Eco-Art Archives – Page 3 of 3

Jason de Caires Taylor: Underwater Sculpture

April 1, 2010 By Wendy Campbell

“Jason deCaires Taylor was born in 1974 to an English father and Guyanese mother, spending the earlier part of his life growing up in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Educated in South East England, he graduated in 1998 from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, with a B.A.Honours in Sculpture and Ceramics. He is also a fully qualified diving instructor, underwater naturalist and award winning underwater photographer, with over 14 years of diving experience in various countries.

In May 2006 he gained international recognition for creating the world’s first underwater sculpture park in Grenada, West Indies. His underwater sculptures, designed to create artificial reefs for marine life to colonise and inhabit, embrace the transformations wrought by ecological processes. The works engage with a vision of the possibilities of a sustainable future, portraying human intervention as positive and affirmative. Drawing on the tradition of figurative imagery, the aim of Jason de Caires Taylor’s work is to address a wide-ranging audience crucial for highlighting environmental issues beyond the confines of the art world. However, fundamental to understanding his work is that it embodies the hope and optimism of a regenerative, transformative Nature.

The sculptures are sited in clear shallow waters to afford easy access by divers, snorkellers and those in glass-bottomed boats. Viewers are invited to discover the beauty of our underwater planet and to appreciate the processes of reef evolution.

Jason is currently resident in Mexico as Artistic Director of the new Cancun Underwater Museum.” (bio from artist website)

To see more of de Caires Taylor’s work, visit UnderwaterSculpture.com.

Sayaka Ganz: Sculpture

March 3, 2010 By Wendy Campbell

Born in Japan and living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sayaka Ganz has a BA in printmaking and an MFA in 3D Study with a concentration in sculpture from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

To create her sculptures, Ganz finds discarded objects including plastic utensils, toys, and metal pieces and gives them a second life and a new home..

“The human history behind these objects gives them life in my eyes. My goal is for each object to transcend its origins by being integrated into an animal form that seems alive. This process of reclamation and regeneration is liberating to me as an artist. By building these sculptures I try to understand the human relationships that surround me. It is a way for me to contemplate and remind myself that even if there is conflict right now, there is a way for all the pieces to fit together.”

To see more of Ganz’s work visit SayakaGanz.com.

Sources: This iz Art

Nick Georgiou: Paper Sculpture

January 13, 2010 By Wendy Campbell

These cool paper sculptures are by Tucson, Arizona based artist Nick Georgiou. Georgiou’s work is inspired by “the death of the printed word/world, economic collapse, political and environmental uncertainty.

Georgiou states: “Books and newspapers are becoming artifacts of the 21st century. Whatever we used to read off paper, we’re now reading off digital screens. Our way of interacting with text is changing. My work is not only about the decline of the printed word in today’s society but its rebirth as art.”

Georgiou recently opened a new gallery/studio space in downtown Tucson. He is also completing a documentary about the decline of the printed word, and is working on a series of sculptures for a solo exhibition in Cyprus and Greece.

For more information, check out Nick’s blog: MyHumanComputer.blogspot.com.

Sources: Juxtapoz Interview 1, Juxtapoz Interview 2

Chris Jordan: Awareness Through Art

August 15, 2009 By Wendy Campbell

(The images above depict one million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the US every six hours.)

The video below is a very moving TED Talk given by American photographer Chris Jordan. Jordan depicts images of western culture’s consumerism revealing the startling statistics of our daily consumption. He transforms the data about everyday items such as paper cups, cell phones, plastic bottles, and other mass produced goods, and makes large-format, long-zoom artwork.

Jordan has published a number of books including “Intolerable Beauty – Portraits of American Mass Consumption”, “In Katrina’s Wake – Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster”, “Running the Numbers – An American Self Portrait”, and “Running the Numbers II – Portraits of Global Mass Culture”.

Jordan’s goal is to create meaning out of the enormous statistics we encounter. He does this by taking the raw language of data and translates it into a more universal visual language that can be felt. He believes that if we can feel this information, then it will matter to us more and hopefully encourage action towards change.

To find out more, visit Chris Jordan.com.

Rice Field Art: Inakadate, Japan

July 23, 2009 By Wendy Campbell

I’ve always admired the artistic and scientific marvels of Western crop circles – the time, effort, and vision it takes to plan and create the intricate designs. That being said, a level of guilt persists in admiring an artistic endeavour that creates beauty, but destroys valuable food and farmer’s income at the same time. Enter the farmers of Inakadate in the Aomori prefecture, north of Tokyo, Japan.

Every year, since 1993, Inakadate’s 8000 residents and farmers have worked together to create huge agricultural works of art in their rice paddy fields. Using green, purple and yellow-leafed rice, the “agri-artists” design and plant their rice, precisely plotting out the colours which bring the images to life. As the rice grows, the art becomes apparent from an elevated position, with the best viewing time in July.

More than 150,000 people visit Inakadate yearly to experience the rice paddy art, climbing the 22 metre high mock castle tower of the village office that overlooks the fields. Each year, residents choose a different theme – 2009’s is the Napoleon, Sengoku-period warrior, and fictional warrior and his wife Naoe Kanetsugu and Osen.

