1.
eco-art
aka...
land art
environmental art
earth art
green art

2.
Caspar David Friedrich, Moonrise over the Sea, 1822, oil on canvas
Friedrich, a German, gets the credit as the first great artist of the Romantic landscape. In
his views there is still a central (very central) place for man in nature

3.
Thomas Cole (American, 1801 - 1848)
Romantic Landscape, 1826
Oil on canvas
ForThomas Cole, landscape was more than scenery.The artist hoped to stir the viewer to contemplate the natural purity and
boundless promise of the NewWorld. Both his art and his spiritual zeal inspired several generations of American landscape
painters known collectively as the Hudson River School.

4.
Frederic Church, Niagara Falls
oil on canvas
Niagara Falls fromTable Rock, 1835
Samuel FB Morse, 1791–1872
Samuel Morse was a co-founder of the the National Academy of
Design, and contributor to the invention of a single-wire telegraph
system and co-inventor of the Morse code

5.
Frederick Church, Twilight in theWilderness, 1860

6.
Albert Bierstadt
BridalVeil Falls,Yosemite, 1871–73
Oil on canvas
Bierstadt was one of the first pioneering artists to go west in
search of new scenes to paint.The mountains were far more
lofty and dramatic than any in the eastern United States.
Albert Bierstadt
Wind RiverWyoming, ca. 1870
oil on canvas

7.
Martin Johnson Heade - Marsh River In Haze
Martin Johnson Heade - Sunny Day OnThe Marsh 1875
Martin Johnson Heade - Orchid AndTwo
Hummingbirds 1872
Heade (pronounced ‘heed’) traveled extensively in S.
America, painting mostly flowers and birds in an attempt
to make a living from selling the exotic scenes.

8.
George
Caleb
Bingham,
Boatmen on
the Missouri,
1846
George
Caleb
Bingham,
FurTraders
Descending
the
Missouri,
1845
Thomas Hart Benton, Chillmark, 1916
As the west was settled the settlers no less
than the landscape were celebrated.

9.
Arthur Chartow
Ford Rouge Plant, 2009
Charles Sheeler (1883–1965), American Landscape, 1930
(The Ford River Rouge plant)
Once settled, the new industrial landscape, and
the American ingenuity, industry and energy it
represented, became the object of celebration. It
remains so for some today.

10.
celebrations of the landscape
The landscape is celebrated no less today than during the time of the
Hudson River school, though often the means and materials are
different, and the work extends into the landscape itself. The goals
have been expanded to include bringing attention to, and making
warnings about, the fragility of the natural world.

11.
Christo and Jean-Claude
Wrapped Coast, Project for
Australia, Near Sydney 1968-69
Nothing of Christo and Jean-Claude's work remains once the installation
has been dismantled. Christo once said, "I think it takes much greater
courage to create things to be gone than to create things that will remain."

12.
Christo and Jean-Claude
Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado,
1970-72

13.
Christo and Jean-Claude
Running Fence, Sonoma and
Marin Counties, California
1972-76

14.
Christo and Jean-Claude
Surrounded Islands
Miami, Florida, 1980-83,.Christo and Jean-Claude's crew removed 40
tons of garbage from the area during the project

15.
Richard Long
A Line Made by Walking, 1967
Richard Long
A Line in Scotland, 1981
“Nature has always been a subject of art, from the
first cave paintings to twentieth-century landscape
photography. I wanted to use the landscape as an
artist in new ways. First I started making work
outside using natural materials like grass and water,
and this led to the idea of making a sculpture by
walking.”

16.
Hamish Fulton
3 self-explanatory pieces

17.
Joseph Beuys
7000 Oaks
Germany
trees, basalt stone columns
Dia installed five stone columns, each paired with a tree, atWest
22nd Street in 1988, continuing the sculpture project 7000
Eichen (7000 Oaks) by German artist Joseph Beuys. Five varieties
of trees were planted: gingko, linden, bradford pear, sycamore, and
oak. In 1996 Dia extended this project by planting 18 new trees.
Joseph Beuys
7000 Oaks
Dia Foundation, NY, NY
trees, basalt stone columns

18.
Andy Goldsworthy
Storm King Wall, 1997-98
2,278-foot-long site-specific sculpture was made
using stones gathered from the Art Center property

19.
environmental planning & rehabilitation

20.
Alan Sonfist
Time Landscape, 1965
“visible to this day at the corner
of Houston and LaGuardia in
GreenwichVillage, it introduced
the key environmentalist idea of
bringing nature back into the
urban environment”
Time Landscape is a plot of
‘wild’ land planted with flora
native to Manhattan.

