Monthly Archives: March 2014

In the Garden with Friends

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

In the Garden with Friends, with mosaics by Katy Galbraith. The Bield at Blackruthven, Blackruthven House Tibbermore PERTH, Scotland PH1 1PY. Saturday 5th – Saturday 26th April 2014, Closed Mondays

A celebration of flowers & friendship, this exhibition brings together a diverse mix of artists working in a variety of media.

Central to the exhibition is Katy Galbraith, a mosaic artist who works in primarily recycled materials. Flowers in abundance feature in much of Katy’s work, reflective of her love of her garden. But Katy’s art goes beyond the decorative, as she often employs mosaic to a more practical purpose by creating mirrors, table tops and garden sculptures and installations.

Katy has invited artistic friends who have supported and encouraged her over the last few years to participate in the exhibition. Many of the artists work in the applied arts; including stained-glass work, ceramics and, of course, mosaics. Others are photographers or painters, all with a personal connection to Katy.

Patricia Ace – Kate Anderson – Jo Cound – Allan Craig – Annette Forsyth – Lindy Furby – Sarah Honeyman – Dave Hunt – Gillian Hunt- Katharine Huggett – Jan Kilpatrick – Morag Lloyd – John Maguire – Tracy Markey – June McEwan – Helen Nock – Anna Olson – Concetta Perot – Lorna Radbourne – Lillian Sizemore – Rachel Sutherland – Norma Vondee – Ceri White

ceramics – felt – hand spinning – mosaic – painting – photography – poetry – printmaking – stained glass – textiles

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.
Go to EcoArtScotland

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PhD research programme in the Arts and Humanities

Cultura21,

This post comes to you from Cultura21

The Neue Galerie Luzern–Swiss Academic Association (NGL–SAA) together with the Planetary Collegium, University of Plymouth, UK, has created a new PhD program.

unnamed

Embedded in the quality of the educational work achieved by the Planetary Collegium, University of Plymouth, and the objective to promote knowledge of and deep engagement with all aspects of the arts, society and culture, the PhD program attracts scholars from these different fields of cultural practice:

–Curators, art educators, artists, scientists, cultural activists, cultural intermediaries, change agents, designers, and policy-makers in an international context
–Cultural workers who work as academic experts in science and governance, and related areas of philosophy, sociology, geography, cartography, policy analysis and law, as well as stakeholders from the public cultural sector or art and media institutions
–Artists and mediators who are directly involved in composing, designing, imagining, interpreting, or manipulating signs and symbols in order to create music, television programmes, films, art, clothing, graphic designs, images, and other forms of texts
–Researchers in the arts and social sciences, cultural practitioners from public, profit-oriented or non-profit cultural institutions, networks, galleries, museums and theatres, the performing arts, architecture, and educational institutions
–Researchers who are interested in the production, spatialisation and dissemination of knowledge which includes ecological, ethical as well as practical philosophical approaches to the risks and opportunities that science and technology entail.

There are currently 57 part-time M.Phil/PhD students enrolled with the Planetary Collegium and Plymouth University—34 students have received a PhD from the University of Plymouth with the Planetary Collegium since its inception in 1994. Together they constitute a community of vibrant thinkers, researchers and writers. You will start your doctoral work with the goal of engaging in a meaningful discourse with like-minded students in order to deepen your knowledge. As a doctoral candidate you will complete your degree in approximately four years. In order to support you in that progress, we help you to develop your thesis. You will be awarded the doctoral title by the University of Plymouth.

The NGL programme practices a style of research that relies on dialogue and discussion. The knowledge you bring into the PhD program will be refined in nine Composite Sessions of ten days each over three years on Mt. Rigi near Lucerne and in St. Moritz.

