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ECOART IN ACTION~THREE EXAMPLES
(left) Book Cover, New Village Press; (clockwise) Vaughn Bell, “Percorso d'acqua/Path of water” photo credit: Vaughn Bell; Susan Hoenig, aerial view of “American Chestnut Leaf Sculpture” Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve, Princeton, New Jersey photo credit: Frank Sauer; Loraine Leeson, “Waterwheel in Situ at Three Mills” 2017 photo credit: Loraine Leeson.
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May celebrations offer opportunities for world views beyond dualities: May Day; the transition between light and dark; the return of life and fertility; International worker solidarity and workers rights; the victories of Cinco de Mayo; honoring “mothers”; the end of the month of Ramadan. They offer windows and ways through, offering fresh ways of perceiving and knowing our eco systems. This month WEAD features artists who walk lightly through difficult dualities to explore and champion eco art practice, social justice and foster mother earth’s well being.
May 22 join us for an exciting and special conversation with editors and contributors to Ecoart in Action: Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations for Classrooms and Communities. Speakers will include WEAD member-artists and contributors to Ecoart in Action: Vaughn Bell, Susan Hoenig, and Loraine Leeson. Susan Steinman, one of the co-founders of both the Ecoart Network and WEAD, will serve as moderator for a Q&A with the book co-editors Chris Fremantle, Amara Geffen, Aviva Rahmani, Ann Rosenthal, and attendees.
WEAD is curating an exhibit at the Bioneers conference A Window Through at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco May 13-15. Our Featured Artists are part of the exhibit. The next issue of the WEAD Magazine: The Politics of Empathy, is in preparation with a fall publishing goal . WEAD has located a web developer who will soon start the rebuilding and improvements for our Artists Directory pages. Make a magical May.
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Members Only Artshare
THURSDAY MAY 12
6:00 - 6:45PM PDT
Location: ZOOM
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Join WEAD for an online Artshare. Come meet other WEAD artists, share a bit about you and your practice, learn about other members’ art, and engage with WEAD’s mission.
All members are welcome. See how to participate below!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN ART SHARING
(WEAD MEMBERS ONLY):
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RSVP to membership.wead@gmail.com with “WEAD Artshare” in the subject line. You will then receive the ZOOM link.
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Bring an image (if you like) and your website and instagram handle ready.
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Each WEAD member will have 3 - 5 minutes to introduce themselves, share their information, and speak about their work and practice. The time given will be dependent on how many people sign up to participate in the image sharing.
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BIONEERS EXHIBITION May 13-15
Art through Action: Restoration and Regeneration
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WEAD is curating an exhibition at the 2022 Bioneers conference "A Window Through", May 13-15, at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
The theme of the exhibit, "Art through Action: Restoration and Regeneration" invites work that has to do with the restoration of environmental or social ecosystems; works that propose solutions; that are action oriented. How do we re-generate the world we would like to live in, a world that works for all other beings as well?
Participating artists are: May Babcock, Jenny Balisle, Christina Bertea, Bonnie Borucki, Taylor Bright, Julie Crumb, Ember de Boer, Lauren Elder, Maru Garcia, Linda Gass, Michelle Guieu, Basia Irland, Robin McCain,TP Mahmoudzadeh, Ren Meilisi-Ellis, Bonnie Petersen, Lisa Reindorf, Leslie Streit, Ana-Katrin Spies, Ruth Tabancay, Melissa Wang, Julia Weaver, Mary White, Lisa Zimmer-Chu, Jama Zimmerman
Join us at Bioneers 2022 in person or online.
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ART + EDUCATION No. 5
Ecoart in Action: Fostering Social and Ecological Change
SUNDAY MAY 22
10:30-11:30 AM PDT, 1:30-2:30 PM EDT, 6:30 PM UK
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This presentation provides an overview of Ecoart in Action: Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations for Classrooms and Communities.
Compiled from 67 members of the Ecoart Network—many of whom are also WEAD members—Ecoart in Action stands as a field guide for ecoart practice. It provides adaptable strategies for engaging a wide range of learners within a variety of learning environments. Join us to celebrate this recently published remarkable book.