21.
Alan Sonfist
Circles of Time, date?
“concentric rings of different plant species mark the evolution of indigenous plant life from the modern day through ancient
forests, spanning both ecological and chronological gaps providing a wholistic view ofTuscan natural history”

22.
pioneers of the eco-art movement, the Harrisons have worked for almost
forty years with biologists, ecologists, architects, urban planners and other
artists to initiate collaborative dialogues to uncover ideas and solutions
which support biodiversity and community development.
Helen and Newton Harrison
Making Earth, 1970
“topsoil was endangered world-wide,
we made earth many times”
‘Newt’ tasting the new earth

23.
Helen and Newton Harrison
Meditations on the Sacramento River, the Delta
and the Bays at San Francisco- 1976-77
“the first critique of the green revolution* and intensive
irrigated farming in art,”
* the green revolution took root in the 1960’s. It balanced fertilization with proper seeds and
irrigation to double or even triple crop production per acre. It caused waterways to be polluted
by chemical run-off which, in part, this project critiques. It also fed an awful lot of hungry people.

24.
Helen and Newton Harrison
The Mangrove and The Pine, 1982
“pines, invaders in this region, pushing out the native
mangroves”

25.
Helen and Newton Harrison
Endangered Meadows, 1994
“the Harrisons transplanted a 400 year-old meadow
that was being replaced by an urban development of
roofgarden on top of the museum”
shades of Joni Mitchell’s ‘tree museum’

26.
Agnes Denes
Wheatfield, 1982
2 acres of wheat planted and harvested by the artist on a landfill in
Manhattan's financial district.The wheat was used to make bread.

27.
Agnes Denes
Tree Mountain:A Living Time Capsule, 1992-96

28.
Patricia Johanson
Saggitaria Platyphylla, 1981-86
Fair Park Lagoon, Dallas,TX
a home for native wildlife—ducks, turtles, fish, shrimp, insects
Patricia Johanson
Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility
Petaluma, CA
The project includes oxidation ponds,
sewage treatment wetlands, and polishing
ponds for the removal of heavy metals, as
well as a new 272-acre tidal marsh and
mudflat, PetalumaWetlands Park.
“Patricia Johanson has patiently insisted that art can help
to heal the earth. For the last ten years she has been
creating large-scale projects that posit a radical, yet
practical vision. She works with engineers, city planners,
scientists and citizens' groups to create her art as
functioning infrastructure for modern cities.”

29.
Meadowsweet Dairy (sculptors collaborative):
"We share a deep commitment to the notion that
art has a job to do. Much of our work aspires to
be both aesthetically powerful and practical.We
clean up neglected, trash filled areas and make
their beauty accessible through our site-pieces."
Meadowsweet Dairy
For The Birds, 2000
artificial bird nesting boxes, SE Farallon Island, CA
Nine Cassin's Auklets fledged from the nesting boxes in the first year.
Meadowsweet Dairy
Two Bridges, 1997
Cedarhurst Sculpture Park, Mt.Vernon, IL
For similar projects—artists designing landscape—see also George
Trakas and Michael Singer

30.
something is wrong...
warnings of dystopia
Some artists celebrate. Others warn.

31.
Gregory Crewdson
Untitled (Robin with Ring of Eggs), 1993
Crewdson’s photographic scenes instill an unsettled feeling of something out of joint, amiss.The
people in the scenes feel it too, but seem powerless to do anything.

