Environmental Art - Near North District School Board

Environmental
and Recycled Art
The term environmental art is
used in two different contexts: it
can be used generally to refer to
art dealing with ecological issues
and/or the natural, such as the
formal, the political, the historical,
or the social context.
2
It is possible to trace the growth of
environmental art as a "movement", beginning
in the late 1960s or the 1970s.
In its early phases it was most associated with
sculpture having risen out of mounting criticism of
traditional sculptural forms and practices which
were increasingly seen as outmoded and
potentially out of harmony with the natural
environment.
3
In October 1968 Robert Smithson organized an
exhibition at Dwan Gallery in New York titled
Simply “Earthworks”.
All of the works posed an explicit challenge to
conventional notions of exhibition and sales, in
that they were either too large or too unwieldy to
be collected; most were represented only by
photographs, further emphasizing their resistance
to acquisition.
For these artists escaping the confines of the
gallery and modernist theory was achieved by
leaving the cities and going out into the desert.
4
Landscape Manipulation
•
Robert Smithson
“Spiral Jetty”
Intersection of Environment
and Human Activity
•
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
“Surrounded Islands”
5
Recycled Art - Art made from recycled materials,
a place to find, discuss and promote art made
from recycled materials.
It is Simply taking garbage, junk or items that
were or would be allocated to the junk yard/land
fills and transforming it, or parts into something
original, often functional with the primary purpose
of making the item aesthetically pleasing from
the artists viewpoint.
6
John Dahlsen
Found object art: plastics,
styrofoam, nylon rope, thongs
and driftwood, found objects
from Australian beaches.
"Thong Totems"
Wynne Prize
Winner 2000
Art Gallery NSW,
Australia
John Dahlsen
Contemporary
environmental art
sculpture. Totems
made from found
plastic objects and
stainless steel.
Abstract recycled art
created from plastics
collected from
Australian beaches.
2.2 m x 30 cm base
ea.
$2,500 ea
John Dahlsen: “Ocean and Earth”
Contemporary environmental art wall work, made from found plastic
objects, assembled behind perspex. Semi-abstract/Landscape, recycled
art created from plastics collected from Australian beaches.
90 cm x 60 cm ea. (Triptych)
Allyson Cooper: “Heavy”
Copper and recycled
keys
Joe Pogan: Owl
Washers, nuts
and bolts –
padlock and
natural wood
Sculpture
$2200.00
Coby Leed: Animist Art #1
Found Object Metal
Sculpture
$120.00
David Fish: Architectonic Infrastructure
Mixed Media
Sculpture
$400.00
Mary M. McClain: Moonhead
Wire/Mixed Media
$300.00
Paul Parker: Found Objects