Getting Off the Planet
Thursday, May 13
USA: 10am PT, 11am MT, 12pm CT, 1pm ET
EUROPE: Scotland/Ireland/England:18:00 BST, Belgium/Germany/Spain: 18:00 WEST
It's been over fifty years since humans left Earth and collectively looked back at the illuminated blue marble floating in space. How has our understanding of Gaia and the Cosmos evolved since then, and what does it mean to be here on now on planet Earth?
In this Zoom Dialogue, we consider our human relationship with space while exploring the implications of mining off the earth for resources, as well as the cosmological considerations of seeking out other forms of life in the universe. Presentations by ecoartspace members include: Erika Blumenfeld will share her work exploring connections across the cosmos from astromaterials to marine bioluminescence; Adam Belt will present his representations of primordial energies made visible as light and of geologic time; Lanny DeVuono will present paintings from her recent series titled Searching For Water on Mars; Sandra Taggart will share her paintings that remind us of our oneness with the universe; and Candace Jensen will present her visual essays on the mythic and symbolic language of Earth herself.
Note: With five presenters it might cut into our time for Q&A, though we know there will be questions and provocative dialogue. The event will be recorded for the first 1.5 hours and we will go for an additional 30 minutes if needed.
Member Presenters:
Erika Blumenfeld is a transdisciplinary artist, writer and researcher whose practice is motivated by the wonder of natural phenomena and the relationship between nature and culture. Blumenfeld approaches her work like an archivist, driven to trace and collect the evidence and stories of connection across the cosmos. Her studio has included laboratories, observatories and in extreme environments, with notable collaborations with NASA, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, McDonald Observatory, and the South African National Antarctic Program. She is a Guggenheim and Smithsonian Fellow, recipient of an Island Press and Rauschenberg Foundation Artist-in-Residence and the Creative Capital Award. She has exhibited her work in the U.S. and abroad, and is featured in the books Art and Ecology Now and The Polaroid Book. erikablumenfeld.com
Adam Belt is focused on the natural forces that course through the universe. In his paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations, the evanescent is made palpable. Much of his work is a contemplation of physical and phenomenological aspects of our world, the cosmos, God, and religion. Fascinated by the science of natural processes, Belt uses his artwork as a means of connecting with the ineffable, something beyond those forces. His work has dealt with landscape, geology, light, ecology and space exploration, all naturally involving considerations of scale in terms of distance, time and a sense of reverence for the sublime. He's had exhibitions in Paris at Topographie de L'Art (2019), in a pop-up exhibition A Religious Experience via WONDERSPACES (2017), and in State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now at Crystal Bridges Museum (2014). adambelt.com
Lanny DeVuono is a painter, writer and retired art professor living in Berkeley, California. In her series of paintings titled Searching For Water on Mars she uses landscape imagery as a metaphor, connecting the environmental crises on earth to our human desire for exploration. DeVuono deliberately uses imagery from where she lives in imaging outer space akin to how 16th century Theodorus DeBry imagined the Americas without ever being there. She has taught at UC Denver (Emerita), EWU, New York University, William Paterson, Rangsit University in Thailand and Trivandrum College of Fine Art in India. Awards include a Fulbright Fellowship, an Artist Trust Fellowship (WA), a GAP Grant, residency awards at Yaddo, Centrum, Jentel and RedLine, Sitka, among others. lannydevuono.com
Sandra Taggart uses paint, crystals, glitter, gel pens, pencils, pastels, performance and video to explore and interpret our earth and the universe. From gas clouds and stars to the mold on decaying flowers, her work considers the interconnectivity of all things and provides perspective on our place in the cosmos. It’s with apparent awe that she makes work to suggest that, while we are in and of the universe, we are but a minuscule part of the magnificent whole. Taggart earned a BFA from SAIC and is a recipient of a BAC CAF grant. She lives in Brooklyn and has exhibited in numerous museums and galleries including the Hammond Museum, New York, and the Austin Museum of Art, Texas. sandrataggart.com
Candace Jensen is an interdisciplinary visual artist, writer, printmaker, calligrapher, and activist using hand-made inks, gold leaf, print, and painting to create visual essays that expand calligraphic illumination’s tradition of cultural reliquary beyond that of anthropocentrism. Influenced by Lovelock's Gaia Theory and interdependence principles, her work asserts through mythic and symbolic language that Earth herself is worthy of the gilded, decorated Capital. Jensen earned her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and her BFA from Tyler School of Art. Currently, she's Letterpress Director at the Ruth Stone House, and cofounder of In Situ Polyculture Commons, a regenerative residency in Vermont on unceded lands of the Elnu Abenaki. In 2021 the artist will sail on the autumn Arctic Circle Residency voyage. candacejensen.com
Images (top): ©Erika Blumenfeld, Moving Light: Bioluminescence (Pyrocystis Fusiformis), 2011, DV (00:11:00, looped, silent), dimensions variable; ©Adam Belt, Rock of Ages, 2019, 30 layers of crushed rocks mixed with resin in order of age from 4.6 billion years old (Campo del Cielo Meteorite) on the bottom to 0 years old (I-5 Freeway Expansion) on the top, approximately 4 x 5 x 3 inches; ©Lanny DeVuono, Small Searching for Water on Mars #8 (of 50), 2020, graphite and gesso on board, 10 x 10 x 3 inches (ongoing series); ©Sandra Taggart, After Sunset, 2019, Flashe and crystals on canvas, 48 x 48 inches; ©Candace Jensen, Weft and Weave of the Cosmos, 2018, coffee, pastel, gouache and gold leaf on paper, 98 x 86 inches.
