Wunderkammer : A Journal of Environmental Art

Come follow Solastalgia!

2012-01-31T16:31:00.000-06:00

So I have been (wonderfully) busy with art and other projects lately, which has led me (sadly) to neglect posting on Wunderkammer a bit. I'll be back someday, but until then, come follow my Tumblr image blog Solastalgia.

The blog deals with the same themes as Wunderkammer: the natural world and environmental art. Lots of prettiness and inspiring images -- come check it out!

http://weallhavesolastalgia.tumblr.com

Mark Dion's Giant Terrarium & My Miniatures

2011-06-06T01:04:00.002-05:00

As a terrarium lover, plant geek, and artist, this piece brings it all home for me. The Neukom Vivarium is a beautiful master-work by well-known environmental artist Mark Dion. One day I'll make it to see this piece in person, but until then, I was able to see how the work was made and got a sense of how fabulous this it is in Art : 21's video.

In my home, I have several bell jars with various orchids under them, a large glass jar with a tiny swamp containing sarricenia pitcher plants, venus flytraps, lichen & ferns, and a vintage display cabinet that I've converted into a mini-greenhouse for orchids & alocasia. However, lovely as they are, my home terrariums pale in comparison to this beauty.

By the way, if you're not familiar, Art : 21 (aka Art in the Twenty-First Century) is a PBS documentary series on contemporary visual artists in the United States. If, like me, you don't have a television, they have many many excellent and interesting videos on their website, here.

Unfortunately their videos start with short ads, but as a not-for-profit whose funding is in jeopardy, we can forgive them.

Part 1:

Watch the full episode. See more ART:21.

Part 2:

Watch the full episode. See more ART:21.

Part 3:

Watch the full episode. See more ART:21.

Here are a few of my own terrarium works. Unlike Dion's, which took a crane and an oversize 18-wheeler to make...mine are miniatures, and required dental tools and patience.

Jenny Kendler : Relic from Wunderkammer :

Found deer skull, hand-sculpted polymer clay, micro-beads, iridescent ink, acrylics, & glue under scientific bell-jar

18" x 10" x 10" : 2007

I found this white-tailed deer skull embedded in the ice at the edge of Lake Michigan w few winters back. After keeping it for a year or so, I had a dream where the skull became a sculpture, sprouting little handmade plants.

Jenny Kendler : Nature Shall Provide (feral girl with bow-legs and pubic mane) :

Hand-sculpted plasticine figure, lipstick, live plants, soil and gravel in vintage terrarium

8" x 5" x 5 : 2007

P.S. If you're curious, a vivarium differs from a terrarium in that it contains animals as well -- in Dion's case, the insects and other wee crawlies that hitchhiked on his log.

P.P.S The log lady approves.

Endangered Species Condoms Win Gold Addy Award!

2011-03-29T20:49:00.002-05:00

Molly Schafer and Jenny Kendler (that's me!) created this now officially award winning artwork for the Center for Biological Diversity's Endangered Species Condoms project. Nifty! The packages were designed by fellow awardee Lori Leiber.

I am excited to announce that not only has the project taken the Gold Addy for Tucson, but Lori just let us know that it's won the Gold at the District level as well --- automatically taking us to the National level competition. Keep your talons, claws or tentacles crossed for us!

The condoms are a project of the Center for Biological Diversity, and aim to underline the impact human overpopulation has on other species.
Visit the project site at www.endangeredspeciescondoms.com

More from the Center for Biological Diversity:

Our wildly popular Endangered Species Condoms are getting some additional love. This week we found out the colorfully packaged condoms, part of our campaign highlighting the connection between overpopulation and species extinction, won the American Advertising Federation's gold ADDY Award in Tucson in the "public service" category. The Center handed out 350,0000 condoms last year and hopes to send more out soon to draw attention to this crucial issue. Through the empowerment of women, education of all people and universal access to birth control, we can curb our population to an ecologically safe level.
But some members of Congress are making that very hard. In fact, the House has just passed a bill to cut government funding for critical programs like women's health clinics -- which for millions of people provide the only available access to reproductive services, family planning and birth control. With this February marking Global Population Speak Out month, it's time to tell our elected representatives they should be expanding those programs, not cutting them -- for the sake of our planet and the public.

Check out the Endangered Species Condoms Project and sign the GPSO pledge. Then learn more about the legislative attack on family-planning services from politico.com and contact your senators asking them to counter it.

Sun Boxes : Craig Colorusso

2011-02-20T21:40:00.001-06:00

Artist Craig Colorusso will have his environmentally minded (and solar powered!) sound installation, Sun Boxes, on view for a short time only at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. If you are in the area, I encourage you to drop by. Though I have not seen the work in person myself, I can attest from the video of the piece, below, that it seems like it would be a unique and lovely experience.

Sun Boxes are an environment to enter and exit at will, comprised of twenty speakers operating independently --- each powered by solar panels. A different loop, set to play a guitar note, reverberates continuously in each box. These notes collectively sound a Bb chord. Because the loops are of different lengths, they continually overlap so that the piece slowly evolves over time. The sounds of Sun Boxes have been described as both soothing and energizing, as they react to the natural fluctuations of cloudiness and sun to create an ephemeral composition.

Here's a video of the works installed at the 12th annual Sculpture at Maudslay. (Apparently, viewers can also use their own shadows to influence the sound!):

(Filmed by Kevin Belli on September 18, 2010)

All are welcome to enter the sound environment at will during the three-day installation. You can find info on where/how to attend, here and learn more about Sun Boxes here.

Toxic Cloud Yarnies : Crafting with Compassion

2010-11-17T19:59:00.001-06:00

I had the pleasure of meeting Mikey Anderson, creator of the little 'Toxic Clouds' below, in a class at SAIC where I came to do a talk on socially and environmentally responsible business-sense for artists and designers. They are sculptures, plush toys, and a cheeky way to make a statement about environmental responsibility. Mikey emailed me after the class to let me know about his new project, and I wanted to share it with my Wunderkammer readers!

This is what Mikey has to say about his charming clouds:

These little plush clouds are made with 100 % natural fabric and felt made with plastic! They are stuffed with recycled plastic bags and bubble wrap. Plastic bags kill about 100,000 animals every year and they take 1000 years to decompose!
I decided to make these plush clouds in response to our poor clouds becoming 'sick' because of pollution. The fossil fuels we are burning are emitting sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide into the air! This shrinks icebergs, creates acid rain, depletes ozone, and even gives baby whales sunburn!
So lets go green together!!!!

You can snag one of Mikey's cute recycled creations by getting in touch with him through his Tumblr blog.

Superuse : Where Recycling Meets Design

2010-02-20T12:46:00.007-06:00

I recently stumbled on a community site called Superuse which catalogs and promotes the idea of transforming waste into something useful or beautiful. Not all of the ideas on this site are fine art, but they're certainly all great ideas for reusing materials to reduce waste. I haven't even begun to have the time to look at all these clever innovations, but I love this idea above...a CD spindle does make the perfect instant lunchbox for a bagel sandwich! Brilliant. You can see more clever ideas for reuse here, or jump to the section of art made from recycled materials here.

Here are just a few of the art projects listed:

Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira uses wood collected from the streets of São Paulo to create huge installations that he calls "tridimensionals". The thin sections of wood, obtained from old fencing and boarding known as "tapumes", are bent and curved into these enormous structures that seem to spill off the gallery walls.

Miwa Koizumi turns PET bottles into underwater creatures using a combination of heat guns, soldering irons and different cutting utensils to make these PETs. She says: "I wanted to work with glass but this is more fun. I have as much material as I want just by fishing in the garbage."

Paul Villinski creates flocks of swirling butterflies from old beercans from the streets of New York, which are pain-stakingly cut into these fluttery configurations. The artists says the pieces explore themes of transformation and recovery through metamorphosis.

Kudos to all! Seeing 'trash' metamorphose into art or functional pieces of everyday design-ware, is just fabulous, and I love that there's now a site indexing it all. Superuse let's you submit your own work or the work of others, so check it out!

Michael Krueger

2010-02-17T19:05:00.003-06:00

Michael Krueger, What is Here is the Same as What is There, colored pencil, 13" x 22", 2007

Michael Krueger, Mirror'land, colored pencil, 10" x 20", 2007

I found these interesting drawings recently by artist Michael Krueger. Though most of the artists repotoire is overtly concerned with the idea of Westward Expansion and the exploration by those of European descent of of the American West, there are definitive sub-notes of commentary on environmental issues here as well. Or at least it's impossible for me to think about Manifest Destiny without thinking about the conquering of the natural world in the New World --- leading to the eventual, shall we say, desecration of the American wilderness. I found this sentiment most notably in this pair of drawings. Go ahead and click to enlarge them to appreciate the details, and I think you'll see what I mean.

Mocha Dick by Tristan Lowe

2010-01-25T14:45:00.005-06:00

Artist Tristan Lowe created this 52 foot long sculpture of a sperm whale, cheekily named Mocha Dick, from sewn industrial felt over an inflatable form. According to the artist, the piece was intended as an environmental statement, to give the viewer the experience of "the Other." It was created for Philadelphia's Fabric Workshop and Museum.

I love the artist's choice to leave the sculpture white, as it lends an ethereal or magical flavor to what might otherwise be visually read as a hulking form of heavyweight ungainly felt. The white whale is, of course, a reference to Melville's famous Moby Dick, but also seems to be a savvy aesthetic choice. Despite its humble and earthy materiality, the sculpture truly transcends its components, and ends up looking as delicate as a 52 foot long whale sculpture can --- encrusted with lovingly-sewn barnacles and seamed with the scars of the whale's long co-existence with human-kind.

Many scientists consider the Sperm Whale to have the brightest conservation outlook of any whale species, so perhaps this piece is also an emblem of hope. However, many other species of whales, notably the North Atlantic Right Whale and the Western Pacific Gray Whale, are still in desperate straits. 'Save the Whales' may have been one of the original and most recognizable calls to action of the burgeoning environmental movement in the 70's --- but Lowe's beautiful sculpture surely reminds us why this is still one bumper sticker slogan that retains it's power and relevance today.

100 Great Blogs...

2010-01-25T14:42:00.002-06:00

Just a quick note to let readers know that Wunderkammer was included in the list of 100 Great Blogs for Art Students & Enthusiasts. Woot!

Roman de Salvo at The New Children's Museum : A guest post by Shawnee Barton

2010-01-19T18:50:00.005-06:00

This post was written by my friend and fellow artist Shawnee Barton. I hope you enjoy it --- and you should also check out her artwork, here!