32.
Gregory Crewdson
Untitled (shed fire), 1996

33.
Gregory Crewdson
Untitled (flower totem), 2002
if the people in the scenes do something, it
seems misdirected, bizarre, ineffectual
Gregory Crewdson
Untitled, 2001

34.
Gregory Crewdson
Untitled,Winter 2007
Gregory Crewdson
Untitled, Summer 2007
winter is grim.
is summer any better?

35.
Edward Burtynsky
Burning Tire Pile # 1
Near Stockton, California 1999
Burtynsky, a Canadian photographer, works in the much more
direct documentary vein, producing environmental records both
horrifying and oddly beautiful

36.
Edward Burtynsky
Nickel Tailings No. 36
Sudbury, Ontario 1996
Edward Burtynsky
Kennecott Copper Mine No. 22
BinghamValley, Utah 1983

37.
Edward Burtynsky
Dam #2,Three Gorges Dam Project,
Yangtze River, 2002 “TheThree Gorges Dam is the world’s largest and most powerful
hydroelectric dam. Located on theYangtze River, and straddling Hubei and
Sichuan provinces, the dam stretches two kilometers across (five times
wider than America’s Hoover Dam) and stands 185 meters high.”
The film “ Manufactured Landscapes“ is about Burtynsky and is also an
examination of industrialization and globalization

38.
Walton Ford
Falling Bough, 2002
watercolor, gouche, ink, pencil
Walton Ford
The Island, date unknown
More unsettling views of nature possibly run amok.The
Mendocino College library has a new and beautiful book
of Ford’s paintings.

39.
Vaughn Bell
Personal Landscapes: Desert, Crag, Lawn,
2005-06
stoneware, hardware, wheels, leashes,
acrylic, soil, plants
Vaughn Bell
Village Green, 2008
five biospheres: acrylic forms, native plants
of the Berkshires, soil, water, hardware
Vaughn Bell's work suggests a science fiction
universe in which plants serve as pets and
companions, and once again evokes Joni Mitchell’s
‘tree museum’

40.
Vaughn Bell
Dust Mask, 2009-10
photo from a performance

41.
Levi vanVeluw, Landscape I, 2008: Lambdaprint
“The images that I make often consist of unlogical combinations of materials, patterns, colors, and
forms, with my head as the only constant factor. Each element is conspicuously chosen to affect a
predetermined transformation. By playing with the value of each material and by using them for a
purpose that was not originally intended for them, I construct within the image, in a very small way, a
different perspective on the world.” Levi vanVeluw
Levi vanVeluw, Landscape III, 2008: Lambdaprint

42.
Shen Shaomin
Unknown Creature No. 10, date?
6’ high; animal and human bones

43.
Shen Shaomin, Sagittarius, 2005: Bone, bone meal, glue
“People are fabricating an artificial world
according to personal interests.The biological
world is no exception; the most mysterious
place of the future world will be the “biological
factory.” In this place, people will use their
adept skills and methods to produce DNA and
nurture new biological species, and these
creatures would either be manufactured or
implanted.” Shen Shaomin

44.
Misako Inaoko
chess set of
invented creatures

45.
Gregory Euclide
Torn from the making of knowing's vista, 2010
Acrylic, foam, lead, moss, paper, pencil, sedum,
sponge, wax in acrylic box frame
“For Euclide nature, contemplation and curiosity are concomitant.Today he walks
in Minnesota near theTwin Cities, observing and collecting found objects,
interesting plant material, all of which are incorporated into his art.”
Gregory Euclide
title and date unknown

46.
Jeanne Silverthorne
Venus Flytrap with Xeres Blue (Extinct), 2009
rubber and phosphorescent pigment
Jeanne Silverthorne
Phosphorescent Pink with Flies, 2009
rubber and phosphorescent pigment

47.
biological interventions
why limit yourself to ‘art’ materials?

48.
“Transgenic art is a new art form based on the use of genetic engineering to transfer natural or synthetic genes to an
organism, to create unique living beings.This must be done with great care, with acknowledgment of the complex
issues thus raised and, above all, with a commitment to respect, nurture, and love the life thus created.” Eduardo Kac
Eduardo Kac and Alba, the fluorescent
bunny. This transgenic artwork
comprises the creation of a green
fluorescent rabbit. 2000

49.
Ballengee
Pacific Tree Frog
Ballengee
Red-spotted Newt
Ballengee collects specimens of naturally occurring genetic mutations (ie, not artificially induced) in small creatures, mostly
amphibians, prepares them for scientific display the exhibits results.

