Environmental Impact Art Exhibit (9/24/2014)

Kelly English-James
BiSci 003
Extra Credit

What environmental issues were portrayed in the exhibit? In your opinion, which were the most important?
Why was the piece with which you got your photo your favorite?
Do you think that the exhibit met its goal to "heighten public awareness and concern about the degradation of diverse
environments through the power of art"? Why or why not?
If you were to create an additional art piece for this exhibit, what would it be and what message would it add?

The Environmental Impact Art Exhibit displayed at the Erie Art Museum is an exhibit like
no other. I have never viewed so many beautiful pieces of art created and contributed to
heighten public awareness and concern about the degradation of earths ecosystems. Many
different environmental issues were portrayed. These issues included pollution, overpopulation,
mishaps, the widespread desecration of the land due to our increased need for fossil fuels and
other natural resources, and a general disregard for the other living things with which we share
the environment with. More specific issues I was able to identify through the art were
deforestation, nuclear test site wastelands, the abundance of waste from rubber tire, exposed
striations of open pit copper mines, birds attempting to navigate busy highways and finding food
in an asphalt parking lots. All of the issues presented in the exhibit were important, but what
struck me as most important was the issue of how we treat our natural resources such as water.
Many of the pieces tied back to water cleanliness and how severely polluted our bodies of water
are due to human impact. I found this issue to be most important because the waste we as
humans let off into the water affect the ecosystem as a whole and has a tremendous impact.
The piece I took a photo with was titled Save the Seashore, by Walter Ferguson.

This was my favorite piece because of the description the artist placed with the piece. The
description states,
Man throws his flotsam and jetsam which pollutes the sea, and the sea throws it
back at Man and pollutes the seashore leaving little room for simple recreation.
This statement was most intriguing to me due to the painful truth in its irony. The sea is
essentially retaliating and fighting back against man as best as it can, in a sense.

I do believe the that the exhibit met its goal to "heighten public awareness and concern
about the degradation of diverse environments through the power of art" because theyve
promoted the exhibit in media sources and made the museum easily accessible for all at a very
low cost. The exhibit is laid out very nicely allowing for visitors to easily see what the pieces are,
their creator, and about the work itself. The Erie Art Museum also provides literature about the
exhibit itself to visitors and tells them about the exhibit itself and its purpose upon arrival. Along
with the communitys heightened awareness, the artists themselves who created the pieces to
be displayed in the exhibit have contributed to the growing number of people who are aware of
the issues impacting the environment.
If I were to create a piece to be displayed amongst other works in this exhibit, I would focus on
the issue of manufacturing and pollutants manufacturing and technology causes. In my mind, I
imagine the piece as an apple rotting in the middle of a dark but busy New York street with a set
of ear buds plugged into the side of the apple; the ear buds would have hearing aids attached to
the ends of them rather than buds and the cord of the earphones would be torn and tattered.
This represents how we are consuming the beautiful things in nature, but we cannot hear the
pain nature is enduring because we are not paying attention to it, we cant hear it because we
are experiencing some miscommunication due to not being able to effectively communicate with
nature. I would title the piece Tattered Misunderstanding.