Before I take kids to see “Apex Chariots,” a work of art created by artist Roman de Salvo for Animal Art, the current exhibition at The New Children’s Museum in San Diego, I ask them, “How could you move a cart without pushing it, using a motor, or an animal?” Almost always, this question inspires wacky answers: “I’d attach it to a bunch of balloons!” or “Put it on skis!” But the kids never come up with de Salvo’s unique solution—he utilizes unicycle parts that allow riders to move the cart by pumping a horseshoe shaped lever up and down.

The chariots are a group of finely crafted carts powered by human interaction. They are made of sustainable materials such as rattan and eco-friendly shellac, which pays homage to the NCM’s green mission. The NCM is a unique art space that resides in a new spacious, environmentally friendly facility in downtown San Diego. The NCM commissions contemporary artists to create projects that have as much integrity as the work they show in other museums and exhibition spaces, with one extra challenge. The NCM projects must be approachable and engaging enough to appeal to a young audience.

Each week I lead exhibition tours to school groups at the museum, and the chariots are one of the most popular works in this exhibition. Kids love driving them through the space, and the chariots also encourage young viewers to think about how our choices affect the environment and the other animals sharing our planet.

During my tours, the kids and I talk about the drawings on the front of the chariots. Each one depicts a different animal that was driven to extinction because of people, such as the stellar sea cow, which was hunted out of existence back in 1768. We discuss ways to help endangered animals, talk about the harmful side effects of cars, and brainstorm more sustainable ways to travel. I always feel hopeful after these conversations because the kids are so savvy when it comes to environmental issues.

Students have bragged that their parents drive hybrids like kids bragged about their parent’s Cadillac when I was young. They tell me about planting trees with their classmates, and they share factoids with the group, like the number of Siberian tigers that are left in the wild (less than 500). Hearing all this makes me smile inside. The next generation of adults is going to be more informed about environmental issues, and I believe that they will make significant changes in the way they care for our planet.

De Salvo is one of my favorite artists. His work manages to balance beauty, concept, craftsmanship, and wit, so I admittedly had high expectations for this new project. Conceptually, the chariots are a fantastic addition to Animal Art, but a couple of aesthetic choices in the piece left me a little disappointed.

First, the chariots are so finely crafted that they appear to be void of human touch in every way except that the animals on the front of the chariots are hand-drawn with a black marker. The tactility of the drawing doesn’t fit with the slickness of the rest of the chariot. And unfortunately using a black marker on canvas doesn’t result in a rich line, which makes the drawings look a little dull.

Second, the painted yellow lines on the floor form what looks like a loopy racetrack. The track looks interesting, and I like the reference to vehicular visual language. But the lines are functionally useless. The chariots aren’t exactly easy to steer, especially for a tiny driver, and navigating the outlined turns is extremely difficult. As I watch kids whiz through the space in patterns that have no relationship to the track, I think about the lines and the chariots as two separate pieces, which is unfortunate since every other aspect of the project feels cohesive and necessary to its overall concept or functionality.

Still, I feel lucky to be able to regularly spend time with de Salvo’s piece. The ambitiousness and complexity of the work makes me want to be a better artist, and seeing how excited kids get when they hop on the chariots is always a real treat.

Information about visiting the New Children’s Museum is available on their website, ThinkPlayCreate.org.

ESPP Blog

2009-11-28T19:35:00.003-06:00

I wanted to let you all know about a new blog that I am writing, with friend and collaborator (in all sorts of endeavors involving art, nature, activism and witchcraft and mischief-making in general), Molly Schafer. Our new blog is associated with our project, that's been getting a lot of press lately (yay!), The Endangered Species Print Project.

The Endangered Species Print Project (ESPP) offers limited-edition art prints of critically endangered species. The number of prints available corresponds with the remaining animal or plant populations.

For example, only 45 Amur Leopards remain in the wild, so for this edition, only 45 prints will ever be made.

A different organization, whose mission is to the ensure the survival of the specie depicted, is chosen for each print. 100% of the sales of ESPP prints are donated to these conservation organizations.

Please go check out and bookmark/follow the ESPP Blog. We'll be posting there frequently about amazing endangered species you've never heard of, biodiversity in the news, and all kinds of incredible facts and stories for those of you who are passionate about the natural world. We'd love it if you'd join us there at EndangeredSpeciesPrintProject.blogspot.com

You can also become a fan of ESPP on Facebook, here.

Oh, and ESPP prints make great holiday gifts for loved ones! Shameless plug! Art gift plus conservation gift is full of win!

Eco-Graffiti

2009-11-26T12:33:00.013-06:00

I love to see good/innovative street art, so I often peer into hidden alleys and look on old warehouse doors for cool stickers or little paintings in Chicago and when traveling. Sometimes, a work-site fence or ugly underpass is a better venue for a work of art than a pristine gallery wall.

Now, when that art is more than just a spray can throw-up, and has a great message, well that's even better. Bringin' it to the people! Love it.

Below, Milwaukee-based artist Jesse Graves gives us something to think about with his bio-degradable mud graffiti.

Anna Garforth, below, transcribes the first line of a friend's poem with moss she attached to the wall using biodegradable methods. Below, she expounds:

“This is the first in an on-going project, and I have much experimentation to do in terms of how and where I place it. The piece is the first sentence of a verse. The second sentence of the verse will be made and displayed somewhere else around the city [London] in a couple of weeks time, and so on until the whole verse has been transcribed.”

And Edina Todoki, below, gives a softer-edge to the urban landscape with her living moss-graffiti. Oooh, see that turkey with the deer and rabbit? That reminds me that I'm done with the computer for today, and off to have some Tofurkey, with my special vegetarian wild-mushroom gravy!

...And then do something about it.

2009-11-09T13:06:00.003-06:00

Great piece by an unknown creator. Let's post these everywhere.

Katie Paterson: Langjökull, Snæfellsjökull, Solheimajökull

2009-09-01T18:03:00.009-05:00

Three glacier ice records, played until they melt.
3 litres glacial meltwater, 3 litres silicon, 3 turntables [2007]

Langjökull, Snæfellsjökull, Solheimajökull, a work by artist Katie Paterson, is a project of a rare and ephemeral loveliness. Something that we transitory viewers, who unable to see/hear the work in person, can only imagine, but that is wonderfully powerful enough, that even in imagining, it pulls at the heart and mind.

The artist describes the project as:

Sound recordings from three glaciers in Iceland, pressed into three records, cast, and frozen with the meltwater from each of these glaciers, and played on three turntables until they completely melt.

The records were played once and now exist as three dvds. The turntables begin playing together, and for the first ten minutes as the needles trace their way around, the sounds from each glacier merge in and out with the sounds the ice itself creates. The needle catches on the last loop, and the records play for nearly two hours, until completely melted.

What a beautiful idea. To me, this is conceptual art at it's rarefied best.

Langjökull, Snæfellsjökull, Solheimajökull manages to make a work about climate change, a topic often perceived as overwhelming and of massive scale, an almost visceral experience --- both intimate in feeling and grand in scope. Not much more needs to be said. Just listen to the recording here, and, truly, enjoy.

More of Paterson's thoughtful (and conceptually airtight) work can be seen here.

Kawano Takeshi

2009-08-05T23:48:00.008-05:00

Another mystery solved by the miracles of blog-dom.

Remember that melting polar bear of unknown origins that I posted some time ago? Well, I finally found out who is responsible, and snagged a few more images for you all, thanks to an old friend's blog (we used to go to the same synagogue when we were kids).

Well, why hold back? Here are the other wonderful sculptures: the animals shown are a pair of emperor penguins and a sika deer, by my guess --- and our old friend, the polar bear. I found nice large images for you all, so click them to zoom in.

The sika deer is especially lovely. I was lucky enough to get to spend a lot of time around them last August when I was in Japan. On the island of Miyajima, the deer are particularly acclimated to human contact. In general, I don't advocate the feeding and socialization of wild animals (I saw one deer eat an entire map out of a tourist's pocket), but when you're feeding momoji maple leaves to them, instead of human food, and the most beautiful buck bows his head so that you can touch his warm and velvety antlers, well, that's a chance I can't refuse.

Kawano Takeshi (or Takeshi Kawano, depending on whether you want to anglicize the sur-name placement or not) created these works for the Italian communication research center Fabrica, to call attention to the threats of climate change.

Kai Lossgott : nothing with skin is blind

2009-07-29T21:29:00.007-05:00

the first leaf. Kai Lossgott. 2008. Typewriter on sycamore leaf. Spruce and glass light boxes. 30 x 30 cm. SASOL Art Collection.

sound. Kai Lossgott. 2008. Laser engraving on foxglove leaf. Spruce and glass light boxes. 30 x 30 cm. SASOL Art Collection.

neurotech. Kai Lossgott. 2008. Laser engraving on morning glory leaf. Spruce and glass light boxes. 30 x 30 cm. Private Collection.

Installation view at Gordart Gallery in Melville, South Africa, in April 2008

For South African conceptual artist Kai Lossgott's latest project, 'nothing with skin is blind' he has made minute incisions, punctures and impressions into the tissue of plant leaves to form texts and images which are only visible against the light. Displayed in lightboxes, the leaves gleam. One of the texts makes reference to "the inheritance of light". "Shoot," proclaims another, "in spring his heart / is open as a gun".

Lossgott's work emphasises the shift from an anthropocentric to a biocentric position, from the human-centred to the life-centred. Most of the engravings are continuous line drawings exploring the sensory abilities of the human body. "We have certain features in common with plants," says the artist. "We develop in symmetry, with a form of skin, branches and capillaries containing blood or sap. We both perceive a diurnal and seasonal progression in the body. A plant perceives in the way human skin perceives. It scars, it heals. It remembers."

'Nothing with skin is blind' makes reference to cellular memory and engrams, a postulated biological change in neural tissue that represents a memory. Plant, human or animal, the artist seems to say, our biological processes bear certain similarities. It is through these similarities that Lossgott draws into question the boundaries between different forms of sentient life and where exactly consciousness begins.

'nothing with skin is blind' was first shown at the Gordart Gallery in Melville, South Africa, in April 2008. The work has since been acquired by various corporate collections.

To see more of Kai's work, visit www.kailossgott.com

The Endangered Species Print Project

2009-07-22T20:06:00.008-05:00

Many of you may have wondered where I have been lately. Well among other things, I was getting this little joey out of the pouch (to use the terminology of my fellow artist & collaborator Molly Schafer).

May I present to you, esteemed readers, the Endangered Species Print Project!

The Endangered Species Print Project offers limited edition prints of critically endangered species.

The number of prints available corresponds with the remaining animal or plant populations.

For example, only 30 Amur Leopards remain in the wild, so for this edition, only 30 prints will ever be made.

All proceeds from ESPP are donated to conservation organizations.

