Nature in Expressive Movement

In 2010 Karl Cronin from San Francisco got backing from sponsors on Kickstarter for a project in which he documents the movement patterns of plants and animals. It's facinating work and I love watching his reenactments of these movement patterns. View the Somatic Natural History Archive at naturalhistory.us and dryearth.org



You can also read more about the project at Cargo Collective, the Movement Research Blog, and a review by Cathy Fitzgerald entitled "Performance artist creates movement portraits of 10,000 plants and animals".



When looking at a project like this, I am reminded how endless the possibilities are for art or creativity to express and explore our natural world, and to educate people about the wonders of nature! 

Are you working on a project focused on appreciating, researching, archiving, expressing and/or exploring the natural environment, animals or the landscape? Share it on this blog - email your story to artlovenature@gmail.com. 

THE GUN & THE PEN by Stan Aneto

THE GUN & THE PEN – Stan Aneto 2013

My gun's got loaded 

my pen on the white paper of tears

should I be more concerned 

about animals and plants 

than humanity on a final push of extinction...?

They call me the earthman

Coined from an untamed affair with nature

an unscripted romance ordained by divinity

Long before my placenta was trimmed

it is a sacred calling to curate and caress

but should I be more concerned

about plants and animals

than humanity on a final push of extinction...?

The mind of poetry is insatiable

Bottomless like the pit of hell

Cos the issues on my table are endless

I am much worried about the shedding of blood

As I am worried about frequent flood

I am much worried about genocide

As I am worried about ecocide

I am much worried about nuclear warning

As I am worried about global warming

I am as much worried about mindless shelling

As I am worried about senseless tree felling

I am much worried about human rights

As I am worried about animal rights 

I am much worried about corruption

As I am worried about pollution

For I see the inordinate pursuit of riches

Increasing the scale of endangered species

The mind of poetry is insatiable

Bottomless like the pit of hell

So I bless my pen and paper

CALL OUT: Articles for 4th edition of Plastik

http://art-science.univ-paris1.fr/

Art and biodiversity: sustainable art?

Interest in ecology and sustainable development is unprecedented, as is to the increasing concern overshadowing society´s well-being. With the news of massive deforestation and the scarcity of water resources, we are continually reminded of how animal and vegetable species are endangered. It´s clear that the need to respect the environment is shared by all but that natural resources are being exhausted through conflict of interest and contradictory action. As a result living and endangered organisms are affected by a kind of universal heritage value, as if representing the memory of an uncertain future. 

Since the ´60s, artists have testified to, and denounced, through their work, the ravages that human activity has brought on a planetary scale. With art interventions that have taken place in nature or have been an actual part of a landscape, the concepts of the environment, of site and territory, have become more visible in the art world. By demonstrating the physical properties of the material, and of the living, such artworks – whether perennial or ephemeral, in natural or developed spaces – actively call for the spectator's participation, alternately as observer, walker, or explorer in a double game with the attitude of the artist him/herself. To what extent have the new contours of spatialization in an artwork and art´s modus operandi in general contributed to the change in the way we look at the natural world? What impact has it all had on increasing the general public´s awareness, and of protecting our environment?

Between the esthetic and ethics, art and the science of the living, the 4th edition of Plastik will present an evaluation of the perimeters of action and the meaning of artistic practice dealing with the subject of safeguarding biodiversity. The ties between environmental issues and artistic creation will be tackled from the point of view of the real as well as the symbolic scope of such practices, between the implementation of an ecological, imaginary approach, and social commitment. We will try to understand the propositions revealed by artworks which entertain a relationship to the balance at play between the living and the extinction of species. What kind of response do such artworks develop in relation to this new challenge, launched by scientists, as being of the greatest interest for humanity? Is it ecological art or ecologically-made art? Can one talk of eco-gestures in art? Through their experience as researchers, artists, critics, or exhibition curators, the authors will gather together a collection of testimonials and studies, questioning the procedures in order to understand how the preservation of biodiversity has become the subject of today`s most significative artworks. 

We´ll be asking: 

• Are researchers, and artists, in the face of environmental challenges: the new crisis managers?
• Notions of creation and destruction, safeguarding and conservation
• Reevaluating nature, landscape, and territory
• Eco-art, the green esthetic, neo-naturalism, sustainable art?
• Collaborative environmental intervention
• Animal ethics in artistic practice, abolitionism and welfarism
• The eco design approach, and individual commitment?
• Implementing art and eco-gestures : exploration-fiction, surveying, plantations, collecting, ethnography, gentle intervention
• Museums, institutions and their ecological responsibilities 

[Plastik] est la revue de l´Institut ACTE 

CNRS - Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Admission criteria for articles: 

Authors are invited to propose texts of between 3 000 and 10 000 worlds. Contributions can contain up to 10 images with a resolution of 72 dpi. Images should be sent separately, with mention of their place, title and source. The same goes for pictures and other illustrations under format image. The first page must contain: the title of the article, the name of the author(s), their affiliation, email and postal address, a summary of 10 to 15 lines and a list of keywords characterizing the contents of the article.

Deadline for articles: 

Please send your articles by email before June 15, 2013.

