Sculptures

Public art with a message about energy saving and renewables

This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

transition-sculpturesIn Newton Abbot in United Kingdom, five tall ‘Energy sculptures’ have been up for six months now, with a sixth on its way, to highlight a debate about energy and how it is at the heart of the economic and environmental challenges facing humanity today.

A group of volunteers in a Transition Town group in Newton Abbot wanted to create something tangible and visible around the ideas of energy saving and renewable energy that would spark a discussion in their town.

Not always smooth but in the end successful, their journey to raise five three-meter tall sculptures in a number of settings in and around the town started in 2009 and turned out to be “long and interesting”, as it is described in this blog-post on the home page of the Transition Network.

The sculptures use wood from a 150 year old cedar tree that needed to come down in the district. They are adorned with symbols representing five sources of renewable energy, which are based on 35,000 year old cave paintings.

This summer, the artists plan to organise a sculpture guided walk “to show-case the town and the use of energy past and present and give food for thought.”

Press about the sculptures:

9 November 2012:
Sculptures are fanning out around town

7 November 2012:
Energy Sculptures to expand the mind!
E=X=P=A=N=D YOUR MIND on ENERGY. Strange but beautiful structures have appeared this week in and around our town. Where are they from? What do they mean?

5 November 2012:
New transition sculptures have landed in Newton Abbot
Public art in Newton Abbot highlights our relationship with energy

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.
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Green Acres: Artists Farming Fields, Greenhouses and Abandoned Lots

This post comes to you from Cultura21

September 22, 2012–January 20, 2013

Guest curated by Sue Spaid and opening September 22, 2012, Green Acres: Artists Farming Fields, Greenhouses and Abandoned Lots addresses farming as both activism and art form. Featuring a real working farm within the gallery, a farm stand in the museum lobby, sculptures used for farming, videos and other installations, as well as multiple satellite projects in the community, Green Acres presents farming as art through a wide variety of approaches.

The show is presented in five sections:

  • Farming Awareness explores how artists have alerted food consumers to the significance of food production.
  • Innovative Farming Strategies surveys artistic practices that have contributed to the development of inventive farming techniques.
  • Community Farming/Farming Communities juxtaposes “community farming”—farms organized by artists for constituents—with “farming communities”—farms implemented by artist-farmers with the public.
  • Biodiversity presents a cause important to the artist-farmer as artists have consistently considered their efforts in stark contrast to the industrial type of monoculture-farming.
  • Farming Mysticism shows artists offering blessings, rituals and other esoteric approaches that highlight emotional connections between people and the earth, as well as the historical pairing of spiritualism and farming.

Artists include: Kim Abeles, Agnes Denes, Dan Devine, Field Faring, Futurefarmers, Anya Gallaccio, Avital Geva, Lonnie Graham, Harrison Studio, Mei Ling Hom, Homeadow Song Farm, Patricia Johanson, Sakarin Krue-On, J. J. McCracken, Matthew Moore, N55, Permaganic Eco Garden, Mara Adamitz Scrupe, Mara Scrupe, Bonnie Ora Sherk, Åsa Sonjasdotter, Susan Leibovitz Steinman, Tatfoo Tan, Shannon Young

You can find more information at http://contemporaryartscenter.org/

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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H20 – Preview: Ruth Wallen

This post comes to you from Green Public Art

On May 6, 2011, H20: The Art of Conservation, at the Water Conservation Garden, San Diego, CA, will open to the public. Green Public Art reviewed over 1100 artists portfolios before inviting 14 San Diego artists to participate in the exhibition which offers San Diego homeowners an artistic alternative to incorporate water conservation into their own garden spaces. Green Public Art awarded each artist a mini-grant to develop their site-specific sculptures. In the weeks leading up to the exhibition opening the artist’s concepts will be revealed on this site. Questions? Contact Rebecca Ansert, Curator, Green Public Art at rebecca@greenpublicart.com.