A different organization, whose mission is to the ensure the survival of the specie depicted, is chosen for each print.

An example of one of the prints offered on ESPP --- in this case, this is the highly endangered and charming Golden Frog

We are actively looking for ways to promote the project and artists that would like to participate, so please contact me at espp@EndangeredSpeciesPrintProject.com if you're interested in lending a paw...

We have already received major interest from The Center for Biological Diversity, who we'll be collaborating with and from The Sierra Club, who'll be posting about ESPP on their blog and most likely publishing an article on the project this year in SIERRA Magazine. We'll also work with them on a print or series of prints. Very exciting!

John Pfahl - Early Work

2009-04-08T20:32:00.021-05:00

John Pfahl has been making beautiful and often uncanny photographs of evidence of the human hand in the natural world since the 70's. I'll post some of his later work at another time, but for now, I'd like to focus on his early work, which was being made in the early days of the Environmentalist movement. An early series "Altered Landscapes" created from 1974-78 (first three images below) seems to come at the idea of human intervention in the landscape straight on. Throughout his long career, his work continues to explore ways of making pictures that observe the intersections of nature and culture, the natural world and the built environment.

Pfahl's "Power Places" series was created between 1980 and 1984, and documents, in anything but Becher-like neutrality, power plants in their seemingly unlikely and gorgeous surrounds. Though Pfahl selects subject matter like a documentarian, choosing one subject and then making a 'record' of sorts through repetition, I believe that it is his passion for his subjects (and for their beauty) that leads him to make these sumptuous moody framings, and eschew typical documentary disassociation from his subjects.

Below is the artist statement posted on John's site for "Power Places":

I have frequently noticed that the electric power companies have chosen the most picturesque locations in America in which to situate their enormous plants. This is likely due to a need for rivers and waterfalls to propel their turbines, or for lakes and oceans to cool their reactors. It may also attest to the importance placed upon being isolated from large population centers for safety considerations. Whatever the reason, it sometimes seems that there is an almost transcendental connection between power and the natural landscape. Even the names given to the plants conjure up an Arcadian vision of the land: Seabrook, Crystal River, Indian Point, Palo Verde.
For me, power plants in the natural landscape represent only the most extreme example of man’s willful domination over the wilderness. It is the arena where the needs and ambitions of an ever-expanding population collide most forcefully with the finite resources of nature.

It is not without trepidation that I have appropriated the codes of "the Sublime" and "the Picturesque" in my work. After all, serious photographers have spent most of this century trying to expunge such extravagances from their art. The tradition lives on, mostly in calendars and picture postcards. I was challenged to rework and revitalize that which had been so roundly denigrated. However, by making the landscape appear so romantic, would it promote the naïve impression that these power plants were living in blissful harmony with nature? Would my work be co-opted by industry? I needn’t have worried. For the most part, the work has been received in the same spirit as it was intended.

In order to make my observations rise to the metaphoric plane, I deliberately searched out a variety of power sources in addition to nuclear, including fossil fuel, hydro, wind, solar, and geothermal. I felt that concentrating on nuclear power alone would detract from my larger ambitions and reduce the project to a specific political agenda. I gradually learned that the other, supposedly more benign, sources of energy all had their dark sides, that the actual harm done to the environment was at least as disturbing as the potential harm from nuclear mishaps. Familiar dangers seem to get preempted by unfamiliar ones.

There seems to be no easy, black-and-white solution to the environmental dilemma. I have become uncomfortable with reducing the tangle to a generic, ideologically correct version of reality. As Estelle Jussim wrote, it is almost impossible for a single photograph to state both the problem and the solution. I want to make photographs whose very ambiguity provokes thought, rather than cuts it off prematurely. I want to make pictures that work on a more mysterious level, that approach the truth by a more circuitous route.

More of John Pfahl's intriguing work can be found at his website.

And on a more personal note, this last image is of the Pacific Gas and Electric Plant in Morro Bay. I recognize it because my mother grew up in San Luis Obispo, which is just a short way inland from Morro Bay. I have been to this beautiful site many times, and often wondered at the power plant "marring" the view. Morro rock is even larger and more impressive that it appears in Pfahl's photograph, where it seems pushed back by the power plant. It is the last in a chain of nine former volcanoes called the nine sisters that lead from San Luis' Bishop Peak out to the sea. I've climbed Bishop many times with my family, and watched otters and seals swim off the shore of Morro rock. At this time of year the peaks are so beautiful, green with new grass and that gives way to gray jagged rocks, launching from the tops of the hills into the shrouds of low hanging clouds. Their flanks are spattered with the purple of lupine and the neon orange of the native California poppy. San Luis is a vibrant and charming town and wouldn't 'run' without the power from this plant, but it has managed so far to keep a good balance between the natural and the man-made. Farmers outside of town are banding together to keep their land from being developed, and the people of SLO tend to be the sort who would rather walk along a rocky beach than a paved in mall. The nine sisters are ancient and will doubtless remain ages to come, but I think the end of the age of the smokestack and the power plant may be closer at hand.

My grandparents for years have actively worked on the Central Coast against the spread of destructive and unsafe nuclear power, initially trying to block the Diablo Canyon power plant (I know, great name, right?) from being put in, and then buying land down coast from the plant to protect it from development --- land which they have since given to the Nature Conservancy. The Diablo plant is also run by Pacific Gas and Electric and although it has never had a major issue, it's presence remains a worrying concern for residents who worry about the safety of the plant and its by-products. California has since banned the approval of new nuclear reactors since the late 1970s because of concerns over waste disposal.

As a small child, I remember seeing hand-drawn posters in my grandparents' house from protests, saying "Go Sunny with Solar, NOT Deadly with Nukes" -- and remember similar slogans from bumper stickers on my Grandma's dark blue Volkswagon's Beetle. One wonders what would have happened if we had started trying to develop affordable solar technology in the 70's in earnest and with the government support we are now only beginning to see materialize. Maybe we would not now be having to reinvestigate the use of nuclear power as a last ditch solution in the race to stop climate change.

In any case, as you can probably see, my wonderful grandparents have played a big part in my life as an environmentalist. It's because of people like them, and people like all the other artists, activists and thinkers featured on this blog that we have made as much progress as we have. May we all live to see our goals come to fruition. To borrow another slogan off a hand-drawn poster: "Keep on Truckin!"

This post is dedicated to my passionate, hard-working Grandfather, Bruce Miller II, who strived to see the world with unclouded eyes, and worked his whole life to see justice created, not only for the people on this planet, but for the planet itself. We'll miss you Papa.

Tom Uttech

2009-03-10T00:26:00.023-05:00

I was lucky enough to get to see one of Tom Uttech's stunningly gorgeous paintings (no hyperbole, I was truly stunned by how beautiful it was) in person a couple years ago at the Art Chicago art fair. My friend Molly and I stood in front of it for a good twenty minutes or so and then came back to look at it again before leaving. In the midst of all the commercial, sensational and trend-oriented work at the fair, oh my goodness, it was such a completely different thing altogether, and reminded me why I make art.

I hope you enjoy Tom Uttech's paintings, though little .jpgs online don't compare to seeing in person. Do be sure to click the images to see them larger, though.

No text-based reiteration of this man's obvious deep passion for the natural world is needed. The heavy scented magic of forest oozes over the edges of his handcrafted frames, smelling of mushrooms and decomposing pine needles. Animal observers gaze out at us, confronting us, asking us if we're part of this world or not. Fluttering flocks of birds rush towards the sunset or seem to flee some unseen menace. What is it that they're fleeing? Is that you out there, standing just beyond the ring of the setting sun?...waiting, just beyond the frame?...and if so...do you want to come in?

If you'd like to read more on Tom Uttech's work, please check out Wunderkammer's friend, Hungry Hyaena, for a great post.

WWF Strikes Again...

2009-02-17T22:01:00.011-06:00

Another clever clever series of adverts from WWF, (that is, the World Wildlife Federation, as opposed to the World Wrestling Federation --- these ads would be a real change of direction for them.) This time their campaign deals with linking the idea of deforestation to species loss.

And another series, below, showing how turtles evolve into soup and leopards into coats...with a little "assistance" from public enemy numero uno.

Good job WWF advert team! Clever and thought provoking ads. Let's hope these are reaching their marks.

Walton Ford

2009-02-09T20:46:00.017-06:00

May I humbly present, the inimitable Walton Ford, a dear favorite of mine. Look closely children, his work is rich and nuanced.

I am resiting the urge to write tons about him. Some other time. Until then enjoy the images, and if you like his work --- Google him!

The following are composites of his work, with details on the sides:

I saved the best for last. Click on the Elephant Bird and the Passenger Pigeons to enlarge to gorgeously detailed high-res images:

Love, love, love his work!

More Art to follow, I swear!

2009-02-09T20:43:00.003-06:00

In an effort to get posting more frequently (Look at that big break in posts! Shame on me!), I am easing up on my yen to write reams about every artist's work and am I just going to indulge you, lovely viewers, with a deluge of images instead. It is art after all, and what is it that they say about images speaking louder than 1000 pens? *wink*

We won!

2008-11-05T21:23:00.010-06:00

This may not be on topic, unless you count the fact that our new president will promote the arts and protect the environment, but I just wanted to share a few photos from last night. We were in downtown Chicago in Grant Park with millions of other people and the next president of the United States!

When we heard CNN announce that Virginia had gone blue and then a minute later they called the election for Obama the whole crown started jumping up and down, screaming, hugging, kissing and crying. It was incredible, and everyone as far as you could see was on our side, and we all worked together to make real democracy happen.

Jen Renninger

2008-10-11T15:28:00.001-05:00

We Are All Connected - open-edition archival print - Jen Renninger

This is a very simple way, no less significant for its simplicity, to express the basic emotional sentiment, that in my mind underlies the Environmental movement. Illustrator Jen Renninger quotes artist Jenny Holzer here in her open-edition print, which, should you so desire, can become part on your environmental art collection for an extremely reasonable $25, at her etsy shop.

Human/Nature : Artists Respond to a Changing Planet

2008-10-06T16:30:00.022-05:00

I recently found out about a fantastic exhibit called Human/Nature : Artists Respond to a Changing Planet which features works by eight contemporary artists created in response to their travels to eight threatened World Heritage sites. This exhibition, a partnership between an arts organization and conservation organization exemplifies what we can do when we all work together. These artists present compelling work on some of our world's most interesting and most endangered places.

Below is text from the very detailed press release interspersed with my favorite images from the show. All photos of the exhibit are by Pablo Mason.

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) presents Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet, opening August 17, 2008, at the Museum’s downtown Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building and 1001 Kettner galleries.

Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA), in partnership with the international conservation organization Rare, Human/Nature is a pioneering artist residency
and collaborative exhibition project that, for the first time on this scale, uses contemporary art to investigate the relationships between fragile natural environments and the human
communities that depend upon them.

This collaborative multi-year exhibition project sent eight leading artists to eight UNESCO World Heritage sites around the globe to create new work informed and inspired by their experiences in these diverse cultural and natural regions. On view at MCASD through February 1, 2009, the exhibition features new commissioned, site-specific works by Mark Dion, Ann Hamilton, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Marcos Ramírez ERRE, Rigo 23, Dario Robleto, Diana Thater and Xu Bing created in response to their travels to these threatened sites. Human/Nature will also be on view at BAM/PFA from February 25 through June 28, 2009.

MCASD David C. Copley Director Hugh M. Davies remarked, “This dynamic group of groundbreaking contemporary artists continually creates thoughtful works that push the boundaries of what art is. For Human/Nature, the artists are producing engaging works that prompt viewers to question their relationships to the world in which we live.”

The artists each traveled to a World Heritage site of their choice and completed two or more mini-residencies, creating works based on their experiences. Through a wide range of works that cross all media, Human/Nature encourages global support for the protection of cultural and biological diversity and provokes new questions regarding conservation, cultural understanding, and artistic inspiration.

“If we are going to effect change, it must be a concerted effort between people in the arts, in the sciences, and people working directly towards a better future for our planet. This is where Human/Nature positions itself as a model for change: artists working together with the communities and individuals most concerned with the fate of these World Heritage sites. These collaborations create hope for the future,” stated Jacquelynn Baas, Interim Director of BAM/PFA.

“Some of the world’s most remote developing areas contain the highest levels of natural resources—the forests, species, and waterways that provide global life support and whose loss will impact all of our futures,” said Brett Jenks, President and CEO of Rare. “One of our biggest challenges is bringing the natural and cultural riches of these faraway communities to life for audiences here in the U.S., so we are grateful to the artists in this exhibition and to the museums who are making this possible. I look forward to expanding the dialogue with new audiences on the future of our planet.”

Mobile Ranger Library : Komodo National Park - mixed media - fabricated by William Feeney - Mark Dion - 2008

Mark Dion : Komodo National Park, Indonesia

Famous around the world for their aggressive behavior and curious appearance, Komodo dragons, the word’s largest monitor lizards, inhabit the rugged hillsides and dry savanna of this Indonesian World Heritage site. The site also includes a vast marine reserve with one of the richest underwater environments in the world, formed of coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, and semi-enclosed bays. These habitats contain more than 1,000 species of fish, 260 species of reef-building coral, and 70 species of sponges. Dugong, sharks, manta rays, at least 14 species of whales, dolphins, and sea turtles also inhabit the park.

In May 2005, Mark Dion traveled to the Komodo and Rinca Islands, inspired by a childhood fascination with the Komodo dragon. Once at the site, however, the artist’s attention was captured by the park rangers who guided and instructed him. He was impressed with their knowledge, commitment, and their surprising lack of resources. Dion returned to Komodo National Park in 2007 to create a functional work of art: a supply cart for the rangers, consisting of books, flashlights, batteries, maps, and other essential supplies. A replica of the cart will be created for the exhibition.

Galápagos chorus - DVD projection, amplified cone gloves with pre-recorded animal sounds, iPods, artist’s books with texts by 8th-grade students from El Colegio Nacional Galápago - Ann Hamilton - 2008

Ann Hamilton : Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Situated in the Pacific Ocean some 1,000 kilometers from the South American continent, these 19 Ecuadorian islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a “living museum and showcase of evolution.” Ongoing seismic and volcanic activity reminds us of the processes that formed the Galápagos Islands. These occurrences, together with the extreme isolation of the islands, have resulted in the development of the unusual animal life—such as the giant tortoise, the land iguana, and the many types of finch—that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution following his visit in 1835.

After visiting the Galápagos in June 2005, Ann Hamilton proposed to create a poetic text that will be performed by local elementary school students and heard in the museum galleries, juxtaposed with footage of a wavering horizon line shot from a camera suspended in water. She will be returning in spring 2008 to realize her project.

Juggernaut - super 16mm film digitized to HD video projection - 5:44 video loop - Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle - 2008

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle : El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

Both the Whale Sanctuary and the Rock Paintings of the Sierra de San Francisco are located within El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve in central Baja California, the long peninsula that extends south from the California/Mexico western border. From the gulf coast to the Sierra Mountains of the Sonoran Desert, the Reserve encompasses the bays and lagoons of the sea, and the cultural and archeological sites of the mountains. The coastal lagoons of Ojo de Liebre and San Ignacio are important breeding and wintering sites for the gray whale, harbor seal, California sea lion, northern elephant-seal, and blue whale. The area is also home to four species of the endangered sea turtle. However, the region’s marine resources have been declining due to unsustainable fishing practices and illegal wildlife extraction.

On his visit to El Vizcaíno in February 2005, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle was inspired to create an artwork that both depicts the natural beauty and ecological importance of the place and raises awareness of the industrial development that threatens it. Manglano-Ovalle is creating a multi-sensory installation featuring a film that uses local actors and incorporates iconic images from recent art history. He returned to his site in 2007 to complete the filming for his piece.

Shangri-La : el sueño volatil (Shangri-La: the Volatile Dream) - mixed media, decorative wooden detailing created by Tibetan artisans in the region of Shangri-La, Zhongdian, Yunnan Province, China - Marcos Ramírez ERRE - 2008

Marcos Ramírez ERRE : Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, China

Northwest Yunnan is the richest area of biodiversity in China and may be the most biologically diverse temperate region on earth. The outstanding topographic and climatic diversity of the site—coupled with its location at the juncture of the East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Tibetan Plateau and its function as a north-south corridor for the movement of plants and animal —marks it as a truly unique landscape, which still retains a high degree of natural character despite thousands of years of human habitation. The region is the last remaining stronghold for many rare and endangered plants and animals, such as the Giant Panda, the Red Panda, and the Golden Lion Tamarin and is also home to many Chinese ethnic minorities.

ERRE visited this mountainous region in May 2005. A conceptual artist with a background in construction, ERRE worked with local residents to build a wall using traditional, regional building methods and materials on his return trip in 2007. Into this wall, he will place video screens that serve as “windows” into the everyday lives of the residents and the landscape in which they live.

Installation view of Teko Mbarate : Struggle for Life and Sapukay : Cry for Help - Rigo 23 - 2008

Sapukay : Cry for Help - woven taquara, banana trunk fibers, feathers, wire, fishing line, caxeta. Assembled in Cananéia, Brazil, with members of the local Quilombola, Guarani, and Caiçara communities - Rigo 23 - 2008

Teko Mbarate : Struggle for Life (detail) - taquara, bamboo, wire, styrofoam, plywood, banana trunk fibers, feathers, sisal, mud, water, car battery, lights, MP3 players, and headphones. Assembled in Cananéia, Brazil, with members of the local Quilombola, Guarani, and Caiçara communities - Rigo 23 - 2008

Rigo 23 : Atlantic Forest Southeast Reserves, Brazil

The 25 protected areas that make up this site epitomize the biological richness of the few remaining areas of Atlantic forest of southeastern Brazil and are home to a diverse group of
communities that depend upon healthy forest ecosystems for their livelihoods and cultural survival—from the indigenous Guarani people to the Quilombolas, descendants of African slaves who escaped from plantations and established villages throughout the region. The
Atlantic Forest has exceptionally high numbers of rare and endemic species—including a great diversity of primates and other mammals. From mountains covered by dense forests to wetlands, coastal islands, and dunes, the Atlantic Forest Southeast Reserves are a rich natural
environment of great natural beauty and biodiversity.

Rigo 23 first visited the coastal village of Cananéia and the surrounding forested areas of southeastern Brazil in early spring of 2005. From 2006 through early 2008, he took four additional trips to the site, forming strong connections with three local communities. Working in collaboration with the local artisans, Rigo 23 has created two sculptures using their traditional materials and methods. Together, they have built replicas of contemporary weapons of mass destruction—a cluster bomb and a nuclear submarine—and through the process of collaboration have turned the sculptures into celebrations of life instead of death.

Some Longings Survive Death - glacially released 50,000-year old woolly mammoth tusks, 19th-century braided–hair flowers of various lovers intertwined with glacially released woolly mammoth hair, carved ivory and bone, bocote, colored paper, silk, ribbon, typeset - Dario Robleto - 2008

Love Has Value Because It’s Not Eternal - hand-blown glass beakers, stretched audio tape of field recordings of the sound of glaciers melting (2005–06) intertwined with audio tape of various lovers recording their partner’s heartbeats as they reflected on each other, ground passion flower, amber, eternal flower, resurrection plant, silk, satin, leather, ribbon, brass, iron, cork, pine, typeset - Dario Robleto - 2008

Dario Robleto : Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park, U.S. (Montana) and Canada (Alberta)

Straddling the U.S.-Canadian border, Glacier-Waterton was established in 1932 as the world’s first International Peace Park. More than a billion years ago, the movement of massive bodies of glacial ice created today’s contrast of fields and prairies against rugged, snow-capped peaks. Small alpine glaciers of relatively recent origin dot the mountainous landscape. Noted for its importance to bird and mammal migration, the park is populated by American black bears, mountain goats, elk, Bighorn sheep, and the endangered bald eagle. Once under the control of the Blackfoot confederacy, the region was largely untouched by exploration and development until the 19th century. Perhaps as a result, the area contains the highest density of archaeological sites of any small valley system in the northern Rocky Mountains.

During his site visit in 2005, Dario Robleto spent much of his time with a prominent glaciologist who is monitoring the park’s melting glaciers. On his second visit in 2006, Robleto, a conceptual sculptor, participated in a glacier measuring expedition. He will create a series of sculptures that focus on the disappearance of species; the mourning we collectively experience as we witness the changing of the earth; and the ways in which loss can inspire new ways of thinking.

RARE - 16 LCD Monitors, 1 DVD player, 1 DVD, and existing architecture - Diana Thater - 2008

Diana Thater : iSimangaliso Wetland Park (formerly Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park), South Africa

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park is one of the most diverse regions in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. Located on the northeastern coast of the country, stretching from Kozi Bay in the north to Cape St. Lucia in the south, the park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.

Spanning more than 280 kilometers of coastline, iSimangaliso’s wide variety of pristine natural ecosystems—wetlands, grasslands, forests, lakes, and savanna—provides for an astounding diversity of species in the area, including some 521 bird species. The interplay of the park’s environmental heterogeneity with major floods and coastal storms, and a transitional geographic location between sub-tropical and tropical Africa, has resulted in exceptional species diversity and ongoing speciation.

