Climate Art Beat®
Summer/Fall Calendar 2020
We are pleased to highlight these 11 pioneering live and online climate art events.
Curated Online Art Exhibition
James Balog, Redbud tree in spring bloom, Maggie Valley, NC, April 2001. Photograph. ©2001 James Balog Photography/Earth Vision Institute. Courtesy of the artist.
Honoring the Future: Honoring Trees
Honoring Trees features the work of 14 leading contemporary artists. Collectively, these works invite us to reflect on the splendor of trees, the challenges climate change and human stresses pose to trees, and the opportunity to respond with creativity and courage. A resource directory identifies volunteer opportunities at 10 cosponsoring arboretums and nonprofit organizations which plant, care for, and educate the public about, trees.
New Orleans, LA
Tina Freeman, (left) 20180402_Svalbard_103. Sea ice breaking up in late winter; (right) 20170404_Wetland_Aerials_002. Louisiana wetlands southeast of New Orleans on the east side of the river, south of the Caernarvon diversion. Photographs. ©Tina Freeman. Courtesy of the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Lamentations features Tina Freeman’s spectacular photographs of the Louisiana wetlands, the Arctic and Antarctica. Each Louisiana photo is paired with a visually related photo of an Arctic or Antarctic location. The pairings call attention to the physical connection between rising waters in coastal Louisiana and melting glaciers at the poles.
Now through Oct. 11, 2020
Chicago, IL
James Balog, Meltwater River Formed by Glacier Melt in Greenland. Photographs. ©2014 James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey. Courtesy of the artist and Museum of Science and Industry.
Museum of Science and Industry
Extreme Ice captures the immediacy of climate change with James Balog’s visually stunning photographs and time-lapse videography of melting glaciers. To illustrate the physical and technological challenges Balog and his team had to overcome to gather this compelling footage, the exhibition displays their customized camera, expedition equipment, and a touchable 7-foot tall ice wall.
Now through Nov., 2020
Doylestown, PA
Diane Burko, Novaya Zemlya II, 2016-2017. Oil and mixed media on canvas. Dimensions: 42” x 42”. © 2017 Diane Burko. Courtesy of the artist.
Rising Tides: Contemporary Art and the Ecology of Water features work by 7 contemporary Bucks County and Philadelphia area artists investigating the effects of global warming, climate change, and environmental hazards on waterbodies and aquatic species. Large-scale paintings, works on paper, sculptures and installations harness the power of art to visualize ecological crisis and global change.
Now to Jan. 10, 2021
Detroit, MI
Alexis Rockman, Watershed (2015). Oil and alkyd on wood panel. Dimensions: 72” x 144”. Collection of Jonathan O’Hara Gallery. © 2015, Alexis Rockman. Courtesy of the Flint Institute of Arts.
The Great Lakes Cycle, a solo exhibition of Alexis Rockman’s monumental paintings, watercolors, and field drawings, explores the past, present and future of the Great Lakes and the challenges they face from climate change and human pollution.
Now through Sep. 27, 2020
Online
Paula Shalan, Seed Pods (2020). Ceramic. ©Paula Shalan 2020. Courtesy of the artist.
Smithsonian Craft Show
The venerable Smithsonian Craft Show debuts its inaugural Virtual Craft Show with a Preview Night Gala, live auction, and extended opportunity to see – and buy – fine craft and design from America’s top contemporary craft artists. Explore the newest works from artists, including past winners of the Honoring the Future Sustainability Award, who model sustainability through their choice of theme, materials or process.
Oct. 13 – 25, 2020
Online
Nancy Cohen, Espiritu Santo (2020). Paper pulp and handmade paper. © Nancy Cohen 2020. Courtesy of the artist.
Studio Tour
In an exclusive for Honoring the Future, Nancy Cohen takes us inside her studio to view her latest climate-related art. She reflects on how COVID has sharpened her career-long focus on the tension between fragility and strength that characterizes human and environmental survival – a tension increasingly heightened by climate change.
Online
Lauren D. Pharr holding a female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) captured, banded, and later released in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Honoring Trees: Educator’s Guide
Coming soon, free resources for creating cross-curricula lessons on climate change inspired by the art in Honoring Trees! Here’s a preview. Concerned about human impact on the climate and environment, Claire Kelly created Parallax: Busy Forest to spur us to explore the worlds where animals dwell. Ornithologist Lauren Pharr takes up that invitation with infectious passion in What Can Trees Do for Birds (And Birds Do For Trees)?
Available October, 2020
Online
Xavier Cortada, beside a wall of mangrove seedlings, explaining his “mangrove in every yard” reforestation and public education campaign. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Participatory Art Project
Plan(T), Xavier Cortada’s participatory art project, aims to reframe how we think about, and catalyze community response to, rising sea levels. By encouraging every Miami-Dade County resident to plant a mangrove seedling in their yard, Cortada plans to spark conversation and build community around climate problem-solving.
Online
Olafur Eliasson and Minik Rosing, Ice Watch (2018). Installation of blocks of melting ice, which had already broken off the Greenland ice sheet, at Bankside outside London’s Tate Modern gallery. ©2018 Olafur Eliasson. Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Charlie Forgham Bailey.
Artist Interview
In a series of 3 short interviews, the internationally acclaimed climate artist Olafur Eliasson explores his journey as an artist. Offering thoughtful reflections on how art helps us understand our world, he emphasizes the importance of hope, rather than fear, as a motivator for climate action.
Online
Olafur Eliasson, Earth Speakr 2020, for the Federal Foreign Office on the occasion of the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2020 and realized in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut. Courtesy of the artist.
Interactive Art Work
Olafur Eliasson’s new interactive artwork, Earth Speakr, uses augmented reality to invite kids to speak up for the planet and adults to listen to what kids say. Join the fun!