Advisory board
Dr. Mark Banks, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Dr. Bob Bishop, President and Founder, ICES Foundation, Geneva
Dr. Fritjof Capra, Center for Ecoliteracy, Berkeley
Stuart Hameroff, M.D., Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona
John Horgan, Center for Science Writings at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken
PD Dr. Christina Ljungberg, University of Zurich
Dr. Angela McRobbie, Goldsmiths College, University of London
Dr. Uli Sigg, Sigg Collection, Switzerland
Margaret Wertheim, Institute for Figuring, Los Angeles

Admission policy
Applicants eligible for admission to the program meet the following requirements stipulated in the Planetary Collegium’s regulations:

–mid-career artists, educators, cultural intermediaries and scientists whose work and curriculum have a distinctive, transdisciplinary inquiry-based focus
–relevant professional and research experience
–an articulate personal statement
–the ability to submit a written thesis proposal demonstrating the capability of undertaking scientific research
–excellent English language skills (written and oral)

Supervision
PD Dr. Christina Ljungberg and Dr. René Stettler conduct the three yearly Composite Sessions. They develop and administer the session programmes, the progression and welfare of the students, and the supervision as required by the University of Plymouth. Second Supervisors are appointed by the University of Plymouth.

Application, fees, and general information
www.neugalu.ch/phd_programme
Dr. Christina Ljungberg or Dr. René Stettler will be happy to have a conversation with you via Skype prior to application.

Partners
University of Plymouth, UK; Planetary Collegium, UK

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Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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SUMMER SCHOOL “LEARNING FROM THE SOUTH: TOWARDS INTERCULTURAL TRANSLATIONS”

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

CURIA, PORTUGAL, JUNE 30TH – JULY 8TH, 2014

This summer school, living up to the motto “learning from the south and with the south,”  seeks to provide clues about the possibilities of social political and institutional transformation from innovations taking place in various contexts of the global south.

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The international summer school is part of a larger political and intellectual initiative, the ALICE project. At its outset, ALICE seeks to re-think and renovate socio-scientific knowledge in light of the epistemologies of the South, proposed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos. The objective is to develop new theoretical and political paradigms of social transformation. This summer course is composed of several seminars, all of them conducted in English.

“Haunting Europe, and the Global North as a whole, there is a sentiment of intellectual and political exhaustion which translates as incapacity to confront innovatively the various challenges of justice that interpellate the world in the first decades of the twenty-first century: social, environmental, inter-generational, cultural, historical and cognitive justice. In contrast, the Global South, in its immense diversity, presents itself today as a wide field of economic, social, cultural, and political innovation.

ALICE is grounded on a wager that social, political and institutional change may largely benefit from the innovations occurring in the Global South. A demanding wager, to be sure, for it presupposes availability for mutual recognition, intercultural understanding, political and ideological convergence, respect for identity, and celebration of diversity.”

See Boaventura’s invitation.

The seminars, to be coordinated by local and international scholars, cover several topics, such as:
• the democratic diversity of the world;
• social struggles in the Global South around the democratization and colonial and post-colonial liberation;
• movements for the refoundation of the State and bottom-up re-writing of constitutions;
• alternatives to capitalist infinite accumulation and environmental degradation;
• human rights from the perspective of  intercultural dialogues and other grammars of human dignity;
• transnational legal mobilization as a strategy to promote (women’s; indigenous’; peasants’, etc.) policies and rights;
• struggles for alternatives to development, among others.

Application Instructions

The first round of applications closed on February 28th, 2014.

More information on applications, registration etc.

FAQs

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Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)

– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)

– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)

– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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Feeling Climate Change

Artists and Climate Change,

This post comes from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

Rare Tornado
RARE TORNADO | 2013
oil + charcoal on canvas | 40″ x 36″ x 1.5″
FIELD NOTES: Today there are more frequent RARE TORNADO incidents in areas of the world that are not normally hit. Tornado experts are studying whether global climate change is the cause because climate change increases levels of energy, as well as increases clashes between cold air masses and warm humid air masses. Chances are that the El Nino in 2014 will lead to a record breaking year on many weather fronts.