Experienced in capturing footage of animals in the wild, Diana Thater conducted her residency in 2007 filming the many species of wildlife in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. She will create a gallery installation featuring imagery from her filming.

木, 林, 森 Project (Lin, Mu, Sen Project) - components of the project include a 451/4 x 135 inches landscape by the artist, 20 191/2 x 16 inch drawings by Kenyan school children, copies of the primer in Swahili and English and other materials used on-site, photographs, and online auction site - Xu Bing - 2005-ongoing

Xu Bing : Mount Kenya National Park, Kenya

At 5,199 meters, Mount Kenya is the second highest peak in Africa. Twelve remnant glaciers
remain on the mountain, all receding rapidly. With its rugged glacier-clad summits and forested middle slopes, Mount Kenya is one of the most dramatic landscapes in East Africa. Its Afro-Alpine flora also provides an outstanding example of ecological evolution.

Xu Bing’s initial visit to Mount Kenya National Park occurred in late spring 2005. While there, he spent time with local community members who spoke with him at length about their concerns for the health of the Mount Kenya ecosystem. After a number of discussions with locals about the impact of deforestation in the Mount Kenya area, Xu identified trees as the raison d’etre and motif for his Human/Nature project. Long interested in the visual and
metaphorical power of written language, the artist plans to work with Mount Kenyan schoolchildren to develop artworks using the Chinese characters relating to trees (such as the
ideograms for “wood,” “woods,” and “forest.”) His project will result in original work created in collaboration with the children as well as individual works created by the children that will be reproduced and available via a specially created Web site; the proceeds from the works will go toward a reforestation project in the park. Xu will return to Kenya in late spring 2008.

:More information about the conservation organization RARE:

Rare, a U.S.-based conservation organization, works globally to equip people in the world's most threatened natural areas with the tools and motivation they need to care for their natural resources. For the last 30 years, at more than 120 sites, and in more than 40 nations, Rare has focused as much on people as on science—addressing the underlying social and economic factors that create environmental threats.

Rare's signature "Pride campaign" builds grassroots support for environmental protection by training local conservation leaders in the use of commercial marketing tactics to build awareness, influence attitudes, and change behaviors. Pride campaigns produce a groundswell of support that lead to tangible conservation successes, such as new national parks, reform legislation, or reduction of threats from forest fires or over-fishing.

Rare has been recognized by Fast Company magazine as one of the "Top 25 Social Capitalists" for the past four years, and its conservation toolkit has been embraced by many large environmental organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the National Audubon Society.

Find out more about RARE at: www.rareconservation.org

More information on the show can be found here.

The California Academy of Sciences: More Photos

2008-10-06T16:21:00.013-05:00

I cant resist posting a few more images from the beautiful and inspiring new California Academy of Sciences. What a lovely building --- I think I'll try to swing a visit on my next trip to California.

See the post below for more info on this remarkable structure...

(Though the site I snagged these images from didn't credit them,
I believe credit is due to Tim Griffith for at least some of the photos...)

The California Academy of Sciences

2008-09-26T13:17:00.014-05:00

The new building for the California Academy of Sciences was designed by Renzo Piano (whose building for the new contemporary wing of the Art Institute of Chicago is just being completed here). I'm not generally a huge fan of his work, but this building is a breathtaking work of subtle genius, which lovingly and subtly interweaves indoor and outdoor space, fusing the natural with the built environment. Those who enjoyed my post on green roofs in architecture, will love the green roof on this one...one of the most interesting I've seen.

Nicolai Ouroussoff writes for the New York Times: "If you want reaffirmation that human history is an upward spiral rather than a descent into darkness, head to the new California Academy of Sciences, in Golden Gate Park, which opens on Saturday.

"Designed by Mr. Piano on the site of the academy’s demolished home, the building has a steel frame that rests amid the verdant flora like a delicate piece of fine embroidery. Capped by a stupendous floating green roof of undulating mounds of plants, it embodies the academy’s philosophy that humanity is only one part of an endlessly complex universal system." [...]

"A glass lobby allows you to gaze straight through the building to the park on the other side. Other views open into exhibition spaces with their own microclimates. The entire building serves as a sort of specimen case, a framework for pondering the natural world while straining to disturb it as little as possible."
[...]
"The roof of the academy’s lobby, supported by a gossamerlike web of cables, swells upward as if the entire room were breathing. Views open up to the landscape on all four sides, momentarily situating you both within the building and in the bigger world outside. A narrow row of clerestory windows lines the top of the lobby. One of the building’s many environmental features, these windows let warm air escape and create a gentle breeze that reinforces the connection to the natural setting."

"The museum has also preserved its African Hall, with its gorgeous vaulted ceiling and dioramas of somnolent lions and grazing antelopes, integrating it into the new design. Built in the 1930s, this neo-Classical hall is a specimen of sorts. Its massive stone structure reflects colonial attitudes about the civilized world as a barrier against barbarism. It was intended as a symbol of Western superiority and a triumph over nature."

"By contrast, Mr. Piano’s vision avoids arrogance. The ethereality of the academy’s structure suggests a form of reparations for the great harm humans have done to the natural world. It is best to tread lightly in moving forward, he seems to say. This is not a way of avoiding hard truths; he means to shake us out of our indolence."

All photos are by Tim Griffith whose extensive body of architectural photography
(including some great photos of "The Birdsnest") can be seen at timgriffith.com

Maslen & Mehra : Mirrored : A new book

2008-09-21T13:24:00.005-05:00

A few days ago I received an email from Moderne Kunst Books, who is publishing a new book on artists Maslen & Mehra. Apparently, some of the text from the piece I wrote for Wunderkammer on their work is being used to promote the book.

You can read my earlier post on Maslen & Mehra's work here --- which focuses specifically on their Native series, an excerpt of which is shown below.

Eurpoean Wolf : Notre Dame : Paris - from the Native Series - non-manipulated photograph of sculpture - Maslen & Mehra - 2007

Maslen & Mehra : Mirrored
Ed. Caprice Horn, Berlin
Texts by Edward Lucie-Smith, Eugen Blume
Hardcover, 184 S., 95 col. ill.
978-3-940748-42-3
EUR 30,00 sFr 52,00

Ryan McLennan

2008-09-10T18:48:00.010-05:00

Untitled - acrylic on paper- Ryan McLennan - 2007

Oh goodness, it's been far too long since I've posted. I suppose that my flimsy excuse of being in Japan won't really hold any water. In any case, I have been storing up some great posts for Wunderkammer and hope to get rolling on them, despite that fact that I am inflicted with a chronic disease of taking on way more projects than I can manage.

And since I don't have very much time today with all my other projects, the work of artist Ryan McLennan can pretty much speak for its self.

McLennan is an artist from Richmond, Virginia who works mainly in acrylic on paper and sometime on wood. His enigmatic images seem to tell a mysterious story of a battle between forest creatures, with a cast including moose, beavers, foxes and a strange bear made from leaves.

Orphans - acrylic on paper- Ryan McLennan - 2007

Mine - acrylic on paper- Ryan McLennan - 2007

Education - acrylic on paper- Ryan McLennan - 2007

Aftermath - acrylic on paper- Ryan McLennan - 2007

Haul - acrylic on paper- Ryan McLennan - 2007

Gather - acrylic on paper- Ryan McLennan - 2007

To see more of Ryan's work or to contact the artist, please visit: http://www.ryanmclennan.com

Environmental ARchiTecture

2008-05-30T17:51:00.032-05:00

Green Oasis : laser-cut steel and living plants : Meesters & Marije Van der Park : 2006

Green Oasis : laser-cut steel and living plants : Meesters & Marije Van der Park : 2006

Green Oasis : laser-cut steel and living plants : Meesters & Marije Van der Park : 2006

These works are more architecture than art by formal definition, but I'm finding myself increasingly drawn to things that blur the lines between art and other things when compiling work for Wunderkammer. Somehow, these works that enter our public spaces or derive from more comfortable familiar forms can come at us a bit perpendicularly, not being obviously message oriented works --- and perhaps are therefore more easily able to get under our skin.

From marijevanderpark.nl:

Design studio Meesters & Van der Park seeks inspiration from nature and technique resulting in Green Oasis, a summer house in the shape of an excavator, covered with climbing plants."The city changes through a continuous process of demolition and rebuilding. Nature comes second almost every time."

With Green Oasis, Meesters & Van der Park re-introduce nature to the city in a functional way. For the design, the agency was inspired by technique as well as nature: the shape of the excavator embodies technique, while the growing climbing plants represent the force of nature. The result is a summer house in the shape of a life-sized excavator, covered with green climbing plants. It is literally a green oasis for those much needed moments of peace and quiet in an urban public environment. The summer house offers seating to four people. The object is entirely made of laser-cut steel and produced by Phoenix Metaalwarenfabriek.

After my last trip to Paris, I haven't been able to get the facade of the Musée du quai Branly (a relatively new museum focusing on non-western antiquities and indigenous arts) out of my mental environment. I went to see it at night, and the wall of luscious creeping greenery disappearing into the vertical blackness of the sky has really stayed with me. I began to wonder why all of our buildings aren't covered in plants --- then a walk down the busy streets of a city would be akin to a stroll in the woods. We'd process more CO2 this way as well, no small bonus in this age of 387 ppm. Urban jungle could take on a whole new literal meaning, and imagine the little biospheres that we could begin to build-up. Perhaps native birds would repopulate urban areas, and I can imagine people's sense of well-being would improve too.

Musée du quai Branly : Paris, France

Patrick Blanc, the creator of this vertical garden (and others), has this to say about urban gardens:

“There are so many places that need a vertical garden: parking lots, train stations, the metro — all those difficult spots, those places where you really don’t expect to encounter the living — that is what interests me above all else.”

Apparently he does interiors as well. Who wouldn't feel more at peace in an office like this? Mmmm, lovely...Is that a tree frog?

Various Vertical Gardens : Patrick Blanc

Green roofs get us halfway there and certainly provide myriad benefits to the buildings' owners --- and the planet as well. My mother is in the process of renovating a partially burned 100+ year old row house in downtown Richmond, Virginia into a Platinum LEED home, and plans to install a green roof. (The penchant for biophilia runs deep in this family!)The house will also have a small roof-garden area and a cupola supporting solar panels. Any ideas or images would be welcome, as they're still in the design stage...

What does *this* green-roofed building remind you of?

ACROS Fukuoka Building : Fukuoaka, Japan : Architect Emilio Ambasz

photo of the jaguar temple at Lamanai ("submerged crocodile" in Yucatec Maya) : from my trip to Belize in January 2007 with my Mom and the Sierra Club

More green roofs, roof gardens, and arbors at altitudes...