50.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/injecting_poetry_into_bacteria_to_produce_more_poe.php
Canadian Poet Christian Bök has translated his
purpose-written short poem into DNA and is
injecting it into a bacterium, Deinococcus radiodurans.
The way DNA codes to text is that scientists have
established a sort of "language of flowers" in which a
given amino acid stands in for a given letter.What Bök
means by a "response" is that the bacterium, in
response to the injected DNA, creates proteins
whose amino acids spell out a new set of words, a
new poem.

51.
moss graffiti

52.
artists unknown
radical moss graffiti
el&abe (eleanor stevens and anna garforth)
church moss graffiti, england

53.
masanobu fukuoka—not (officially) an artist,
but a Japanese natural-philosopher-farmer, educator
writer, naturalist, researcher and professional
biological scientist. he also gets credit for invention of
‘the seed bomb’. seed balls (or seed bombs, earth
dumplings) are often used by guerilla gardeners in
reclaiming derelict land in their neighborhoods.
seed balling in
brooklyn, ny

54.
seed ball
grown field
planting seed balls,
and the results

55.
post apocalypse
after the end...

56.
"post-apocalyptic urban landscapes that blur the visual boundaries of fiction and reality. Lukas’ work
explores the existence of disaster, be it realized or fictitious, in contemporary society.“
Alex Lukas
NYC 2, 2009
ink, acrylic, gouache
and silkscreen on two
book pages
Alex Lukas
Untitled, 2009
acrylic and
silkscreen on book
page
Alex Lukas
Untitled, 2009
acrylic and
silkscreen on two
book pages

57.
Mat Collinshaw
Children of a Lesser God, nd
photo on lightbox
an evocation of a raw nature where children are raised by wolves (if they
are lucky)

58.
“the viewer enters the Earth after a major event.
Whether it has been an explosion, that has covered the forests
under a thin layer of ashes, or a complete freeze of
nature due to cold and frost, is not defined.”
Gerhard Mantz generates his virtual landscapes with the computer
by means of a 3D modelling process.
Gerhard Mantz
Allgemeine Ubereinstimmung,
2009
ink on canvas
Gerhard Mantz
Bemerkenswerter
Zusammenhang, 2009
ink on canvas

59.
YangYongliang
Untitled # 5 from the Heavenly City series, 2008
Inkjet print

60.
renewable resource art
being good...

61.
John Grade
Elephant Bed (Brighton), 2009
Corn-based polymer, biodegradable methyl cellulose skins
20 forms, 24' x 6' x 6' each
Those pieces which have not slowly disappeared into a large pool of
ink during the course of the exhibit will be walked into Bellingham
Bay, where they will be left to dissolve in its waters
Bean Finneran
White Ring , 2007
Low fire clay, glaze, acrylic stain
24" x 60"
"I couldn't come up with any kind of personal statement
as a painter, so after awhile I decided to start working
with clay again. I had never formally studied ceramics
but thought I would just bumble my way through."

62.
Junichi Nakamura, et. al.
Mysterious Pearl, 2006
Fairbanks,AK
Snow and ice sculpture events are
staged all over the world. . See
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_sculpture for
a list.
Sculpting a block of snow
Jacques Cartier Park
Gatineau, CA 2005
Teams of professional carvers compete in the annual
International Ice Carving Competition.This year’s theme is
“Winter Olympics” and each team is given 15 blocks of ice,
weighing 300 lb, which they must transform into ice sculptures.

