Art and Ecology

The following resources will help provide a basis for research on ecologically-aware art. Since the early 1990's concerns for the environment and our planet have skyrocketed within the visual arts. There is a plethora of information gathering in the air, on the web and in print. With this in mind, the researcher should be aware that the oft heard term "environmental art" covers a wide range of practices - frequently without reference or concern for ecological or sustainable practice.

Resources held in the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries collections are noted by location.

• Eco Art: Breaking the 21st Century: Readings
• Blogs
• Links
• Databases
• Carnegie Mellon Research:The Environment
  • Librarians' Arts Research Guides
• Other Arts related sites
• The Environment: A Multidisciplinary Research Guide

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EcoArt: Breaking the 21st Century: Short List of Recommended Reading

The following basic list of books and articles provides a good start for those who would like to familiarize themselves with art, artists, history and theory influential in the current upsurge in the visual arts to green our planet. The revolutionary 1960's brought many visual artists to focus on the environment, but most retained the old paradigm of nature as an object. It wasn't until the 1990's that the art world began to address a caring relationship with non-human nature and the term ecoart was introduced. Try the Green Arts Web for a more comprehensive listing of books, articles and links related to art and the environment.

Boettger, Suzanne. Earthworks, Art and the Landscape of the Sixties. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2002.
HUNT STACKS-4 N6494 .E27 B64 2002
A good introduction to the beginnings of environmental art, most of which was not sustainable practice.

Brookner, Jackie, guest ed. Art and Ecology. Art Journal, 51:2, Summer, 1992 8-99.
HUNT-3 BOUND JOURNALS
A 20-article special issue edited by a practicing eco artist.

Cronin,William. The Trouble with Wilderness ; or Getting Back to the Wrong Nature in Uncommon Ground:Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. New YOrk and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996, 69-90.
An excellent introductory reading which illuminates how humans have developed constructs about non-human nature and how that has shaped and skewed our culture and thinking.

Gablik, Suzi. The Reenchantment of Art. New York : Thames and Hudson , 1991.
HUNT STACKS-4 N71 .G68 1991
A milestone in art criticism calling for a revolution in art toward socially conscious and ecological art.

Griffin, Susan. “To Love the Marigold: The Politics of Imagination,’ Whole Earth Review., No. 89, Spring 1996, 60-67. Re-published as “Can Imagination Save Us? Thinking About the Future with Beginners Mind,” in the Utne Reader, July/August, 1996, 43-46.
HUNT-3 BOUND JOURNALS
A truly inspiring article about the powers of shared imagination.

Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael. New York: Bantam Books, 1992.
A work of fiction guaranteed to rattle your pre-conceived notions about "mother culture."

Quinn, Daniel. My Ishmael. New York : Bantam Books, c1997, 1998
HUNT STACKS-2 PS3567 .U4 M9 1997

Lippard, Lucy. Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society. New York : New Press, 1997.
HUNT STACKS-4 GF503 .L56 1997
A wandering and brilliant book on art, society, ecology and why a sense of place makes a difference.

Matilsky, Barbara C. Fragile Ecologies: Contemporary Artists' Interpretations and Solutions. New York : Rizzoli International, 1992. Published in conjunction with the Queens Museum of Art exhibition.
HUNT OVRSZQ-4 N6512 .M35 1992
Outlines some well-known and emerging artists working in the environment at that time.

Strelow, Heike, curator. Natural Reality: Artistic Positions Between Nature and Culture/Künstlerische Positionen Zwischen Natur und Kultur. Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst. Stuttgart : DACO, 1999. http://aachen.heimat.de/ludwigforum/naturalreality/
HUNT OVRSZQ-4 709.04 N2853
A diverse, detailed exhibition catalog of artists addressing the environment - not all necessarily using sustainable practices.

Oakes, Baile, ed. Sculpting With the Environment. New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1995.
HUNT OVRSZQ-4 GE170 .O25 1995
A detailed book on artists working in the environment and their methods with ecology in mind. Includes two critical introductory essays outlining new paradigms for art and science: Suzi Gablik. The Ecological Imperative; Fritjof Capra, Physicist. The New Vision of Reality (reprinted from Elmwood Quarterly, Fall 1992.

Orr, David. Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington , D.C.; Covello , California : Island Press, 2004
HUNT STACKS-2 GE70 .O77 2004
Essential reading for artists who teach.

Spaid, Sue and Amy Lipton, curators. Ecovention: Current Art to Transform Ecologies. Cincinnati :The Contemporary Arts Center ; greenmuseum.org; ecoartspace, 2002. http://greenmuseum.org/c/ecovention/
HUNT STACKS-4 N8217 .E28 S63 2002
One of the first, if not the first, major group exhibition and catalog about art and artists immersed in practice to help save the planet.

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Blogs

Eco Art Blog
by artist and student Matt Merkel-Hess

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Links

The Arts and Healing Network
Founded in 1997 by Marion Weber to inform and inspire artists, activists, environmentalists and health care professionals about the healing aspects of art. Includes articles, projects, resources, images and information links to artists support and funding.

Green Arts Web
Founded in 1999 by Mo Dawley and Ann Rosenthal. A resource guide for those who want to be more informed about the practices and theories of art, ecology and the environment. Contains an extensive annotated reference section of books, exhibition catalogs and journal articles, many of which are in the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries collections; links to international artists and projects with many images, and community links including educational institutions, organizations and alternative news media.

greenmuseum.org
Founded by Sam Bower. An online museum and the "Art News" on eco art and artists. Contains current news and calendar of events, exhibitions, artists sites, artist opportunities, an educators tool box, and other resources

Women Environmental Artists Directory (Jo Hanson and Susan Leibovitz Steinman)
See also the paper edition: 4th ed. San Francisco, CA : Hanson & Steinman, 1998. (2004 print directory forthcoming)
HUNT FA-REF-4 N50 .W663
Detailed with images and information on women artists.