Conservatorium of Music : Sydney, Australia

Vancouver Public Library : Vancouver, Canada

Village Model by Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser

Village Model by Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser

Hunderwasserhouse : Vienna, Austria : Architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser

The Ford Assembly Plant : Michigan, US
(Surprised by this one?)

Center For Green Roof Research : Penn State University

Church with turf roof : Saurbær, Iceland

Home of unknown suburban rebel roof-gardener : somewhere in the US

Amazing, right? Now get going on your own!

Another Mystery Image vs Spiral Jetty

2008-05-29T19:01:00.010-05:00

Anyone know who made this image? (Or should we call it an earthwork?) I wonder if it is photoshopped or real? If it is a real image, kudos are due indeed for its creation and execution --- though I hope no trees were executed to create it.

(Via the excellent art blog Le Territoire Des Sens.)

It's a Spiral Jetty for the environmental cause.

So then that poses and interesting question. Is Spiral Jetty a work of art with an environmental message? It's all in how you interpret it of course, whether you focus on the bulldozer tearing up and reshaping the landscape --- or the heightened awareness of place and landscape that the earth-work has brought to people who have watched it surface and submerge over the last 38 years.

WWF Campaign

2008-05-22T17:56:00.009-05:00

Seems like the image that I posted of the car spewing sculptural exhaust may have been Photoshopped! Gasp!

It in fact appears not to be a piece of art, but a part of a clever campaign by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) from Beijing to ask Chinese citizens not to drive one day a week. The sculptural smog balloon represents how much pollution is eliminated for each car taken off the road for a day.
(Via tranism.com)

Here's a link to some details on the project.

Not sure if this fits a traditional definition of art, but as an object and statement that's aesthetically pleasing and provocative, centering around environmental issues, I'd say it's pretty effective, and deserves to be posted on Wunderkammer. I don't really care if it's "art" or not --- it's fabulous to look at and really gets a message across without being in the least dry or boring.

Here is another great campaign by the WWF, this time taking a focus on animal rights and the shameful use of the skins of threatened species for luxury goods. What kind of person could wear shoes made of this little guy?

David Shrigley

2008-05-21T14:48:00.008-05:00

Lost : color photograph : David Shrigley : 1996

While David Shrigley's work does not all deal with environmental concerns, this piece did bring something up that really bothers/interests me, so I decided to post it. (Also, this piece is hilarious.)

I have been thinking for a long time about how animals like pigeons and rats get such a bum rap in our cities --- as opposed to the cherished position we give to pets. Really pigeons are one of the few species that have "made it" and been able to adapt to survive in the environment that we have created when we destroyed their former habitats. Pigeons are a species known as the Rock Dove. That sounds nice right? They used to live on cliffs and rocky ledges and didn't eat garbage or old KFC before we were around. Some bird guides still call them the Rock Dove or Rock Pigeon, though others have changed the designation to "Common Pigeon."

One interesting thing, is that pigeons are in fact feral animals, domesticated by humans several thousand years ago and now existing as a semi-wild populations in urban areas world-wide. (For those of you knowledgeable about how domestication generally affects species' appearances, this will explain the piebald coloration that many pigeons have.) We changed their behavior to tolerate our presence and be dependent on us for food --- then when they try to live side by side with us in the only way they know how, we call them "rats of the sky" and kick them. Not cool humans, not cool.

(I also feel this way about dandelions. The idea of a "weed" is just bizarre to me. Plus dandelions are so pretty. Why would you not like a lawn dotted with lovely yellow blossoms --- with edible leaves and flowers that can be made into a very nice wine to boot?)

I hope David doesn't mind me contextualizing his work in this way. I am not convinced that these pieces are necessarily intended to make environmentalist statements, but I figure they are open to interpretation. More David's witty and excellent photographs --- and other works can be seen at davidshrigley.com

River For Sale : color photograph : David Shrigley : 1999

Stump : color photograph : David Shrigley : 1999

Kaleidoscope Eyes Mystery Surprise

2008-05-17T14:14:00.010-05:00

I found these images on the blog of the lovely Kaleidoscope Eyes, who blogs about style and magical ephemera, but don't know who the artists are. Anyone have a clue? I'd love to see more of these different artists works, as I think these pieces are quite clever and effective. The exhaust is the best use of inflatables that I have seen yet. I wonder if the piece was a static sculpture, or if the car could drive around? It would be so great to see that coming down the street! That's pretty much what I think every time I see a car these days. Get out the bikes guys, now that the weather is nice. There is no freer feeling that flying past traffic on your zippy little two wheeled wonder. Bikes forever!

Perhaps the neon piece is a tad un-subtle, but I can relate to that feeling and it made me laugh.

This one doesn't make me laugh:

As some of you may know (or have noticed) polar bears are one of my most favorite creatures on this little planet. The long awaited, long delayed, and long fought for decision by the EPA as to whether or not to list polar bears as an endangered species finally came through a couple of days ago --- but only listed the bears as threatened. Moreover, there are apparently exemptions in the law regarding global warming effects on the bears and several other damaging loopholes. The decision was also delayed long enough by the Whitehouse so that large tracts of land in the polar bears' territory could be sold off for oil drilling. Way to get all Orwellian on us, Environmental Protection Agency. Might as well change your name to Ministry of the Environment at this point. The agency has been so gutted and turned inside out by the Bush regime, it now seems to be actively working against protecting the environment. You can read more here from an activist perspective at Greenpeace and a "populist" perspective in the LA Times.

Interview with Harri Kallio

2008-05-15T13:39:00.010-05:00

from the series Lepidoptera Portraits : digital pigment print : Harri Kallio

Wunderkammer:
Hi Harri, thanks so much for offering to do an interview for Wunderkammer. I recently did a post on your series "The Dodo and Mauritius Island: Imaginary Encounters." I wonder if you'd tell us a little bit about your experience creating that series, which you worked on for several years. Have you had a long standing interest in the dodo? Dodos are definitely enigmatic and fascinating creatures, but could you tell us what in particular drew you to use them as a subject for your photographs?

Harri Kallio:
As a child, I was fascinated with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Many years later I reread it, and I found the dodo to be a great character. I couldn’t help laughing when I looked at it - somehow it was hard to believe that there had been something like the dodo really out in the world at one point. I became fascinated with the idea of actually building dodo models and seeing how they would look in the real world. In order to be able make work of the extinct dodo birds in modern Mauritius Island landscape I needed to use photography to reinvent the past. “The Dodo and Mauritius Island, Imaginary Encounters”, is a reconstruction and photographic study of the long extinct dodo bird. Based on extensive research, I produced life-size sculptural reconstructions of the bird myself. The project culminated in photographic reconstructions of the dodo bird made with the models in their natural habitat of Mauritius Island. I created my photographic work in the very same locations where dodos went about their daily activities. The resulting photographic work is a visual interpretation of the dodos in the actual locations where they once lived — an imaginary encounter between the viewer and the dodos on Mauritius Island. I also wanted to recreate the kind of moments that must have occurred when the settlers arrived and the birds encountering people for the first time. My idea was not so much to create a scientific reconstruction of the birds, but instead to somehow put the Alice in Wonderland dodo, a character that is faithful to it’s appearances in art history, in the landscape on Mauritius Island — to create a character that is part myth and part real.

from the series Lepidoptera Portraits : digital pigment print : Harri Kallio

WK:
Narrative and fantasy play a strong role in your work. This is true in my own work as well, and I believe holds true for many other artists making work about the natural world. I think that this may in part be due to a cultural longing to reconnect with something that we have lost. Do you have any insight to offer on the co-mingling of dreams and desires with a contemporary look at human beings' relationship to nature --- in your own work, or in general?

HK:
From the point of view of geological deep time the whole foundation of modern human culture, the oversized brain resulting in conscience intelligence is a freak accident. The final realization for the importance and place of human culture in the natural world is that we are not supposed to be here. From the perspective of life as such on this planet humans are not important. Humans are not highest possible outcome of billions of years of evolution rather a tiny accidental side path in a vast tree of life. Ever since Copernicus started to put humans in their place telling that earth is not the center of the universe, followed by Charles Darwin telling us how closely related we are with the rest of the animal kingdom, not separate, not special, not above, humans are having harder time to keep the idea of human superiority over nature together. As science is continuing to open new perspectives to the world humans become more and more aware how closely integrated we are with the nature regardless of all the efforts to distance ourselves from the rest of the Animal kingdom. A good example is the fact that one quarter of our body weight is consisting of bacteria. Bacteria has been around over 3.5 billion years on this planet, humans as species have been around about 200 000 years or so. Bacteria will be around just fine after human culture has expired itself. Life on this planet will be just fine.

from the series Lepidoptera Portraits : digital pigment print : Harri Kallio

WK:
Your work seems to me to be reverent of the natural world while simultaneously taking a tongue-in-cheek view. Your Lepidoptera Portraits show us a surprising and sometimes funny beauty hidden in some of nature's overlooked creatures, while the dodo series humorously and touchingly elaborates on a creature lost from the world due to human actions. Through these strategies of beauty and wit, one thing your work deals with is the way that we humans look at and relate to nature. Why do you think that this has become a major theme in your work? Following from this theme, do you consider your work to be addressing environmental issues?

HK:
Like I said above I don't see humans separate in any way from the rest of the nature. I feel like the term environmental is used in somewhat misleading context. I feel like the term environmental is referring to the age old idea of humans being separate from nature somehow exploiting the resources from a distance, Us (humans) and them (nature). The fact is that we are digging a hole for ourselves as well. The fact that humans are a species who created enough nuclear weapons to end most life as we know it on this planet, including ourselves, is our most extreme environmental (un)achievement. The accelerating technological progress is putting even more responsibility into human hands with the budding new Bio, A.I. and Nano technologies. The next phase of potential disaster creating technologies is very near with self replicating nanorobots, maybe resulting in so called "Grey Goo" scenario where uncontrollably reproducing tiny nano entities consume all organic matter stopping only where gravity holds them down. Or perhaps the whole planet is just going to disappear in a black hole created by the Large Hadron collider when it is put to work later this summer in CERN. I am fascinated what a bizarre world humans have created and disturbed how much diverse life is discarded everyday to make room for the needs of the ever expanding human population.

