Defining environmental art is about as difficult as defining art itself. It’s a catch-all term encompassing different types of art-environment fusion. Writer Melissa Currie tries to sort out the different types of art that, together, make up environmental artin this article.
AA. Hornet’s Nest, Elizabeth Conner, 2003. Charlotte Police and Fire Training Academy Photo: Melissa Currie “Hornet’s Nest,” Elizabeth Conner, 2003. Charlotte Police and Fire Training Academy. Conner is Brightwalk’s first environmental artist-in-residence. Photo: Melissa CurrieA person standing in the middle of Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” on the Great Salt Lake in rural Utah. Photo: Soren HarwardFrank Gonzales’s “Gnomen” 1995, installed at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park. The park, in central upstate New York, is one of the first art parks dedicated to environmental art. It uses its 104 acres as a venue for the creation and exhibition of works inspired by the relationship between art and nature, while preserving it as an historic farm and homestead Photo used under cc-by-3.0Prehistoric monument, “Stonehenge,” near Amesbury, England. One of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Dated to around 3100 BC, and believed to be an ancient burial ground. Photo: Gareth Wiscombe (cc-by-2.0)“Uff Da Palace,” 2010. Patrick Dougherty’s installation at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Its design consists of four tall woven sapling cylinders that remain open to the sky, with a shared dome. Despite its unusual method of construction, this lair withstood a winter blizzard with seventeen inches of snow, while the inflated stadium nearby collapsed from the snow load. Photo: Todd MulvihillPatrick Dougherty’s “Stand By” (2000) maple and elm sculptures were located at the entrance ramp to the Raleigh-Durham Airport’s main parking deck, taking advantage of the driver’s need to stop to take a ticket to park. Photo: Jerry BlowPatrick Dougherty’s “Just For Looks” (2006) is a willow sculpture enveloping the Max Azria Boutique in Los Angeles, Cal. A dramatic swath of newly cut saplings was woven up and around the building, like upholstery in its own version of paisley cloth. Photo: David Callicchio“Hocus Pocus,” a ‘natural architecture’ sculpture by Patrick Dougherty, was erected on Bittersweet Farm in Ennice, N.C. (2008). Photo: Robin DreyerPatrick Dougherty’s “Disorderly Conduct,” Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C. (2011). A wasp nest discovered by a student during the harvesting of materials inspired this work. The interlocking but individual nature of the cells in the wasp nest translated into a valid metaphor for the Quaker values of individual responsibility and community togetherness. The sculpture was clustered in the center of campus, where pathways cross. Photo: Theresa HammondPatrick Dougherty’s “Cell Division,” a 32 foot high sculpture made from willow saplings installed on the face of the Savannah College of Art and Design, 1998. Photo: Wayne MoorePatrick Dougherty’s 2010 sculpture, “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” is made from maple saplings. It was constructed in front of the Performing Arts Center of Winthrop University, in downtown Rock Hill, S.C. Ain’t Misbehavin’ consists of five oversized heads woven with a theatrical stare. Photo: Zan MaddoxPatrick Dougherty’s “Call of the Wild” (2002), at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. Nature’s fragility in the face of pollution, global warming, and species loss is illustrated in garden urns cast as an illusion of wild nature. Photo: Duncan PriceDefining environmental art is about as difficult as defining art itself. It’s a catch-all term encompassing different types of art-environment fusion. Writer Melissa Currie tries to sort out the different types of art that, together, make up environmental art in this article.Maya Lin’s “Topo” (1989-1991) at the Charlotte Coliseum (demolished 2007). Earthworks and topiary transform the median of the 1600-foot approach to the Coliseum into the site for an imaginary giant-sized game. Photo: stanford.eduMaya Lin’s 11-acre Storm King “Wavefield,” in the Hudson Valley, occupies a former gravel pit. Its earthen peaks evoke ocean waves rushing to meet the mountainous shore. Photo: arts.govDaniel McCormick’s environmental art goes from conception to construction. California. Photo: the artistEco-art installation by Daniel McCormick and Mary O’Brien in Los Altos, California. This series of photos shows erosion and runoff problems before the installation, the eco-art sculpture after installation, and the hand of nature taking over as the artist’s hand becomes less apparent. Photos: the artistsMary O’Brian installs eco-art projects that help combat invasive species in the Charlotte woodland areas.A restoration installation in coastal Southern Louisiana aimed at protecting newly planted bald cypress seedlings from predation by an invasive aquatic rodent, the nutria. Protected for the first year, the trees are able to mature and act as storm surge barriers. The protective devices are made in a manner to allow them to be reused on new plantings year after year. Photo: Daniel McCormick and Mary O’BrienChihuly Garden and Glass exhibition at the foot of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. The picture shows some of Chihuly’s huge blown glass artworks in a garden setting as nature and art intermingle. Photo: Melissa CurrieThe Mount Rushmore National Memorial was built from 1927-1941 by the Danish-American father and son team of Gutzon and Lincoln Borglum. It is carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, S.D., at an elevation of 5,725 feet. Photo: Melissa CurrieGaffney, South Carolina. “The Peachoid” (known locally as The Peach), was built in 1980-81 and is a molded steel water tower with a seven ton, 60-foot long leaf applied to one side. New Jersey artist, Peter Freudenberg, used fifty gallons of paint in twenty colors. Photo: Melissa CurrieThe Great Serpent Mound of Ohio was first reported from surveys by Ephraim Squire and Edwin Davis in their historic volume Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, published in 1848 by the newly founded Smithsonian Museum. From The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, November 1889 – F. W. PutnamPlan view with contours of the Serpent Mound shows it plateau siting. The serpent’s head approaches a cliff and many scholars see its open mouth around an egg. Source: Ohio Historical SocietyDaniel McCormick and Mary O’Brien’s Watershed Sculpture in Charlotte’s Freedom Park. This eco-art project is a storm water management installation made of materials found on site and installed using local volunteers. Photo: the artists. Link to article on environmental art is below.A close-up view of McCormick and O’Brien’s twig wrapped Watershed Sculpture. Photo: the artistsThe 1,348 foot-long by 3 feet-high, Great Serpent Mound in southwestern Ohio is the world’s largest effigy monument. Its prehistoric origins date back to 1070 CE and may be of Adena or Fort Ancient culture. Image: Bing MapsEco-art involves educational aspects to reveal natural processes, and its interventions yield environmental benefits where they are installed.
