Basia Irland, Mount Vesuvius, Lynne Parks, Karen Gustafson
Airs Friday June 13, at 9:00 pm on Ch. 5.1
Basia Irland
Using ice books and other metaphors, Albuquerque-based multi-award-winning eco-artist Basia Irland works with the complex issues of climate and ecological disruption.
Basia Irland is an author, poet, sculptor, installation artist, and activist who creates international water projects, many of which are featured in her book, Water Library (University of New Mexico Press, 2007). The book focuses on projects the artist has created over three decades in Africa, Canada, Europe, South America, Southeast Asia, and the United States. Through her work, Irland offers a creative understanding of water while examining how communities of people, plants, and animals rely on this vital element. Irland is Professor Emerita, Department of Art and Art History, University of New Mexico, where she established the Arts and Ecology Program.
Ice Receding/Books Reseeding emphasizes the necessity of communal effort and scientific knowledge to deal with the complex issues of climate disruption and watershed restoration by releasing book-shaped, seed-laden, ephemeral ice sculptures into rivers.
“It’s a kind of knowledge that I hope people will understand about the importance of fresh water.”
Mount Vesuvius
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD has long inspired artists.
“Pompeii really goes into artist’s minds in a much deeper and more complicated way.”
Lynne Parks
Photographer and visual artist Lynne Parks gravitates to stark urbanscapes.
“The things I’m drawn to tend to be decayed, patched together. They become a metaphor for my own personal experience with a rare disease that I’ve had since I was a child.”
Karen Gustafson
Seeing through a high-powered microscope, Karen Gustafson creates fantastic ink drawings of fruits and vegetables.
“By looking at the microscope, you’re seeing the topography, so it really becomes its own landscape at that point. And the complexity and the intricacies that you find are just amazing.”