WK:
Thanks so much for your time Harri, I appreciate you giving us greater insight into your views and work. Harri Kallio's website can be seen at: http://www.harrikallio.com

from the series Lepidoptera Portraits : digital pigment print : Harri Kallio

I agree with Harri about the pervasiveness of the idea of a hard line existing between human beings and the rest of the natural world, and I also agree that it's getting harder to defend this viewpoint. I'm not sure that this is an idea that people will want to let go of gracefully, however, despite that fact that there is definitely a wide-spread damaging effect that framing our relations with our environment as "human vs nature" does to the integrity and usefulness of many disciplines: economics, philosophy, policy-making, and certainly to environmentalism. I don't believe that this dualistic point of view can be backed up by an objective scientific view of the world and evolution. It is a view based on a long cultural history of treatises on human superiority and domination over nature --- and it's about time, in my opinion, for it this self-aggrandizing and destructive idea to "go the way of all things" (i.e. expire).

Certainly, we humans are special in many ways, but a rain forest ecosystem can be seen to be equally complex and wonderful. Moreover, how would our existence as a species and culture(s) be severely maligned if we let this destructive mentality of nature "for use value only" progress to it's inevitable end? To me this 'dividing line' is more truly a fuzzy and nebulous time-line of progressive evolutionary change made up of beneficial mutations and the selection for those traits --- not unlike the gradation between the great apes and monkeys. While we are different from other animals in certain respects (though not as many as people may think) --- we, and the world we create, is in some fundamental way still to be considered as a part of this continuity of Darwinian selection, like all other life on this planet. To quote Jared Diamond from the opening of his book The Third Chimpanzee :

"It's obvious that humans are unlike all animals. It's also obvious that we're a species of big mammal, down the the minutest details of our anatomy and our molecules. That contradiction is the most fascinating feature of the human species."

...a contradiction that certainly bears more elaboration and investigation --- one thing that art-makers are very good at.

Mark Fischer

2008-05-13T22:39:00.010-05:00

False Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassidens) : digital image : Mark Fischer : 2008

White Beaked Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) : digital image : Mark Fischer : 2008

North Pacific Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) : digital image : Mark Fischer : 2008

Artist and whale researcher Mark Fischer captures the sounds of marine mammals using a special process he invented, turning them into rippling hypnotic images he refers to as "wavelets". Fischer endeavors to map the cetacean language, looking for underlying patterns --- simultaneously producing aesthetic patterns that he relates to rainbows in their unplumbable beauty.

I have included several images that the artist created from the recorded sounds of the North Pacific Minke Whale, the Atlantic Spotted Dolphin, the False Killer Whale, and the White Beaked Dolphin --- though he has created hundreds of "wavelets, " based on different recordings of undersea mammals vocalizing.

According to Fischer:

"A sound as loud as a Blue whale makes can span half the world's oceans, which means two whales could [theoretically] send a signal around the globe in just over seven hours"

Fischer's works reminds us of how little we know or understand of the world of our fellow intelligent mammals. His lacy images provide an enticing, if mediated, glimpse at a world generally out of our reach and beyond our ken (at least for now...).

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin (Stenella frontalis) : digital image : Mark Fischer : 2008

Diana Lynn Thompson

2008-04-24T16:25:00.018-05:00

Documentation of Second Annual Flower Circle : Saltspring Island, BC : Diana Lynn Thompson : 2003

Artist Diana Thompson makes sculptural interventions in the natural world. In the spirit of the Spring that is finally coming to Chicago, I wanted to share some images of one of her ongoing projects, Flower Circles. These temporary works are inspired by infiorata and alfombras de flores --- flower carpets from Italy and Spain, as well as rangoli and kolams --- both forms of Indian sand-painting often thought of as decorative prayers.

Thompson, on reoccurring occasions, has orchestrated the creation of these lovely outdoor installations --- one part Wicker Man and one part 60's idealism --- where the materials (in this case, flowers) are provided by visitors and guests to the piece. This reminds me on a larger scale of the little things of twigs, grasses and flowers that one makes as a child. The refreshing simplicity and charm of this project makes it the perfect usher of Spring.

Documentation of First Annual Flower Circle : Saltspring Island, BC : Diana Lynn Thompson : 2002

In another project, titled Hundreds & Thousands, Thompson numbered all the leaves of 5 large trees using a pen and a ladder. The project lasted through all four seasons of a year, during which the artist eventually counted and marked over 38,000 leaves. One imagines that she eventually became the world's best leaf-numberer.

Documentation of Hundreds & Thousands : Bear Creek Park : Diana Lynn Thompson : 2000 - 2001

At the end of the year, when the quantified leaves fell from the trees, Thompson collected them, washed, dried, froze and then pressed them. The leaves were then lightly pinned to the walls of a gallery, where visitors were also invited to pin-up additional leaves themselves.

Installation shot of Hundreds & Thousands : Diana Lynn Thompson : 2000 - 2001

By subtly weaving the dialog of her work back and forth between the natural world and the constructed environment, Diana Thompson's delicate and generous art-making strategies invite us to take pause --- to look longer and more deeply at the patterns and rhythms of the intricate world around us.

Documentation of many other projects can be seen on her website, and perhaps in forests and fields near you.

Documentation of Raincatcher : Great Bear Rainforest : Diana Lynn Thompson : 2005

Kathryn Spence

2008-03-20T22:44:00.022-05:00

Untitled (Great Horned Owl) - pants, coats, shirts, beanie babies + stuffed animal fur, string, wire - Kathryn Spence - 2006

Untitled (Two Burrowing Owls) - newspaper, stuffed animals, fabric, towel, wire + thread - Kathryn Spence - 2006

For the creation of sculptures shown above and throughout, artist Kathryn Spence used found and gathered materials to create seemingly shabby sculptures of life-size pigeons and owls, that upon stepping back, resolve themselves into convincing presences in the room. These figures observe us from the corners of the room or the floor, watching (and perhaps judging?) us.

Untitled (Northern Pygmy Owl) - pants, coats, towel, beanie babies, thread + wire - Kathryn Spence - 2006

Spence created the Pigeons series in 1997, and in an interview with Lisa Owens Viani, has this to say about the genesis of the project :

" The city's so dirty, you just don't have access to nature. So I was happy to even see pigeons on the concrete. I started trying to figure out what to make them out of. I'd see newspapers run over by cars and think that they looked like dead pigeons. So I started gathering up the newspapers and street garbage to make the pigeons."

Pigeons - street trash, wire, string, rubber bands + glue - Kathryn Spence - 1997

She created the Owls series over 9 years later, though birds ran through her work in many ways during the intervening years. Like the pigeons made from street trash, the owls too are made from post-consumer materials. Spence sourced all the fabric scraps from her own wardrobe and from clothing and stuffed animals from thrift stores. (Some of the owls are made from shredded Beanie Babies, which is the only good use I have ever heard of for these "collectible" toys.) Her commitment to use recycled materials stand along side her obvious passion for animals and the natural world. From the same interview as above, she has this to say about her consistent use of recycled materials:

"A lot of the clothes were my clothes—coats or pants. I liked the ones that looked sort of natural—like herringbone for the back of the great horned owls. I started ripping up some of my clothes, whatever seemed like an owl to me. There is so much stuff; there's no reason to use new stuff. I feel like I'm helping in some kind of absurd way."

Untitled (Short Eared Owl) - stuffed animals, towel, coat, wire + thread - Kathryn Spence - 2006

Untitled (Barn Owl) - stuffed animals, coats, towels, wire, string + thread - Kathryn Spence - 2006

Spence observed all but one of the owl species depicted in the wild, and then used taxidermy models to assist in their sculptural recreation in the studio. The owls hang interestingly inside of illusion --- both being easily visually deconstructed into their component materials, but simultaneously seemingly possessed of strong animus (not in the Jungian sense, but as in 'vital spirit').

Spence's sculptures are simply a pleasure to look at. They are beautifully and surprisingly crafted, transcending their ordinary materials. With bodies made from the leftover goods of a consumer society in overdrive, Spence's owls cannot help but make us think that our current crisis of 'unlimited goods vs the Environment' may present us with a choice --- Owls or Beanie Babies? I know what I'd choose.

Untitled (Snowy Owl) - stuffed animals, plastic bag, curtains, wire + thread - Kathryn Spence - 2006

Sam Easterson

2008-03-19T01:26:00.007-05:00

Video artist Sam Easterson attaches harmless cameras to the backs of different animal species, so that we can share a ______'s eye view...in this case a buffalo's eye view. I found this unedited footage, mostly of the buffalo drinking and grazing, but near the end a few shots of the buffalo walking in its herd and locking horns with a rival. Go ahead and be 'one with the buffalo' for 5 minutes. The sounds of it's breathing, snuffing, snorting and slurping are truly amazing. Enjoy!

Harri Kallio

2008-03-18T21:22:00.014-05:00

Riviere des Anguilles #5, Mauritius - from the series The Dodo and Mauritius Island : Imaginary Encounters - Harri Kallio - 2002

Gris Gris #2, Mauritius - from the series The Dodo and Mauritius Island : Imaginary Encounters - Harri Kallio - 2001

Benares #5, Mauritius - from the series The Dodo and Mauritius Island : Imaginary Encounters - Harri Kallio - 2004

I first became aware of Harri Kallio's work from a show postcard I received for Ecotopia at the ICP (International Center of Photography) in 2006. His peculiar photographs of life-size sculptural reconstructions of the dodo, possibly the most famous (and bizarre looking) of extinct birds, get at a funny place in the human psyche. It's hard to know whether to chuckle or sigh.

Riviere des Anguilles #6, Mauritius - from the series The Dodo and Mauritius Island : Imaginary Encounters - Harri Kallio - 2002

The dodo, Raphus cucullatus, though ostrich or vulture-like in appearance, is in fact, a giant island dove, which lived only on the lonely isle of Mauritius, one of the French Mascarenes. The first written account of a living bird was perhaps that published in 1601 by the (ever-so-eloquently named) Dutchman, Jacob Cornelius-zoon van Neck. The last may have been penned by Benjamin Harry a mere 80 years later. The dodo had vanished into the annals of the extinct in the late 17th century.

The dodo's extinction came to be through an unfortunate combination of circumstances. Being an island bird, the species had no natural fear of humans. Added to this, dodos were flightless, and according to most accounts, clumsy and fat.

Though it is popular notion that dodos were killed off for their meat which was used to stock sailing ships, it is widely written that their flesh was actually unpleasant tasting and tough. It is more likely that they were yet another victim of introduced species: rats, cats and dogs that feasted on the dodo's ground-lying eggs. When added to the rapid habitat destruction caused by over-eager human beings colonizing the island the dodos had little chance.

Though no photo of a living dodo was ever taken, Kallio's pictures give us some small sense of what it would be like to see these fantastic birds in their natural environment. Errol Fuller suggests that if humans had been slightly more advised in their doings on Mauritius "Today, dodos might be as common as peacocks in ornamental gardens the world over." What a shame that we're all missing out on feeding popcorn and bread crusts at our city parks to the fat, clumsy, bizarre and wonderful dodo along side the standard fare of pigeons and squirrels

You can see more of Harri Kallio's work on his website.

