Environmental Art 101- by Charlotte V.

In February, Hollie Berry came to talk to us about different forms of environmental art. As an environmental artist, Hollie creates art that can be made out of land, made on the land, or art where nature is the subject and is suited to address issues in our environment. She showed us pictures of her “dew-dles” that she creates at Coolidge Park when there is plenty of dew on the grass.

T is for Turtle- Hollie Berry

Hollie told us about the four different types of environmental  art: manipulation, disruption, interaction, and intervention. We discovered that artists like Cornelia Conrad, Simon Beck and Andres Amador take what is already there on the land and rearrange it to form an image, forming the manipulation category of environmental art. 

Rowan leaves around a Hole- Andy Goldsworthy

The second category, disruption, is made up of artists who take man made objects outdoors to form images, well represented by the famous Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. 

Cadillac Ranch- Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels

Interaction are personal interactions with nature that form images, such as Richard Long’s “Line Made by Walking”. 

Line made by walking- Richard Long 

The last type of “earth art”, intervention, includes artists such as Alan Sonfist who change the environment in order to improve it. 

Circles of Time- Alan Songfist

What most people don’t realize though is that we make environmental art more than you think. Flower crowns, snowmen, igloos, sandcastles are all forms of earth art that we create all the time! We began to discuss ideas for our own environmental art project and might need your help with it, so stay posted!

Snow art by Simon Beck