WEAD member-artists Vaughn Bell, Susan Hoenig, and Loraine Leeson—all contributors to Ecoart in Action —will share creative approaches for engaging communities and learners in ecoart practices. Susan Steinman, one of the co-founders of both the Ecoart Network and WEAD, will serve as moderator for a Q&A with the presenters; book co-editors Amara Geffen, Ann Rosenthal, Chris Fremantle, and Aviva Rahmani; and attendees.
Ecoart practice has expanded in the 26 years since WEAD was formed. Many members of WEAD, the Ecoart Network, and ecoartspace work within and with communities, listening (to the land), marshalling social capital, and serving as change agents in support of healthy ecosystems, environmental and social justice, and community resilience. This presentation will provide an opportunity to learn about Ecoart in Action and consider the interconnections among our groups, opening up a wider conversation about ecoart.
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Lisa is an Architect, Environmental Activist and an Artist. She considers scientific research, teaching, and environmental advocacy as a key part of her art practice. As an artist, Lisa focuses on coastal cities and sea rise. Her work portrays the interaction of built systems with natural patterns. She has exhibited at many galleries around the world and is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and environmental conferences on how artists and architects confront climate change.
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Lisa Reindorf Coastal City and Sea Rise Solutions, Illustration/Painting on panel
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Lisa grew up in central Mexico, among a community of artists and political activists. Her parents were immigrants, and she is as well. She was a principal of an architecture firm Boston for many years. The firm designed numerous buildings for the sciences, research labs and for universities. Lisa also writes extensively on art and climate change. She is an art reviewer for Hyperallergic and other magazines on environmental issues.
She earned a BA in Design of the Environment from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, Master of Architecture from Columbia University, New York City, and was Instructor at (RISD) Rhode Island School of Design
Her current work deals with climate change and building into fragile coastal eco-scapes. There is an inherent conflict between building and nature, in that built infrastructure disrupts the natural patterns that keep the environment in balance. Lisa uses her background as an architect and planner to portray the built geometric systems that interact with the formations of nature. She has researched and written about climate change issues and is incorporating scientific data into the new works. By being cognizant of the impact and working on solutions we can ameliorate some of the consequences of climate change.
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Maru Garcia Pb. Put it back (2019) Video-poem
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Maru García is a transdisciplinary artist and researcher working across art + science + environment. Her areas of interest are explorations on biosystems, interspecies relationships, and the capacity of living organisms (including humans) to act as remediators in contaminated sites. Her work highlights ‘eco-aesthetics’, where relationships and community are proposed to build cultures of regeneration.
She has participated in conferences, solo and group exhibitions in North America, Europe, and Asia. She received awards from the California Arts Council, Los Angeles Sustainability Collaborative, Clifton Webb Scholarship for the Arts, and Fundación Jumex. She is a Getty Foundation grant recipient for the exhibition “Sink: places we call home” at Self-Help Graphics, to be presented in the Pacific Standard Time Art-Science LA in 2024.
Maru holds an MFA in Media Arts from UCLA as well as an M.S. in Biotechnology and a B.S. in Chemistry from Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico. She is based in LA.
My work tries to look at humans as integral beings and part of a bigger system that is interconnected and in constant change. Unfortunately during the Anthropocene, this change has happened so fast that our systems are collapsing as a consequence of our disconnection from the rest of the natural world. My research highlights the importance of eco-aesthetics, where relationships and community are proposed to build cultures of regeneration.
I use the term ‘eco-cultures’ to talk about the idea of culture as part of the natural processes. Sometimes by highlighting the culture produced by other organisms, or by acknowledging the importance of interspecies relationships, I try to go beyond the nature-culture divide. - Maru Garcia
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RESTORATION AND REGENERATION
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A farmer removes side stems from a Guiera senegalensis, the first step in encouraging the strong central stem to take advantage of the root system. Photo credit: ICRAF/P. Savadogo
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200 Million Trees: Not planted, but Restored and Regenerated!
Bringing the "underground forest" back up aboveground.
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An uplifting story of resilience is emerging from the hot, dry, mostly deforested Sahel-- along with millions of “new” trees. Once convinced in the 1980’s that trees and crops actually DO mix, contrary to what colonial agronomists had decreed, farmers are teaching each other to nurture the shoots that spring up from felled tree stumps and roots.
With Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, farmers identify sprouting stumps and roots that they want to encourage, selectively prune to keep just a few of the strongest shoots, then protect them from grazing animals, plowing, or burning of stubble.
