org/content/artist_index/artist_id-3.html
Doug Buis
http://www.freewaves.org/festival_2002/artists/buis_d.htm
http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag00/march00/buis/buis.htm