Art + Environment part 2

Returned from Reno and the Art and Environment conference Saturday night. Day Two morning presenter highlights --

Amy Francheschini Future Farmers www.futurefarmers.com/ and Patricia Johansonhttp://patriciajohanson.com/ both spoke in the morning session. Great to meet Amy and introduce her to Meridel Rubenstein,http://www.meridelrubenstein.com/, a conference attendee formative in both our lives. -cph
Quotes:
Patricia Johanson "If you want to get anything done, capture the heart of the people." and "....art simultaneously ecological, aesthetic and functional..."

Amy Francheschini soil kitchen http://soilkitchen.org/

Art + Environment conference

Here in Reno, we’ve had provocative conversation in and outside of the museum’s walls, wonderful light, and an inspiring thunderstorm on the banks of the Truckee river. The air smelled like mountains and rain as I stumbled out into the long light this afternoon, too full of images and people to do more than breathe. Dinner allowed for a lovely gathering with Land Arts alumni and friends at a Thai Restaurant, but alack without Bill, who was at the Center for Art and Environment’s trustee gathering.

Gleaned thoughts of the first day’s presenters (not in order) :

Chris Jordan “Grief is a portal to our love for the world.”

Geoff Manaugh “Maybe the future is small scale and not for humans…landscape future is robot and machine legible landscapes.”

Fritz Haeg “Gardening is a metaphor for how we live and everything we need to know about living on earth…”

Newton Harrison “Take the information out of the hands of the specialists. The people in this world will have to be generalists.”Helen Harrison (reading) “Will you feed me when my lands no longer produce? Will I house you when your lands are underwater?”

Alexander Rose “Why isn’t now longer? Why aren’t we free to see now in a longer time frame?”

Nina Dubois speaking with Elizabeth Ellsworth of Smudge Studio

Cedra Wood, Chris Galanis, Bill Fox and Bill Gilbert

Reno bound

We are back in Albuquerque for a brief respite before we take to the road again; reconnecting with loved ones and families, repairing/acquiring material, seeing to our various obligations. While catching up on e-mails, I came across this article entitled The Half-Life of History by Bill Fox & Mark Klett which looks at Wednover, Utah and the vestiges of its military history.

Fox is engaged in an ongoing inquiry into how human cognition transforms land into landscape, particularly in the Western U.S. He also serves as the Director of the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. Several of us will be attending the Art + Environment conference which is being hosted by Bill Fox and the CAE and which will run between September 29th and October first.

The conference will feature presentations by professionals currently involved in the fields of art, ecology, design and architecture, addressing new research and developments in those fields and discuss points of convergence and collaboration between them. There will also be opportunities for students from across the nation interested and involved in arts and environment based studies to meet and share information and resources related to their respective research and work. This is a great chance for students and faculty participating in both the Land Arts and Art & Ecology programs to engage with individuals and organizations who share common interests and goals. Look for follow-up posts this weekend as we immerse ourselves in this meeting of the minds.

Bill Gilbert will concurrently be showing his Physiocartographies work at the Sierra Nevada College Taho Gallery.