In 2008, the resident designers began using computers to plot their works, saving them time and allowing for increased detail in the images. While Inakadate is the most widely known for this art, their idea has caught on and other farming communities are creating their own field art, some with the help of the Inakadate designers who have been requested to give seminars on their methods of design and planting.

Alas, the rice field art will only be visible until September when the rice will be harvested, leaving residents to think about next year’s creations.

For more great pictures visit MMO.com and to see a time lapse video of the emerging artwork visit this link on YouTube.

Sources: Japan Times, MMO, Askanet (images)

Paul Curtis: Reverse Graffiti

June 30, 2009 By Wendy Campbell

For the many who think that street art is vandalism, plain and simple – consider reverse graffiti.

Reverse graffiti (aka clean tagging, dust tagging, grime writing), is a method of creating art in public spaces by removing the dirt from its surface. Early forms of reverse graffiti include writing and pictures drawn on the dirty windows of cars and shops. In the last several years, a more advanced method has emerged where art is created by cleaning dirty surfaces with stencils, detergent, and a high powered pressure washer.

Reverse graffiti does not make use of paint or ink so it is difficult to call it vandalism. In fact, in many areas, it is considered legal and is known as “streetbranding”. Streetbranding has been used by corporations such as Smirnoff, Microsoft, and others in their advertising campaigns.

UK artist, Paul Curtis (aka Moose), is a pioneer of reverse graffiti and has been working for the last ten years to perfect his craft. In 2008, Curtis teamed up with Green Works to make San Francisco’s Broadway tunnel a little more beautiful (see the video below).

At times, Curtis has been in the press for being a vandal but no one has ever been able to make a case against him because as he says, “No one owns the dirt.”

For more information about Paul Curtis, visit the Reverse Graffiti Project online. For more information on reverse graffiti, visit the Environmental Graffiti website.

Sources: Reverse Graffiti Project, Wikipedia

John Dahlsen – Eco-Art

June 2, 2009 By Wendy Campbell

Blue River - John Dahlsen

I’ve been thinking about eco-art again and am fascinated by artists who can turn trash into treasure. One of the most recognized and awarded of these is Australian artist John Dahlsen. Dahlsen studied art at the Victorian College of the Arts and the Melbourne College of Advanced Education, and for many years made his living as an abstract painter.

Dahlsen’s creative medium changed in 1997 after a day of collecting driftwood along the Victorian coastline with the aim of making furniture. It is here where he stumbled upon vast quantities of plastic litter washed up along the shoreline. Dahlsen was so taken in by the new palette of colours and shapes that he gathered up the trash in garbage bags and hauled them to his studio to see what could be done with this new medium.

For over ten years Dahlsen has been creating his environmental assemblage art and has garnered much recognition. He holds regular solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia, Europe, and the United States. In 2000, he won the prestigious Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW and was selected to be a cultural ambassador and represent Australia at the Athens Olympics of the Visual Arts “Artiade” Exhibition 2004.

As for his views on today’s environmental issues Dahlsen says, “making this art has been a way of sharing my messages for the need to care for our environment with a broad audience. I feel that even if just a fraction of the viewing audience were to experience a shift in their awareness and consciousness about the environment and art, through being exposed to this artwork then it would be worth it.”

For more information about Dahlsen’s work visit JohnDahlsen.com.

3 Brown Foam Totems - John Dahlsen

Source: JohnDahlsen.com

The Art of Recycling – Part II

April 22, 2009 By Wendy Campbell

Most retail stores, I’ve found, rely heavily on the use of plastic bags. While supermarkets seem to be heading in the direction of cloth bags and bins, the rest of the retail world seems to be lagging behind. As a result, it’s easy for me to end up with bags full of other plastic bags taking up awkward and valuable space in my kitchen cabinet.

So, in my continuing quest to find ways to be creative with things that would otherwise be trash, I scanned the internet to see what I might do with these bags. I found my answer on the Etsy website and the result is the photo you see below – a messenger bag made completely from old plastic bags that have been fused together to form a very strong and waterproof fabric.

The process of fusing the bags together was fairly simple and the resulting bag looks like old worn leather. I don’t know it this can be considered art but it’s definitely crafty and I had a lot of fun making it. To try this project yourself, see the tutorial at ETSY-LABS.

Messenger Bag - Wendy Campbell

The “Art” of Recycling

April 8, 2009 By Wendy Campbell

I’ve been a big city dweller for most of my life and one thing that continues to astound me is the amount of useless paper I encounter on a daily basis. Junk mail, free newspapers, magazines, and catalogues, cardboard packaging – the list goes on. I wanted to do something artistic with all this paper but didn’t know what. A quick Google search led me to the idea of making a basket/bowl out of old magazines. A simple tutorial from Cutoutandkeep.net showed me how and the photo you see here is the result of my first try.

Some may think that, yeah, that’s kinda cool, but I have better things to spend my time on – think again – I produced this bowl while watching TV, and listening to my Japanese language course – things that I would normally be sitting still for that didn’t require a whole lot of concentration. I actually found the repetitive nature of the process mind calming, allowing me to focus even more on the Japanese course.

Magazine Bowl by Wendy Campbell