(excerpts)...Denial is no longer an option....earth’s systems are being stressed and its resources are being depleted. Consider...the...demands for comforts and the...desires of privileged populations of human beings. Now compound these environmental burdens by adding exploding human populations seeking the same material advantages as their wealthier neighbors. While remedying these conditions is everybody’s business, art instructors can play a pivotal role in environmental reform. They prepare students who, as artists, assume the cultural roles of visionary, missionary, designer, problem-solver, moralist, communicator, and proselytizer....
Art instruction is ripe for topical and procedural change....Future job announcements for art educators may soon state, “Art instructors needed with the ability to conserve energy, knowledge of the environmental impact of a broad range of materials, and the skill to minimize waste and consumption.”
A century ago, art and physics joined to re-envision the physical environment in which space, matter, and time were no longer considered to be discrete entities. Cubism was the revolutionary product of this merger. Today’s artists confront a comparable challenge. Even elementary topics like line, shape, and pattern become arenas of exploration and discovery when they are viewed through the lens of ecology. This is because ecology defines every element of the physical environment as a component of a four-dimensional system of interdependent energy exchanges....
Within this unified world view, even minute alterations in one part of a system can influence the whole. As a result, no human act is inconsequential - including the creation of art. Ecological considerations expand art’s impact beyond the studio....Today, artists...need to monitor their artwork’s affect upon air, water, soils, plants, animals, and microbes.
FATE: Foundations in Art, Theory and Practice. From the essay, "Maximizing Art's Mark / Minimizing Art's Footprint." Posted by DH. More about Linda Weintraub HERE
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