63.
snow dinosaurs

64.
Joan Bankemper
Willa
A contemporary “earthwork” which will
function as a medicinal herb garden.
Ann Rosenthal and Steffi Domike
An American Roots Garden
Foods common to early America, including
Native American crops and those brought by
settlers and immigrants.
Knox Cummin
Not Drain Away
A rain water collection sculpture off of the
roof of an existing farmhouse complete with
rain barrels, piping and irrigation system,
which waters the American Roots garden.
Edible Landscapes:“green” principles and sustainability in relationship to
food, art, design and agriculture. Socially engaging interventions in the
landscape related to food and agriculture,

65.
George Herms
Max and Dorothea, 2002
Ed Kienholz
John Doe, 1959
Richard Stankiewicz
Speckle Bird Shy, 1958
Junk art, by definition, is recycled and green.

66.
random eco-art

67.
Valeri Larko
Salvaged, 2006(?)
oil on canvas
The distinctive landscape of northern New Jersey.
Junk art - even tho’ it’s a painting

68.
William B. Montgomery
Untitled (detritus of consumption), 1988
etching, 12x18”

69.
Jan Fabre, Skull, 2001: Mixture of scarab wing cases, plastic, stuffed animal.
“My sculptures from 2001 represent human skulls that seem to have been invaded by scarabs. I was attracted to the beetle’s shimmering
colors which bestow a distinctive beauty to the skulls making them reminiscent of Aztec skulls set with precious stones.The fact that
scarabs are symbols of eternity in the Egyptian mythology adds another layer of meaning, transforming the skull into an object of
veneration.” Jan Fabre

70.
Fabián Peña,The Impossibility of
Storage for the Soul I (Self-Portrait),
2007
Cockroach wing fragments, translucent
paper, light boxes.
“Most of my recent pieces are made with
insect parts in a process where I transform
these repulsive creatures into other
anatomies. I re-contextualize these organic
elements into significant objects that
address existential matters.” Fabián Peña

71.
Michael Ryan
Dead Space, 2005
Plastic bags, fishing line, clear vinyl tubing, plexiglas, electronic
timers, air pumps and credit card

72.
Vanessa Marsh
Incomplete Freeway On-Ramp, Seattle,WA, 2009
Mixed media, found materials, oil and galkyd
Vanessa Marsh
Cement Factory, Seattle,WA, 2009,
Mixed media, found materials, oil and galkyd

73.
Billie Grace Lynn, Mad Cow Motorcycle, 2008: Cow bones, bicycle frame, electric motor.
“My work is usually interactive and kinetic in nature. I strive to make pieces in which the viewer’s experience is
important to the form and function of the piece. I want people to remember themselves, in much the same way that
babies discover their fingers.” Billie Grace Lynn

74.
Christy Rupp, Great Auk, Iceland, 2007: Fast-food
chicken bones, mixed media.
“Are chickens from the supermarket less important than a
bird gone forever except in a museum? Although observed
from actual bird prototypes, these sculptures embody
absurdity, as they are a creation of human hands. Reflecting
the preposterous notion that humans can put things back
together, they imply that merely by good intentions, nature
could be retrofitted for the better, placating our guilt.”
Christy Rupp

75.
Christy Rupp
Zero Balance - Frog made from Credit Cards, 2007
10" X 10" X 3".

76.
Carson Murdach
The Course of Empire#3 Consummation
Carson Murdach
The Course of Empire #2 Prosperity
Carson Murdach
The Course of Empire #1 Discovery

77.
Jim Toia
Cloak of Piety, 2008
pewter ant colony cast
Jim Toia
mushroom spore drawing, 2008
Untitled, 2008
dimensions variable
multiple pewter ant colony casts

78.
Claudia Borgna
In these performance pieces I walk and crawl through different
landscapes wearing outfits made out of hundreds of plastic bags.

79.
Majeed
Cool Globe, 2009
A layer of cell phones, soda cans, and plastic bottles
encrust the outer layer of this cool globe
Chris Burden
Medusa's Head, 1989-92
A volcanic mass of rocky landscape wrapped with and
penetrated by model trains and tracks of various sizes

80.
Keith W. Bentley, Cauda Equina, 1995-2007
Approx. 1.4 million hand-knotted horse hairs, fabric, taxidermy mannequin, resin
“Funeral etiquette from the latter half of theVictorian era dictated that widows wear black veils for a mourning period
of eighteen months. I have adapted this tradition for Cauda Equina, which translates as ‘horse tail’ but is also the name
given to the lower part of he spinal column in most vertebrates.” Keith W. Bentley

