Educators TOOLBOX
Art & Ecology


Art & Ecology:

Perspectives and Issues



Introduction

by Don Krug

"Being an artist is a lifestyle issue.... Art that touches human experiences touches us all."
- Claudine Brown, 1997




Perspectives about art and ecological issues are fluid and dynamic. Physical, semantic, and cultural environments influence how we see and understand who we are in relation to where we live. Different artists have different worldviews for interpreting the artistic and contextual conditions of a particular community situation. Some contemporary ecological artists, such as Ann Hamilton, Rick Lowe, and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, are involved in democratic processes which question conventional viewpoints about art and life. Some artists, like Lynne Hull, Barbara Westfall, and Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison, believe it is the responsibility of all people, including artists and educators, to help bridge a chasm that separates practice from theory and nature from culture. There are probably as many different ecological art perspectives as there are different artists, teachers, researchers, and students. A persons perspective about art and ecology influences how they understand their place in the world.

Contemporary ecological art is a form of new genre public art that explores new lifestyles based on social, ecological, and educational terrain. The artists are doing cultural work, through art, in relation to the systemic characteristics of human, plant, and animal interactions within particular geographic locations. Mary Jane Jacobs (1995) writes in Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, "It is not art for public spaces but art addressing public issues." (p. 54) Contemporary ecological artists are working collaboratively with oceanographers, civil engineers, business professionals, educators, journalists, and others to create art work that addresses community issues and that helps to heal fragile places. Their art is often designed to restore healthy conditions by fostering socio-ecological and political-economic change. At the conceptual core of most contemporary ecological art are interdisciplinary ideas about:

In addition, ecological artists frequently explore concepts of location, material, time, and change. These concepts provide a framework for exploring ecological art and relating it to other subject areas.








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