Rédaction [Plastik]

plastik.art.science@gmail.com

Institut ACTE - CNRS

Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne

47 rue des Bergers 75015 Paris - France

Olga Kisseleva 

olga.kisseleva@univ-paris1.fr

Hubcap Project

Guest Post by Viv King


The Landfillart Project is an artistic endeavor that tries to increase awareness of the amount of trash people generate.

The idea was thought up by Ken Marquis, a gallery owner and framer from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, who started a collection of old discarded hubcaps  and has spent the last three years convincing other artists from all the US states and 52 foreign countries to give old hubcaps the artistic treatment.
An article from the Huffington post tells Ken's story:

Then he (Ken Marquis) began prowling the Internet, emailing artists who caught his eye to gauge their interest. 

A typical reply, Marquis says, went something like this: "`You want me to find a hubcap in my own country and pay for that, and you want me to pay for (the materials to make) this piece of great art, and then you want me to ship it to you at my expense, and then you want me to gift it to you? Am I understanding you correctly? OK, yeah, I'm in.'"

"I've had that conversation hundreds of times," Marquis says. "Artists get it."

I was one of the artists Ken contacted and I gave him pretty much the same reply! I am an ardent supporter of recycling projects, alternative building methods,  and making use of local materials and found objects wherever possible to create works of Art.

I was born in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, which has a rich tradition of beadwork amongst the Xhosa nation, lead by the great statesman and much loved former President, Nelson Mandela.

Beads were initially used as trading in the early part of the 19th Century and have a special social and ritual significance, used for denoting gender, age and status of the wearer.

I managed to source an old VW hubcap from a second hand car dealer. No, I did not trawl the dumpsites looking for them as I knew I would not find any. Some poor soul from the townships would have got there before me and made a stove out of it or something, this being South Africa and poverty being a powerful motivator of ingenuity.

                                 
I arranged the beads in an Ndebele pattern. The Ndebele is one of the many  groupings of people in the broader Southern Africa. I liked the strong African design.

A single bead is a humble object of little significance. But when put together in numbers they make a powerful statement. Just as the small voices who are calling to save our planet from extinction, when added together become a powerful  force of change in government laws, and bring about the end of industrial pollution in the world.

Ken has collected over 1000 hubcabs. 250 of these have been selected as part of a travelling exhibition which begins its journey in a Museum in Pennsylvania and from there around the States and hopefully around the world.

I am pleased that my hubcap has been chosen, as it is a subject very close to my heart.

View other hubcaps submitted as part of the project: landfillart.org/category/gallery-of-metal-canvases

Publishing with fewer environmental Perils?

A bit of a focus on Green Design
written by visual artist Janet Botes

While doing some online research for my studies in 2006 I came across Celery Design Collaborative, based in Berkeley in the US. On a recent search for this Design company I found that 5 years later they're still going strong. With updated branding and some outputs or "eco tools" from their efforts in creating and supporting sustainable design they're a great example or role model for other design and publishing companies. One of the outputs is a Sustainability Score Card that gives a good overview of what options to favor when choosing paper, plastic, ink and binding methods for your next creative or publishing project. Check it out at celerydesign.com//images/uploads/Celery_SustainScore_11.08_.pdf. Looking at paper, they have also created an ecological Guide to Paper. Go and read more about paper processes and how to choose your paper at www.celerydesign.com/ecological-guide-to-paper

Another output is a book published in 2009, Green Graphic Design, by Brian Dougherty. Check it out at www.greengraphicdesign.net. According to Jade-Snow Carroll of the Design Observer, it is a "great resource for designers wanting to practice their craft sustainably".

On the same track there is a fresh, new and local company to keep an eye on... Paper People Publishing Collective, based in Johannesburg. As a book arts network and a publishing house they encourage all their authors to print on recycled materials, and are developing solutions for hand-printed and hand-bound books from Studio 6 at the Newtown Artist-Run Centre.

As a general guideline, when choosing your paper, try choose paper that are approved by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), tree-free paper or recycled paper.

When choosing your recycled paper also consider the percentage of waste used, and the amount of chlorine used to whiten or brighten the post consumer waste paper used in the production of the paper. And how about hemp paper? From what I hear things are looking good for the possibility of having industrial hemp legalized in our country! Industrial hemp is not from the same strain of plants that can be smoked, and as hemp grows much quicker and with less water than cotton it is a great raw material for use in the clothing industry, building industry and, of course, for paper. Another new option is stone paper, have a look at the post we published about Stone Paper: greenyourart.blogspot.com/2013/02/stone-paper-is-writing-on-wall.html

When looking at ink, suggest to your printers that they use vegetable-based inks and low-VOC solvents. And from what I've read, don’t use a printer that uses isopropyl alcohol. Generally, as with all materials and products, try to avoid inks with toxic chemicals.

When delivering and packaging your books, brochures and other designed materials for your clients, don’t wrap them in plastic, but pack them in re-usable, recycled or re-used packages. Also tell buyers to recycle or re-use all packaging and containers as far as possible.

Together all the small changes and effort we make makes a big difference.