Wallen.Ruth Wallen.Ruth

CONCEPT: Dew Harvesters. San Diego receives less than ten inches of rain a year, with almost no precipitation falling between May and October, but yet many native plants stay green throughout the summer.  This project provides sculptures to harvest dew and/or fog, demonstrating the way that local plants survive during the summer months.  Dew harvesting was practiced in antiquity and is again being explored as populations grow, climates change, and water becomes increasingly scarce. Actual dew harvesters would generally be much larger than the proposed sculptures.  While these sculptures are functional, harvesting a small amount of potable water that could be used to water a garden, they are also meant to raise awareness about the local ecology and the need to regard water as a precious resource.

ABOUT: Ruth Wallen is a multi-media artist whose work is dedicated to encouraging dialogue about ecological and social issues. She has created outdoor interactive “nature walks” at Carmel Mountain, the San Bernardino Children’s Forest and Tijuana River Estuary, and has participated in group exhibitions at the Long Beach Museum of Art and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado. She is a founding member of the multiethnic/national collaborative artist group Las Comadres.  Her work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Light Work, New York. and the Atheneum San Diego. She has published critical essays in journals including LEONARDO, Exposure, High Performance, The Communication Review, and Women’s Studies, as well as two anthologies, With Other Eyes: Race, Gender, and Visual Culture and Blaze: Discourse on Art, Women and Feminism.  She is core faculty in the interdisciplinary arts MFA program at Goddard College, a lecturer at the University of California, San Diego and was a Fulbright lecturer at the Autonomous University of Baja California, Tijuana.  She received her BA from Swarthmore College and her MFA from the University of California, San Diego.

Rebecca Ansert, founder of Green Public Art, is an art consultant who specializes in artist solicitation, artist selection, and public art project management for both private and public agencies. She is a graduate of the master’s degree program in Public Art Studies at the University of Southern California and has a unique interest in how art can demonstrate green processes or utilize green design theories and techniques in LEED certified buildings.

Green Public Art is a Los Angeles-based consultancy that was founded in 2009 in an effort to advance the conversation of public art’s role in green building. The consultancy specializes in public art project development and management, artist solicitation and selection, creative community involvement and knowledge of LEED building requirements. Green Public Art also works with emerging and mid-career studio artists to demystify the public art process. The consultancy acts as a resource for artists to receive one-on-one consultation before, during, and after applying for a public art project.

Go to Green Public Art

H20 – Preview: Dia Bassett

This post comes to you from Green Public Art

On May 6, 2011, H20: The Art of Conservation, at the Water Conservation Garden, San Diego, CA, will open to the public. Green Public Art reviewed over 1100 artists portfolios before inviting 14 San Diego artists to participate in the exhibition which offers San Diego homeowners an artistic alternative to incorporate water conservation into their own garden spaces. Green Public Art awarded each artist a mini-grant to develop their site-specific sculptures. In the weeks leading up to the exhibition opening the artist’s concepts will be revealed on this site. Questions? Contact Rebecca Ansert, Curator, Green Public Art at rebecca@greenpublicart.com.

Bassett.Dia Bassett.Dia Bassett.Dia

CONCEPT: My sculpture will mimic the flow and reflective qualities of water. By recycling plastic bags to build my structure, I urge others to consider our uses of man-made materials, especially that of plastic which takes 10-20 years to decompose. People do not recycle their plastics consistently, possibly because of the confusion of which kinds are recyclable. Here, I do not wish to mandate how we should consume products, but only to question how we consume them and to what degree we are dependent on them.  My sculpture will cover the rock layout on the east side of the Cactus and Succulent Garden with my crocheted plastic form.  The design will split off after 144 inches, as does the rock formation and continue to the end of this formation, 164 inches further.  The piece will be 48 inches wide, covering all the rocks laying on the ground, and will be anchored down with rocks as well as ground stakes

ABOUT: Dia Bassett was born and raised in San Diego, California.  She is a Masters of the Fine Arts candidate at San Diego State University.  She received her B.A. from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2003.  In 2001, she began an eight-month stay in Florence, Italy to study sculpture, archeological conservation, and Italian.  She has a background in theatre, which led to her participation in the Eveoke Dance Theatre Performing Group from 2004-2005.  Most recently, she has exhibited works at UCSD in the Hyperlocal Identities exhibition. In June 2010, Dia traveled to London using the Isabel Kraft Sculpture Scholarship, in order to participate in an Oxford workshop with Lucy Brown and to research textile and art collections at various institutions such as the Tate Museums, The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal College of Art, and the Saatchi Gallery.