Danielle Nelisse is an abstract artist noted for painting large scale contemporary abstract art in oil on canvas. She also happens to be a private investigator and an immigration attorney, an unusual combination of skills and interests that gives her a unique perspective on the human condition. Her Urban Ecology | Climate Change Series was recently shown at the Encinitas Civic Center Gallery in Encinitas, California. A follow-up to her Transformative Geopolitics Series, which “was inspired by discussions in California and elsewhere about how to resolve international border issues, multiple identities, inequality, and the ways that exclusion of foreign nationals can dominate contemporary geopolitics,”

Danielle’s Climate Change Series expresses “her inner reflections about the complexities in dealing with urbanization, climate change, and natural disasters.”  Bold-colored, dynamic and complex, her work makes it impossible to intellectualize an issue we so easily (and sometimes, readily) like distance ourselves from. Instead, it invites us to deeply and courageously feel our feelings, and perhaps recognize that there is beauty even in sadness.

In addition to being an abstract painter, you are a private investigator and an immigration attorney. How do these different roles inform your work?

As a private investigator I am asked to obtain information from people in creative – but legal – ways.  As an attorney I must also gather facts about a case, apply the law, and then edit the facts down to the most relevant.  In other words, in my legal work there is a tension between facts, rules, and creativity.

As an artist, there is also a tension between structure and creativity. I express my emotions through color harmony, composition and line. Both my legal work and art work involve the same skills: creative discovery; strategic editing; thoughtful rule application; all while allowing passion and creativity.

 What was the inspiration behind your Urban Ecology | Climate Change series?

I have always felt that I have a say in my destiny and that even though I am only one person, I can make a change. My past is filled with work where I was able to champion the rights of others. The issue of climate change looms large and I am getting nervous because it does not yet seem to be considered an important global issue.

Recently I moved to a new studio in Bonita, California, which is located down by the border of Mexico in a beautiful desert area – and year round my studio is atypically warm. My clients live all over the world and provide me with firsthand accounts about their struggles with uncommon weather events, which are reinforced by media reports. Recently one of my clients was separated from her husband due to the 2013 typhoon in the Philippines. Another was waiting for weeks in the summer of 2013 for a U.S. Consulate to issue his work visa during an abnormal intense heat wave in India that resulted in continued temperatures of 110 F. I may not always be directly impacted by every weather event, but I am indirectly impacted as I experience intense emotions after observing how climate change impacts people worldwide.

Urban Oasis
URBAN OASIS | 2013
oil on canvas | 36″ x 36″ x 1.5″
FIELD NOTES: Desert cities typically record a cooler temperature than the surrounding area. Studies suggest it may be due to the URBAN OASIS effect where irrigated plants in the city help it stay cooler than the dry desert region surrounding it. Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability is studying five sub-tropical desert city region – Las Vegas, USA; Beer Sheva, Israel; Jodhpur, India; Kharga, Egypt; and Hotan/Hetian, China to measure the amount of climate change caused by urban desert cities.

What is your process? What happens between the original idea and the finished painting?

I initially set parameters for myself, such as the size of the canvas and the palette. For this series I decided upon oil paint on large scale canvas. For the most part I am not looking to paint the literal equivalent of a figure or a landscape, but in a nonrepresentational way to gradually balance formal elements such as color, light and space with psychological and conceptual issues. I alternate between gestural action painting strokes done with a large brush or piece of charcoal, and careful thick oil paint applied with a palette knife. There are many stages of editing and layering until I feel satisfied that it is balanced in composition, color and movement.

What do you think is the single most important thing artists can do to address the problem of climate change?

I think that uncertainty about climate change is causing everyone increased anxiety as our concerns accumulate over time. The situation appears to be so overwhelming and effective solutions so complex that it is easier to either avoid thinking of how to deal with it or deny climate change is happening at all. It will take massive cooperation on a global level to make changes and that sounds daunting, if not impossible. Increased discussions about our emotions and how to adapt to the new climate may reduce worry, anxiety and stress and lead to creative solutions. If artists can inspire even a single conversation about emotions caused by climate change, I believe they have made a difference.

What gives you hope?

It is very encouraging to learn about artists of all types who are expressing themselves about climate change. For a long time it felt like I was the only person concerned about it and of course that was not true. I think, just like all unpleasant issues, the more we discuss the reality of climate change and how to adapt to it, the more people will not feel so helpless or sad about the issue. I believe that heightened awareness and a sense that we are all in this together will lead people to take responsibility and stop denying there is an issue as a psychological defense mechanism. Through my art I hope to inspire creative ideas about how to cope by inducing curiosity, concern, or even skepticism – anything to keep the conversation about climate change going.

