Eco-Art? What do you say? What does it say to you??

There are many avenues an artist can take to express sentiment towards nature. With a wide variety of media, and an infinite supply of subjects to be found in nature, we may each come to know "nature" better through very different means. Here, an artist appears to be exploring a relationship found in the sound of birds, through both chirp and chord?? Heeyyy.. these birds play guitar better than I do?! What gives!? Anyhow, what I want to know is what you think. What does this piece say to you? It was certainly meant to say something, as it is being displayed at the Barbrican Centre in London until the end of May.
Check it out:
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot at Barbican Centre, London

Comments from a friend out west...

The importance of preservation and conservation is evident in every corner of the web of life. The difficulty does not arise from making it known but rather making each member of society feel personally responsible.
The object is for each to take action - just as Margret
Meade stated that you should never question the power of a small group and their interest to change things - by empowering one person with the passion to protect and preserve their habitat you are enabling change to take place!

There are three types of learning styles - the visual, the audio and the tactile. Good and True School Teachers find ways touch all three types of students in an effort to get their point across. As members of the conservation movement, it is our duty to the planet and all the species that share it to find ways to 'touch a nerve' and connect with all humans.

The use of art is a way to approach members of our civil society in unique ways and allow that experience to resonate in their soul.

"In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught" - B.Dioum

Blog Guests with Issues Posting

You may be having issues posting to my blog. I apologize and am trying to work through my settings to remedy this. You can also email me at artfortheplanet@gmail.com, where I will assimilate messages and turn them into posts. Once again, I look forward to hearing from you.. with ideas, questions, images, and stories.

Thanks for checking out this blog and following it.

-Jocelyn

Last Friday's Final Friday, Cincinnati Ohio

Ok.. so after letting last weekend's experience simmer.. I am back to tell you about it.

I set out for Final Friday in Over The Rhine, downtown Cincinnati--Main Street. I had high hopes for simply running into artists and art go-ers and sharing some info so that they could become involved in this discussion should they choose. I sorta targeted apparent "art go-ers" that were in the action of taking a photo (of anything at all) with their cell phone--you know.. gotta tap into that technology, linking people through electronics. Wow, and ok.

In some respects I am a little shy.. but I was able to say.. "hey, are you taking a picture with that there cell phone of yours?" .. of course they were, and of course I got a couple funny looks, but the ice was broken and I could at least share a bit of info. I think it went over ok anyway.

First stop, Art Beyond Boundaries- 8:20pm (1410 Main St.)

1 chocolate chip cookie, 1 brownie/blondie "bite"

Stop #2, C4yourself-8:26pm (1406 Sycamore St. #1)

6 tortellini, 1 pepper jack cheese cube, 1 wrap bite

Spoke with Angela Morrow, gallery director

Angela shared with me a piece that she felt has resulted in a direct and positive impact on our community, a collaborative quilt show casing downtown streets of Cincinnati and the Over the Rhine area. We spoke briefly about what aspects of art have the potential for action, any action in this case, to result from an interaction with art. Participatory art forms, where the a group of people work together towards an end goal or finished artwork, were noted as highly effective for creating lasting impacts.

I hope to post a picture of this quilt in the near future.

Destination 3, Atomic Number Ten-8:37pm (1306 Main St.)

1 twisty pretzel thingy

Stopped in, spoke with lady behind the desk, left some little green flyers

4th stop, 1305 Gallery-8:43pm (1305 Main St.)

7 little chocolate, candy shelled, Easter eggs (my fav)

"Friendly Fire, new works by Chad Cully" This was an opening event, displaying one individual's glass and fabric pieces. While awaiting my "turn" with the artists, I ate more candy and read his statement... which, in short, had to do with the end of the world.. sorta?

Environmentally connected, charged, creative, emotional, engaging. That is what I derived.

I am happy to congratulate Chad on being my first artist to respond to my call to bring artists together in a community discussion (as mentioned above).... he even emailed me some video links... inspiration and whatnot..

"It's difficult, in fact, to reconcile my love for the hot and shiny (hot glass) with any sane conviction toward ecology, stewardship, etc. But alas the human condition is full of irony and contradiction. Maybe it's even our charm as a species?" (Chad C.)

I know what ya mean.. ceramic art.. its so earthy-yes.. its minerals are so totally strip mined. yes.

Low and behold... a video about community involvement and expression in Portland, OR--and I was there too! Just a couple weeks ago! I mean really there... at the same locations in the video.. same streets. Imagine that.

Check them out: (let me know what you think)

http://cityrepair.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMbG5bY2QdQ&sns=em

It seems to me, that we will draw on many different forms of community involvement to incorporate into an eco-stewardship-art movement such as this. Its super cross disciplinary.

#5, Urban Edu.??????-8:58pm

(don't exactly remember this one..oopse)

Last stop-6, Creative Gallery-9pm (1319 Main St.)

"Kindof, Almost, Not quite," by Anthony Birchfield

I spoke with Anthony.. about conceptual art. About making something with a particular meaning, and about making something purposefully to have no particular meaning (or at least that is what I got out of it-my thoughts combined with his artist's statement).. and yet, to me.. there is a specific meaning implied by purposefully working towards not having meaning. Art School. Man, the man's got us down, no matter how much we wish we could choose not to think.

And that was that.

Next stop.... more shows, more galleries, more mass emails, inviting others to join me. I can't create a community discussion all by my onesies.

Cincinnati, OH- A community exploring art in environmental conservation

My intention behind creating this blog is to foster a community discussion exploring art's role in conservation. Art can be used to communicate conservation messages to a wide audience and on a variety of learning levels. It often leaves its viewers, or participants, with more questions, new found discoveries and abilities, as well as a sense of a connection to the subject at hand.

This blog will act as a forum, a place to exchange ideas on how art can be used to more effectively engage its viewers, I want to draw in artists, art "go-ers," and conservation/science educators alike, to discover the ins and outs of how are can NOT ONLY create awareness of and interests in environmental conservation in our community, but also take it to the next level by literally evoking action within our community, towards he stewardship of natural areas. Through various forms of art media, installation techniques, and participation opportunities, art can be used in our community to help us gain a greater understanding of our role in taking care of this planet.

Please feel free to comment, and stay tuned for more blogs that explore art's role in conservation in our community. Email me with stories and images of your art-related interactions and how they have impacted you (artfortheplanet@gmail.com).

Thank you for visiting this blog.