Riviere des Anguilles #3, Mauritius - from the series The Dodo and Mauritius Island : Imaginary Encounters - Harri Kallio - 2001

Maslen & Mehra

2008-03-18T02:50:00.009-05:00

Ibex : Louvre : Paris II - from the Native Series - non-manipulated photograph of sculpture - Maslen & Mehra - 2007

American Buffalo : Roosevelt Island : New York - from the Native Series - non-manipulated photograph of sculpture - Maslen & Mehra - 2007

Roe Deer : Docklands : London : I - from the Native Series - non-manipulated photograph of sculpture/billboard installation - Maslen & Mehra - 2007

Tim Maslen & Jennifer Mehra are a team of artists based in the UK, who for the last sum of years have been engaging in a powerful dialog on the natural world's place in today’s ‘human world.’

In their Native series (above and throughout), mirrored sculptures of animals are placed in the urban environment as sculptural installations which are then documented with large-scale photographs. The particular species chosen for these temporary interventions were once were natives of, but are no longer present in, the areas in which their simulacra are placed. In the gallery, these works are displayed on reclaimed light boxes, recycled from their former lives as advertisement frames in London's subway system. This alone, I love. That this former vehicle for consumer desire gets re-purposed as an art object designed to question those very structures is quite clever --- as well as being a marker of Maslen & Mehra’s commitment to an art practice centered on sustainability.

American Eagle : Times Square : New York : VI - from the Native Series - recycled advertising lightbox - Maslen & Mehra - 2008

Mouflon : Gianicolo : Rome - from the Native Series - non-manipulated photograph of sculpture - Maslen & Mehra - 2007

I see the photographs as gateways, allowing one to imagine the encounter with the physical objects, if one is not lucky enough to encounter them in reality. Their perhaps more potent existence is as these public sculptures/installations.

Maslen & Mehra’s animal shapes, rather than being ‘filled-in’ representations, reflect the urban environment around them --- displacing their identity outwards. They are creatures which share our space, but only as cut-outs, windows, absences. These mirrored forms call out the very thing that has displaced them --- confronting us with the the phenomenon of habitat loss, species driven to extinction, and our own alienation from the animal kingdom and the natural world.

American Eagle : Empire City : New York - from the Native Series - non-manipulated photograph of sculpture - Maslen & Mehra - 2008

When actually encountering the works in situ, I am compelled to imagine, what one would also see is oneself --- reflected in the animal form. A question directed towards our own ersatz dissociation from the animal clan. We too become the animals on display, running in the same pack as these silver ghosts. When looking at these lost creatures, driven from the world we have created, we look at ourselves, trapped inside the built environment, faces shining back from inside of haloed animal bodies.

This idea of the mirror is key to the thorough consideration of these works. It is what takes the sculptures beyond facsimile. The mirror interrupts ‘the gaze’ --- a traditional signifier of the viewer’s ownership over the object/person/animal who is being viewed, by reflecting that gaze back upon the viewer, reversing the power dynamic. Acknowledging the act of looking and being looked at as equally powerful, and giving agency to both beast and landscape encapsulated in it’s form, Maslen & Mehra’s sculptures force us to confront our complicity in the situation played out by mirror-forms --- the shifting of the environment to managed and manicured, the dispersal of species from their traditional habitats, and our own loss of beauty (in the world and within ourselves) when these creatures disappear from our collective lives.

European Wolf : Notre Dame : Paris - Series - non-manipulated photograph of sculpture - Maslen & Mehra - 2007

For the many human beings on the planet, especially those in cities, where half of humanity will live by the end of 2008, encounters with animals are now rarefied events. We generally only encounter other animals in mediated situations: in zoos, on televisions, as calendar icons, as feral creatures in our cities, on the occasional managed safari. Maslen & Mehra’s sculptures set us up to consider just how much we may be missing.

What do we forfeit if we continue to allow these creatures and environments to be driven from the Earth? To see a sea eagle dive for a salmon, drops of water flashing as talons meet river. To walk the woods in the crisp winter air, and catch a shiver up your spine upon finding fresh wolf tracks crossing the snowy path ahead. To see an ibex silhouetted on a far-off rocky crest, pirouetting, boulder to boulder, so nimbly that it makes you dizzy. To hear the enormous ‘shushing’ sound of owl’s wings right above your head on a moonless night. Surely, these are things worth saving.

Eagle Owl : Reichstag : Berlin - from the Native Series - non-manipulated photograph of sculpture - Maslen & Mehra - 2007

Maslen & Mehra’s mirrored creatures are phantoms, fragile and impermanent --- spectral reminders of the relationships between habitats and inhabitants that no longer exist. They are apparitions from the zoological garden of the distant pre-urban past. These works, however, are not simply mournful. The mirror throws things back at us, but it can can also be a doorway to a new way of thinking. Mirrors show us ourselves, but if we find that reflected image unsatisfying, they can be a tool to focus and ignite the desire for change.

These works, while reminding us of the currently untenable situation we have created with our environment, are none-the-less hopeful and generous --- and allow us, the viewers, to see ourselves through these figures of possibility. They invite us to take a trip through the looking glass to a past where cities once were forests, skyscrapers were sequoias, and plazas were open glades where deer could graze.

Red Deer : Bibliotheque German Parliament : Berlin - from the Native Series - non-manipulated photograph of sculpture - Maslen & Mehra - 2007

Simultaneously present and absent, these works help us to recall not only what no longer is, but to imagine, with a change in vision, what possibly could still be.

More of Maslen & Mehra’s work can be seen at voidgallery.com

Grounded: Photography and Our Contemporary Environment

2008-03-14T01:24:00.016-05:00

Some of my work (below) is going to be included in a group show called 'Grounded,' opening tomorrow, Friday March 14th, in St. Louis at the Ellen Curlee Gallery. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to the opening as I have friends in town for the weekend. If you live in St. Louis or may pass through between now and May 10th, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the show, which relates perfectly to the topics of Wunderkammer...

Peaceful Kingdom - digital photograph/archival inkjet print - Jenny Kendler - 2005

The Last Iceberg - digital photograph/archival inkjet print - Jenny Kendler - 2005

Below is the press release for the show and some relevant information:

Ellen Curlee Gallery presents:
Grounded : Photography and Our Contemporary Environment

March 14 - May 10, 2008
Opening Reception : Friday, March 14, 2008 6pm-9pm

Maslen & Mehra : John Pfahl : Brian Ulrich : Jenny Kendler : Scott Wolniak : Robyn Voshardt/Sven Humphrey : Caroline Voagen Nelson : Nichole Van Beek : Chase Browder : David Maisel : Isabelle Hayeur

Curated by Dana Turkovic

Grounded: Photography and Our Contemporary Environment is an exhibition bringing together international photography and video art, focusing on the complex and dynamic interrelationship between humans and the Earth, while addressing the environmental troubles currently confronting us. The theme of the exhibition was developed in partnership with the St. Louis Earth Day organization, as a result of their expressed interest in adding a collaborative and artistic component directly involving the community. The photographers represented in Grounded are among a growing movement of global artists who are critically addressing environmental issues such as climate change, extinction and conservation. These artists believe that art can play a critical role in providing creative insight into these challenges. Grounded proposes art as a way of creating a better understanding of our relationship with our environment, as well as a way to explore the renewed role of contemporary art as a leading force in the global debate about the future of our planet.

If you're interested in reading more, the show's curator, Dana Turkovic, wrote and article called Human/Nature about the theme of the show for St. Louis Magazine.

Malcom Gay wrote this piece, Grounded for Life, for the River Front Times.

Keep your eyes out for upcoming posts, which will feature some of the talented environmental artists from Grounded. Here is a little sample of some of the included works:

HoldFast : Part 1 (7 min. 38 sec.), Part 2 (1 hr. 28 min. 40 sec.) - HD video/sound - Robyn Voshardt/Sven Humphrey - 2007

Sacramento Prickly Poppy - from the Endangered Americans Series - hand-cut photo collage + drawing rendered in metallic car paint - Maslen & Mehra - 2008

East 130th St Chicago, IL #8 - large format photograph - Chase Browder - 2006

Introductions...

2008-02-13T17:15:00.032-06:00

As I became invisible, I began to see things that had once been invisible to me - graphite & iridescent ink on gray paper - Jenny Kendler - 2007

As with any good story, I suppose a blog should begin at the beginning. In this spirit, and in the spirit of introducing myself --- the first artist I'll feature here briefly, is, well, me. I'll post more of my work later, and continue to do so as new projects get finished. My website has a more complete index at jennykendler.com

To also briefly introduce my motives for beginning this blog, I'll start by saying that I believe that we live in a time of crisis. Now, not to be so self important, I actually think that many peoples of many times have believed this same thing, and they have probably been correct. We humans have a way of creating problems for ourselves.

But our crisis is a special one. Never before have human beings held in their hands the potential to save or destroy every living being on this planet. Even the very features of this world which we take for granted as inevitable and unstoppable (forces of nature, I believe we term them), ocean currents, weather patterns, ecosystems, climates and landmasses, hang in the balance. If we cannot learn to live sustainably in the little petri dish of a closed-system which is our world --- we are in for some serious surprises. The jet stream may stop as Greenland and the Arctic melt sending Europe into an ice age, weather patterns may change and become violent and unpredictable, ecosystems may collapse, climates permanently alter, and our islands and coastlines may vanish under rising seas.

Not to even mention the possible extinction of over half of the world's species, including the already threatened Polar Bear, Emperor Penguin and charming flower-gathering Pika. Anyone who has ever encountered these creatures will know that a world without them would be muy triste.

Ah yes, doom and gloom...but also hope (the word of the day, apparently). Human beings have never before had the power to bring so much positive change to bear for future generations either. Two faces to every Janus.

As an artist and an environmentalist, I thought I could use this as a forum, not only to speak on the issues surrounding this crisis, but to look backwards, but mostly forwards, at the many hopeful visions and desperate warnings issued by the creative minds of our world.

There is more and more art being made about the aforementioned issues lately. More artists exploring the boundary between nature and culture. More artists asking why we have placed ourselves, as a species, outside of the natural world. More artists fascinated by the animal kingdom and ecosystems. More artists asking difficult questions about how we may solve our problems and reach solutions equitable for all beings, human and animal (and plant & fungi!).

I speculate that the reasons behind this building wave are manifold, but come mainly from the sense that this is what's "in the air," that these subjects are suddenly seeming very urgently interesting. This is the important issue of our time.

I hope to go into all of this is greater detail over the course of my postings --- and I'd love to hear your input, of course, if you'd like to post as well.

Welcome to Wunderkammer.