Water Vapor
WATER VAPOR | 2013
oil on canvas | 36″ x 48″ x 1.5″
FIELD NOTES: A recent study finds that WATER VAPOR is distributed at different heights in the atmosphere, causing fewer clouds to form as the climate warms. Researchers from Australia’s ARC Centre for Climate Systems Science found that 2013 levels of WATER VAPOR resulted in less clouds, which made the atmosphere far more sensitive to heat-trapping gases such as CO2.

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Aesthetics of Uncivilisation – Design Observer

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Following up on the discussions of an aesthetics of uncivilisation, prompted by the Dark Mountain Project, this essay on the photography of Sasha Bezzubov and the techniques he uses in several different series, to convey conceptual points through landscape photography.  Its worth viewing the slideshow to fully understand the point.

According to the original posting on The Design Observer, “New York photographer Sasha Bezzubov uses a variety of conceptual methods to point viewers to larger phenomena that underlie visible landscapes. His series Albedo Zone(2008) features monotone, horizonless expanses of either dark ocean water or light arctic ice. Considered individually, the photographs could fit easily into a tradition of minimalist, aesthetically refined landscapes. However, the series title pushes the work into more dangerous territory.” For more information and access to more samples from Bezzubov’s series, visit the full article here.

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.
Go to EcoArtScotland

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Luxembourg: Environmental charter used as kickstarter

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

Inspirational: This is what a cultural institution’s environmental charter looks like:

kulturfabrik-env-charter

Reposted from Culture|Futures.

In recent years, the cultural institution and concert-venue Kulturfabrik in Luxembourg has devoted itself to reflecting on sustainable development and a continuous improvement of the institution’s practices for the purpose of minimising its impact on the environment.

A place to find inspiration for your own organisation’s first Environmental Charter, maybe?

» Download Kulturfabrik’s Environmental Charter

———-

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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Call for Applications: CCANW Soil Culture Artist Residency

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Originally posted on soilarts:

soil pigments p ward 2009
DEADLINE 18 March 2014… The Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW) is delighted to invite applications for the first of its Soil Culture artist residencies. In the lead up to and coinciding with the United Nations International Year of Soils 2015 the short residencies are aimed at encouraging an exploration of the importance of soil.
Taking place across the South West of the UK the residencies will not only provide dedicated time for experimentation, research and the development of new work but also unparalleled access to facilities, expertise and working contexts.
The residencies and the touring of the resulting works are a key part of CCANW’s Soil Culture Programme, which includes a forum at Falmouth University (July 2014) and a major touring exhibition of works by established artists. CCANW will also be helping to support residencies by Paul Chaney at Kestle Barton in Helston and…

View original 453 more words

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.
Go to EcoArtScotland

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BGA 5 Year Report

Broadway Green Alliance,

This post comes to you from the Broadway Green Alliance

In June 2008, over 250 theatre professionals from every part of the community gathered for a Town Hall at the Gershwin Theatre to discuss their nascent efforts to green Broadway. At that time, there was no place to go to find out how to make better environmental decisions on what paints to use for sets, which lighting instruments were more energy-efficient, or how a production could use rechargeable batteries or focus on recycling when closing. Working with the support of Dr. Allen Hershkowitz and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), participants from that Town Hall formed a group called Broadway Goes Green, which was launched officially in November 2008 by leaders in the theatre community and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Today, as we celebrate our milestone fifth anniversary, we are known as the Broadway Green Alliance and are a thriving organization disseminating information on greening theatre from front-of-house to backstage, from Broadway to all across the country and around the world. 

The Broadway Green Alliance educates, motivates, and inspires the entire theatre community and its patrons to  implement environmentally friendlier practices.

Click here to download BGA’s 5 Year Report.

 

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The Broadway Green Alliance was founded in 2008 in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) is an ad hoc committee of The Broadway League and a fiscal program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. Along with Julie’s Bicycle in the UK, the BGA is a founding member of the International Green Theatre Alliance. The BGA has reached tens of thousands of fans through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media.