Drawing on an underground network of roots from precolonial times when indigenous agroforestry was likely the norm, trees regrow rapidly—sometimes 10’ in 2 years. These new trees protect crops from wind and shifting sands and provide shade that reduces soil temperatures and water loss to evaporation. Their leaf litter adds organic matter and fertility to the soil. Some of the trees fix nitrogen, while others draw water from deep in the ground and release it through surface roots.
The trees’ impact has been immediate in dramatically increased crop yields. The trees also produce leaves and pods for livestock fodder; nectar for honey production; provide habitat for birds and insects that feed on pests; and sequester carbon in the soil-- increasing the soil's water holding capacity. Women especially have benefitted—with fuel wood close at hand, time is freed up to make tree medicines, oils and soaps for supplemental income.
The extent of this FMNR farmer to farmer renewal is being confirmed by aerial imaging. In Niger, the world’s poorest country, over twelve million acres have rebounded from 4 trees to over 45 per hectare. These 200 million resurrected trees are bringing food security and climate resilience to one of the hottest, driest areas on earth—where high cost / high profile tree planting efforts have consistently failed.
The pre-colonial woodlands are still there, their deep roots buried in the ground, waiting to regenerate on their own. So far, these regenerated trees are thriving even as the weather shifts.
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Miriam Kipsang, a lead farmer in Kocholwo village, Elgeyo Marakwet county, Kenya. After trying FMNR on her own land, she reached out to 60 other women. Photo credit: World Vision Australia
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FEATURED WEAD BOARD MEMBER
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Anna N. Vaughan in her studio. Photo Credit: Kathy Kerns
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Anna N. Vaughan is an artist and educator living in Cobb CA, where she serves as the onsite resident manager for Cobb Mountain Art and Ecology Project. She served on the WEAD Board from 2018-2021.
Anna also serves as the Chair of the Art Department \at Laney College in Oakland where she teaches Ceramics and Drawing. She also teaches Ceramics at Santa Rosa Junior College. Anna is an actively exhibiting artist, including exhibits at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, Mills College Art Museum, Arkansas University Museum, and public art commissions at the Alameda Juvenile Justice Center. She received a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and a MFA from Mills College.
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Native Clay Jar with Hibernating Toad, 2021. Photo credit Anna N. Vaughan
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"As a child I spent summers on my Grandparent’s land, I felt a deep and profound love of the natural world, an absolute bubbling over of joy, curiosity and amazement. I observed insects, befriended toads and made dolls from flowers. The sweetness of this love is my spiritual home and it is this feeling that I put into my artwork. My grandparents were farmers, they taught me to garden, to compost and to repair instead of throwing away. As I embrace and appreciate these values I look for places to connect with them in our contemporary culture and modern cities.
I am fascinated by the native materials, plants and animals that populate the environment I am in. Being literally “in touch” with nature is important to me, I consider it a sacred place where I am able to connect with the deeper parts of existence. Each ecosystem is unique, and using natural clay, found plants and animal imagery gives the same sense of connection with the sacred that I get from being in a wild place.
It is my hope that by making these works and living close to the land, I will inspire others to do the same; to spend time in nature, to tend to the health of the planet, and to understand how deeply connected we all are to our environment." - Anna N. Vaughn
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Thank you for your continuing support of WEAD. We have ambitious goals for 2022: continuing our well received on-line presentations, upgrading our digital Artists Directory and invaluable archives, and encouraging new member engagement and global conversations. There are plans afoot for an international student eco art summit. Join in the fun and build community!
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WEAD Board is currently seeking
- Volunteer web mistress
- Volunteer news letter person
- Board member Website Committee: Wordpress/web skills
- Board member Membership Committee: social media skills and interest in engaging with our Membership
- Board members serve two year term. Zoom Board meetings bimonthly, last Sunday of the month 3-5 pm pst. Can live in any geographical region and attend zoom meetings.
Send letter of interest to info@weadartists.org
Members: Do you know a good venue for WEAD to have a collaborative exhibit in your region?
If so, let us know! info@weadartists.org
Suggest a theme for our 2022 membership exhibition.
Join WEAD Exhibitions Committee. Participate in curating and all aspects of creating an exhibition. Zoom meetings.
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Browse through 400+ WEAD Artists at: www.weadartists.org
 
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