81.
Marc Swanson, Untitled (Antler Pile), 2010:
Antlers, crystals, adhesive
“I like to synthesize materials that resist being
synthesized. By drawing attention to the duality of
the materials, I intend to transform them into
something altogether different and new. I think of
it as a kind of alchemy.” Marc Swanson

82.
Tracy Heneberger,
Moon, 2006:
Anchovies, epoxy,
shellac, resin
“My sculpture is
accumulative in
nature, each large
gesture an embroidery
of many smaller ones.
I just don’t trust mass
that has been
achieved without the
building aspect.
Increments are the
forms I understand,
and repeating and
expanding them to
create systems and
structures are acts of
ritual, transformation,
and faith.” Tracy
Heneberger

83.
Laura Splan, Reflexive #1, 2004
blood on watercolor paper
40"H x 40"W
“Reflexive explores the narrative implications of blood through its physical qualities. Each drawing was created using
blood taken from my fingertips as the primary medium.The drawings reference neuroanatomical forms sometimes
directly, sometimes loosely.” Laura Splan

84.
Jennifer Angus, red_swarm, 2009
Jennifer Angus became an amateur entomologist in the course of creating her series of dollhouses and
installations. She builds scenes of perfect domestic felicity, but all the patterns on the walls, floors and
furniture are arrangements of beautiful insects, and all the characters in the dollhouses are insects, too

85.
Helen Altman used a plastic model of a human skull to mold spices, seeds, grasses, beans, lotus leaves and the like into firm,
skull-shaped packages, which she then arranges on a wall. She wants viewers to approach and stick their noses into the
skulls, breathe deeply of the clove, the rose, the balsa, and let death get in their face.
Helen Altman, skulls1
Helen Altman, skulls2

86.
Claire Morgan
OnTop of the World, 2009
Bluebottle flies, spider, nylon, lead, acrylic
70 7/8 x 19 11/16 x 19 11/16 in.

87.
Stuart Haygarth
Tide, 2004
The originalTide chandelier is part of a larger body of work based
on the collection of 'man made' debris washed up on a specific
stretch of Kent (England) coastline.

88.
Paula Hayes
Nocturne of the Limax maximus
MoMA, 2011

89.
Tim Hawkinson
Point, 2009
eggs shells
10 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 1 in

90.
The Great Pacific Gyre
The central Pacific Ocean hosts a collection of mostly plastic garbage
covering an area twice the size of Texas. It is many feet deep.

91.
Books:
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Mariner Books, 2002. Released in 1962, Silent Spring offered the first look at widespread ecological
degradation and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists.
John Grande, Art Nature Dialogues: Interviews with Environmental Artists, SUNY Press, 2004
Adrian Henri, Total Art: Environments, Happenings and Performance, Praeger, 1974
Websites:
What the Heck is Eco-Art? (planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/eco-art-ways-explore.html)
Environmental Museum (www.greenmuseum.org/)
Green Arts Web (www.greenarts.org/) Includes art history, journals, books, theory, video and links to art and artists.
Christina Ray, (www.christinaray.com/). “... an innovative gallery and creative catalyst. Our mission, grounded by the concept of
psychogeography, is to present the most important contemporary artwork exploring the relationship between people and places.”
Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) (www.clui.org) “Dedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge about how the
nation's lands are apportioned, utilized, and perceived.”
eco art space (www.ecoartspace.org) “Creating opportunities for addressing environmental issues through the visual arts.”
BOOMMUSEUM, www.boommuseum.nl/intro-e.html, a virtual museum for art in all facets of nature. Founded in 1995, till the
present day it has built up a collection of more than 160 works of art.
Other:
Nevada Museum of Art (www.nevadaart.org) The 1st museum dedicated to art with “a focus on natural, built and virtual
environments.” It also runs the Center of Art + Environment (CA+E)
Wendover Residency Program run by CLUI (www.clui.org/pro_pro/wendover/index.html) “The program is open to artists, ... or
anyone who works with land and land use issues in an innovative and engaging manner.”