At the BGA, we recognize that it is impossible to be 100% “green” while continuing activity and – as there is no litmus test for green activity – we ask instead that our members commit to being greener and doing better each day. As climate change does not result from one large negative action, but rather from the cumulative effect of billions of small actions, progress comes from millions of us doing a bit better each day. To become a member of the Broadway Green Alliance we ask only that you commit to becoming greener, that you name a point person to be our liaison, and that you will tell us about your green-er journey.

The BGA is co-chaired by Susan Sampliner, Company Manager of the Broadway company of WICKED, and Charlie Deull, Executive Vice President at Clark Transfer. Rebekah Sale is the BGA’s full-time Coordinator.

Go to the Broadway Green Alliance

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Australia: Artist collective for ‘planetary healing’ opens exhibition

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This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

On 6 February, an art exhibition entitled ‘Oh My Gaia’ was opened as part of the St Kilda Festival in Melbourne, Australia. The aim of the exhibition is to deliver “a non-linear approach to community education, sustainability and healing through the transformative power of art.”

oh-my-gaia_artpiece

The art exhibition is produced by the an artist collective called The Planetary Healing Artists Association of Australia Inc. It is a forum for artists including visual artists, performers, writers, healers, and other creatives in the community who share ideas for a sustainable future in a creative way. The main purpose, they write on their home page, is to support an environmentally sustainable planet. The overall concept of the ‘Oh My Gaia’ art exhibition is to create “community cohesiveness for the benefit of connecting all people and life on the planet.”

At 2:30pm every first Sunday of the month, the forum holds open meetings in St Kilda West, Melbourne.

» For exhibition and festival info, see: www.stkildafestival.com.au

» Home page: www.planetaryhealingartists.blogspot.com.au/

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Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.

Go toThis post comes to you from Culture|Futures

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USA: Art exhibition about climate change, coal and superfunds

Culture Futures, , , ,

This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

In the new exhibition ‘Altered State’, which runs at the Holter Museum in Helena, Montana, until 13 April 2014, the popular American painter Monte Dolack takes a look at controversial topics such as climate change, coal, superfund sites, and the effects of extractive companies moving into Montana’s wild spaces.

returnOfLakeMissoula_590

Monte Dolack is a well-known and popular artist in Montana, and with this new exhibition, he still tries to speak to a wider audience, he told Darby Minow Smith from Grist magazine, though he is touching on a much more controversial topic than anything else he has produced over the 40 years he has been working as a visual artist.

“Some artists might fill a room with coal. It might be really cool but a lot of people might miss the message. You have to be pretty well informed about art to understand that vocabulary,” he told Minow Smith. The following is an excerpt of Darby Minow Smith’s review of the exhibition in Montana:

“Unlike the broad whimsy found in some of Dolack’s past work, most of the pieces in Altered State are simple and subtle. An antelope watches a coal train zip along the plains. In ‘Oil and Water’, a family of geese swims through the reflection of a refinery.

In a less subtle move, Dolack incorporated the fruits of Montana’s extractive industries into the collection. He used copper as a canvas; the frames are rubbed with coal. One frame of bright, jagged coal pieces nearly overwhelms the painting inside: a meandering Smith River. ‘Marriage of Convenience’ is a sculpture of a man and a woman made out of coal — Dolack’s commentary on our dependance on the dirty fuel.”

Darby Minow Smith in Grist, 3 Feb 2014

MonteDolack_SuspensionOfBel

Dolack plans to continue to touch on coal and climate change in future works, but he wants to incorporate more animals and explore an international angle.

“This work was about my own history, family, and culture,” he said. “But [regional and global issues] touch each other.” The coal on those trains is heading from Montana to China, after all.

» Monte Dolack’s home page and online gallery: www.dolack.com

Grist – 3 February 2014:
The full Monte: Beloved Montana artist makes bold statement on climate and coal
By Darby Minow Smith

The photo on top of this article is a poster reproduced from an acrylic painting portraying downtown Missoula, Montana as if Glacial Lake Missoula had returned in the present day. It can be purchased at Monte Dolack Gallery: www.dolack.com

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Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.

Go toThis post comes to you from Culture|Futures

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