Rebecca Ansert, founder of Green Public Art, is an art consultant who specializes in artist solicitation, artist selection, and public art project management for both private and public agencies. She is a graduate of the master’s degree program in Public Art Studies at the University of Southern California and has a unique interest in how art can demonstrate green processes or utilize green design theories and techniques in LEED certified buildings.

Green Public Art is a Los Angeles-based consultancy that was founded in 2009 in an effort to advance the conversation of public art’s role in green building. The consultancy specializes in public art project development and management, artist solicitation and selection, creative community involvement and knowledge of LEED building requirements. Green Public Art also works with emerging and mid-career studio artists to demystify the public art process. The consultancy acts as a resource for artists to receive one-on-one consultation before, during, and after applying for a public art project.

Go to Green Public Art

TPS REPORTS: PERFORMANCE DOCUMENTS

About the Exhibition:

TPS Reports: Performance Documents is an exhibition of the “stuff” that results from performances: detritus, photographs, drawings, sculptures, videos, etc.  We are not interested in the documentation of the performance itself, just the results. We are mostly looking for the items that were made as the primary goal of the performance.

About The Theme:

How does this stuff live on after the performance? Is it possible or necessary to understand the performance based on what is created through it?

Eligibility:

Open to all artists worldwide.  Work is limited in size to no more than 1x1x1 meter.

How to Submit Your Work:

Please submit the following items in one email to tpsreports@spacecampgallery.com

  • Up to 5 artworks
    • You may include up to 3 views of detailed or 3D work)
    • JPG or PDF for non-moving work
    • MP4, WMA, or Quicktime for video or other time based work
  • Artist Statement about the work
  • Artist Biography, 3rd person
  • Artist Resume or CV
  • Image List including size, media, date, and sale price (if for sale)
  • List of special instructions/requirements for installation
    • Please include your name in each file title (i.e. Jane Doe, Resume.doc)
    • Messages are limited to 25MB
    • Links are acceptable for large video files
    • All documents must be in either Word or PDF format.
    • Any accepted work may be used in promotional materials such as show cards or on the website.

      Review and Selection:

      Work will be reviewed by the curator. Artists will be contacted by November 15, 2010 and informed what works are selected for the exhibition.  Work will be due to the gallery by January 15, 2011.

      Costs:

      There is no submission fee to enter or participate, but artists are responsible for shipping both directions. Artists will receive 70% of the sale price for anything sold during the show.

      Dates to Remember:

      • Submissions due: October 5, 2010
      • Artists informed of artwork selected for exhibition by: November 15, 2010
      • Work received by gallery: January 15, 2011
      • Exhibition: February 2011
      • Opening Reception: First Friday February 4, 2011
      • Artwork returned: End of February

      About the Location:

      SpaceCamp MicroGallery is a small contemporary arts gallery located in the Murphy Arts Building in Indianapolis, Indiana. SpaceCamp is dedicated to bringing small (size wise) but large (idea wise) national and international art to Indianapolis. The co-gallerists are Flounder Lee, Paul Miller, and Kurt Nettleton. http://www.spacecampgallery.com 

      The Murphy is a collection of galleries, studios, and restaurants. It is also the temporary home of the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. The Murphy and SpaceCamp are located in the Fountain Square Arts District near Downtown Indianapolis. 

      About the Curator:

      Flounder Lee is an artist/curator/educator living in Indianapolis, Indiana. He has curated several recent shows such as Double Vision: A Dual Channel Video Festival and One Performative Night. He is an Assistant Professor of Photography at Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI. He received his BFA from the University of Florida and his MFA from California State University Long Beach.

