Haunting Art from Trash

Circuit Boards #2 by Chris JordanWhen people use the term environmental art, they can mean anything from artists who paint landscapes to site specific artists and more. I use the term to specify those artists who are commenting on environmental issues with their work. Those who inspire me most are often the same ones who haunt me, the artists who work towards making a positive change for the environment through their art.

Here are some links to a few of my favorites. I've already mentioned Andy Goldsworthy. Some other favs include Pam Longobardi, Lynne Hull, Chakaia Booker, Judy Pfaff, Chris Jordan, and Emmet Gowin to name a few. That should keep you busy for a while.

I apprenticed with Pam Longobardi. She is best known for creating art from plastic trash in the ocean that drifts ashore on its way towards the North Pacific Gyre. The gyre is now home to a floating island of trash from all over the world that is reported to be larger than the continental United States. The plastic Longobardi collects for her Drifter's Project was drifting on these currents towards the gyre and washed ashore on beaches like South Point in Hawaii. You can read more on Pam's project here.

The installation I worked on started out very much like the image here, with boxes of plastic first transformed by the ocean and the elements and then again by Longobardi. The most powerful thing about her work is the way you experience it in stages. The first time I saw her work, I saw something beautiful, something that made me smile and wonder, until I stepped closer, and then I noticed what it was made from. As I explored, the smile faded, and I was hit by the sheer scope of the waste I use and discard every day.

You cannot stand in the face of her art and not think about all those little plastic things you throw away. Do you really need another plastic hairbrush, another disposable razor, another plastic Kuerig cup for your individual coffee? Where will these things, items that can take over 1000 years to break down, end up?

Longobardi's art haunts me at strange times. In the grocery store when I have forgotten to bring my reusable bags, or at the gas station when I take a swig from the water bottle I picked up. I am reminded of all that plastic killing our oceans.The images of Longobardi's installations live in me, often spurring me to make smarter decisions. It's the little changes like using less saran wrap and more washable storage containers, or metal drinking bottles and reusable glass and ceramic cups. I have to believe these little changes will make a difference, particularly if we all start making them together. 

To Be Goldsworthy

If I had to choose one artist who inspires me most, it would be Andy Goldsworthy. I first experienced his work during a trip to the National Gallery. The sculpture, titled Roof, had recently been installed and was displayed with accompanying photos of his in situ sculptures created at a nearby rock query. Goldsworthy chose to work from the same query that provided the materials to build The White House, the Capital, and other national monuments. Roof, as you can see, is a repetition of domes that mimics the National Gallery's dome. This structure has deep historical roots that date well before Thomas Jefferson, reaching all the way back to the Pantheon in Rome. 

But, it wasn't Roof that actually inspired me, per say. No offense Mr. Goldsworthy. It's a lovely sculpture, and it did peek my curiosity in the artist. So, I researched him on the internet when I returned home. The internet as it works now is a wonderful thing. I hope we don't lose our rights to it with the passing of SOPA and PIPA. If you aren't worried about this, you should be.

Anyway, it was Goldsworthy's other works where I found inspiration. You see, he goes out into nature and creates sculptures made from natural materials, often working against the elements and against time to build something transient and fleeting. He documents his works through photography and then allows nature to reclaim them. Here is a photo montage of some of his breathtaking sculptures.

Goldsworthy describes his own work in this way:

"At its most successful, my "touch" looks into the heart of nature, most days I don't even get close. These things are all part of a transient process that I cannot understand unless my touch is also transient; only in this way can the cycle remain unbroken and the process become complete."

How did Goldswothy inspire me, in particular? Well, his film Rivers and Tides motivated me to begin studying the environmental arts movement. I went on to add a double major of studio art onto my creative writing undergraduate work. Whenever I was told I had to choose one discipline or the other for my graduate studies, I would think of Mr. Goldsworthy, who practiced what he was passionate about without conforming to preconceived notions, and I was again inspired to work in that vein.

I had many friends and colleagues, like Andi Lea, who were seeking progressive interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary education, so I chose to seek out and research these programs. I completed my interdisciplinary masters working in three disciplines; creative writing, studio art, and environmental studies. My graduate project was a multi media installation using found and recycled objects and all eco-friendly supplies. It was accompanied by a contextual thesis that addressed our connections to and disconnections from nature and, specifically, the animal kingdom. So, thank you Mr. Goldsworthy for the all the inspiration you have given me. 

Here's a little taste of Rivers and Tides. If you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend it!