Public Art Events that Combine Art and Ecology

Public Art Events that Combine Art and Ecology
The Earth Project

Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Earth Project

The Earth Project is a site featuring a variety of public art projects created by my students at Florida State University. The courses, Art and Ecology and The Earth Project, are concerned with learning about and working in the local environment. They are comprised of three elements: service projects, art making and field trips with lectures. We have lectures from professionals that include environmentalists, naturalists, artists, writers, activists and educators in places like Turkey Hill Farms, Wakulla Springs, Marine Specimen Lab and Tallahassee Museum. We create collaborative and individual art projects in places like Millstone Plantation, Wakulla Springs, Tallahassee Museum and Paul Rutkovsky's Green Alley. Our service projects such as cleaning in and around sink holes are aimed to have direct positive impact in the Wakulla Springs Basin area. Although the courses have a focus on Art and Biology, having these backgrounds are not essential to fully participate in the course.
The Earth project course received a grant from The Center for Leadership and Civic Education at FSU. Also included are images from a Soft Sculpture class that had Ecological inspired projects.

Objectives of the course:

-Learn about Local and World Wide ecological Issues
with lectures from artists, biologists, activists, environmentalists and writers

-Find out what Scientists and Artists are doing in response
with films, books, art shows, and lectures and taking educational field trips

-Participate in individual and collaborative service projects and Art making
by creating art installations, doing service projects that directly impact the health of natural areas.

Picture plants from Soft Sculpture

After a lecture from FSU Ecology Science professor Thomas Miller who spoke to the class about the rare carnivorous plant bog in the area, we recreated a bog with Soft sculpture with materials that were collected from Good Cents (Good Will thrift store). It was on exhibition for Rare Plant Society's meeting and reception in the King building at FSU. 3/2018




The Procession of Strange and Extinct
For the Annual Wakulla Wildlife Festival, the soft sculpture class created a procession of a variety of 
animals that are invented, rare and extinct. This is a Mastodon was at the center of the procession. 5/2017


After a lecture from the FSU Marine Lab's Dr. Sandra Brooke about Coral Reef's
The Soft Sculpture Class made a reef made or recycled and second hand materials for the Maine lab's annual open house.





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Wakulla Birds

These are large puppets that I made while I was an Americorps member at Wakulla Springs (1/2008-12/2009). These are inhabited park volunteers and sometimes my students at Park events. They are also brought to demonstrations at the capital for issues on the environment.

Ibis and Boy

Ibis and Boy

Wakulla Birds

Wakulla Birds

"There is future in plastic"

The Art and Ecology class made sculptures from recyclable materials. There were exhibited on March 19th at the Alley Sprout's art event that happened in Paul Rutkovsky's Green Alley.

Suggested Readings and Films

*Peter Singer, "The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty"
*Michael Pollan, "Omnivore's Dilemma"& "In Defense of Food"
*David Suzuki, "Sacred Balance"
*Roderick Frazier Nash, "Wilderness and The American Mind"
*Lori Bongiorno, "
Green, Greener, Greenest"
*Robert Kenner, Food Inc", film
*Thomas Riedelsheimer, "Andy Goldworthy's Rivers and Tides" film
*Leonardo DiCapria, "The Eleventh Hour" film