Edward Burtynsky
Edward Burtynsky – Photographs of Distressed Waters
Edward Burtynsky goes to great lengths to access human-altered landscapes most of us would never see in order to create monumental aerial photographs that provide a contemporary “window onto the world.” His work reveals the unbelievable enormity and compromises of industrial scale agriculture, industrial pollution, and associated climate-related tragedies in an anthropocene era.
Supplemental programming occurred on March 3, 2016, tailored around Burtynsky's work, including: the screening of his feature-length documentary Watermark and a lecture on his work by art historian Kirsten Hoving, Ph.D.
Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang
Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang – Beach Plastic Giclee Prints
Since 1999 Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang (collaborating as Beach Plastic) have walked the same 1000 yards of Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Sea Shore. During repeated visits to this remote beach, they have gathered the plastic debris
washed ashore from the Pacific Ocean. By carefully collecting and "curating" the bits of plastic, the duo fashions it into matter-of-fact works that show the material as it is. The viewer is often surprised that this colorful stuff is the thermoplastic junk of our throwaway culture. Like archeologists, the artists have discovered that each fragment of detritus provides a perspective on the whole of human culture; each bit has a story to tell.
Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang, Lemon Man, Archival pigment print on polypropylene, 20x24", 2008
John Sabraw
John Sabraw, Artist & Professor, Ohio State University
Using toxic runoff found in the Ohio River region, John
Sabraw produces his own DIY pigments -- bold yellows
and reds that are sourced from the oxidized sludge of
abandoned coalmines. A masterful feat of art-meetsscience
on their own, the paint colors eventually became
the basis for a primordially beautiful painting series,
bringing light to the ecological dilemma of the river region. John is
currently working on methods to scale production of the paint
and sell it commercially.
John Sabraw, Chroma S1 15, Mixed media on aluminum panel, 24x24", 2015
Hydro-Logic Interactive | Collaborative Projects:
Warka Water
Warka Water is a project conceived for the mountainous regions in Ethiopia, where women and children walk several hours to collect water. Developed by the studio Architecture and Vision is developing the project Warka Water to harvest potable water from the air. The 30’ tall bamboo framework has a special fabric hanging inside capable to collect potable water from the air by condensation. Its lightweight structure means it can be built with local skills and materials by village inhabitants. Aesthetically, the design honors the disappearing Ethiopian Warka trees. Working with a team of six CC students, architect Arturo Vittori from the firm Architecture and Vision will conduct a week-long residency during halfblock 2016 to create a prototype version of the Warka Water structure in the Cornerstone Arts Building.
Creek Week 2015
Each September, a global community unites with the International Coastal Cleanup Program to prevent nearly 16 million pounds of rubbish from polluting waters and adding to the burden of the enormous plastic garbage patches currently riddling our oceans. The Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District facilitates a similar local cleanup effort called Creek Week during the last week of September.
These collaborative waterway cleanup efforts raise awareness about the dangers of plastic pollution to human and aquatic life and make the important connection to how local actions have a global impact.
See the exhibition catalogue for these statistics, sources, and for more information on how to get involved with local cleanup events.
Plastic pollution graphic courtesy of Michael Bartalos.