      Inhabitat » GREEN RANT: Lame Eco-Art

      1. Rock Stackers. Your skills are amazing. You can stack rocks higher and prettier than I ever could. You’re even kinda like Andy Goldsworthy, yes, of course. And I’m sure the process is amazing for you, and that the stones talk to you, and you get that beautiful in-tune-with-nature hum.  But I’ve see so many rock stacks at this point they blur together. My eyes glaze over.

      2. Tr-art. This is a combination of terms: “trite trash art.” Thank you for rescuing all of those bottle caps, six pack rings, and other crap from the landfill. Thanks for making them into portraits, blankets, sculptures and people. Trash is now a viable medium. But you are not always making eco-art:  sometimes you just happen to make art with trash. Conversely: just because you made it with trash doesn’t mean it is powerful art.

      3. Statistic-a-thon. Recycling one can saves enough power to watch 6 episodes of Law and Order. At this rate all of our children will be dead in 20 years. We need 16 more planets if we want to keep watching Comedy Central. Etcetera, etcetera.  I am so inundated with guilt-soaked statistics. Stop finding new ways to slap me in the face with them. If it’s powerful to you then help me understand why. See: Chris Jordan, who does an excellent job of making numbers real.

      4. Eco-Snobbery. As a recovering eco-snob myself, I understand how hard it is to stop calling everyone out on their perpetual green sins. It sucks. There are to-go containers everywhere, and everyone drives, and not everyone composts, and what the hell?!?! The icebergs, people! The icebergs! But just because you make eco-art does not mean you have license to aggrandize. We’re a population of pots and kettles. Don’t mistake your good work for a kind of personal superiority. This is true of green culture in general, but it’s especially apparent in accusatory or guilt-trippy art.

      via Inhabitat » GREEN RANT: Lame Eco-Art .

      Earth Matters On Stage: Process

      It’s easy to get all cranial on the whole planet/culture relationship. It is, in fact, kind of scary not to.  Start learning with your body and not your brain, and well, that’s a one-way ticket to . . . this conference. Hem. Earth Matters On Stage. On the stage, bucko, not just in your brain. You better get moving.

      For the first weekend here I was a part of the Art Culture Nature Working Group. Ten fellows were selected to lead half-hour workshops exploring the relationship between our craft and our planet. We were essentially encouraged to use the group as a brain trust– but more often than not, we relied on our bodies.

      As a group, we moved. We formed sculptures about place, we followed impulses and rolled around on the grass. We took pictures of our surroundings, we worked with soil. All of this wildness took place under the guidance of the workshop leader (and the extreme limitations of time). We looked very silly sometimes, but learned a lot about process and structure.

      Later in the week came a workshop about labyrinths, led by Paul Bindel and Justin Simms. I learned that labyrinths are used most commonly not in pursuit of bullheaded monsters, or for escaping Jack Nicholson, but as meditative tools.

      There are labyrinths everywhere: 60 listed in Massachusetts alone. Their curling series of lines gives visitors a form in which to get lost, to walk through while their minds drift.  It’s a way to pay penance, to build serenity. It’s a task for your body that lets your brain go. Just follow the lines.

      As a group we went out to a grove nearby the University of Oregon and built a labyrinth with wood gathered nearby. When it was done– spiraling sticky-sticks winding paths through the tiny trees– we each walked it. You could hear branches cracking and flutes playing and folks chatting as you wove your way around and around and around.  A great task for the body, a great chance to digest all the conference info and just go, go, go.

      Go to the Green Museum

      When trash is art: “I view the garbage on the streets as sculptures” | green LA girl

      When trash is art: “I view the garbage on the streets as sculptures”

      posted by siel in art/lit/music, environment monday january 12, 2009 at 2:32 pm

      Trash can inspire eco-art — as evidenced by etsyTrashion and many artists who use trash as their medium — but apparently, trash can be art in itself. In New York City alone, there’s not just one, but two photoblogs inspired by urban trash-as-art

      via When trash is art: “I view the garbage on the streets as sculptures” | green LA girl.