FREE Art+Sci Exhibit: Re-Imagining Conservation From the Ground Up

Re-Imagining Conservation: From the Ground Up is Creature Conserve's newest exhibition, presented in partnership with Swale House and NYC Urban Soils Institute.

We bring artists, writers, and scientists together to save species.

This is a free event! Donations/tickets - $10 suggested - are welcome but optional.

This exhibition focuses on the role healthy soil plays in supporting a healthy ecosystem, which in turn supports healthy animals and healthy people. The artworks included in this exhibition present multiple lenses for viewing our relationships with soils, and prompts the viewer to ask: WHAT IF we imagine human-animal-soil interactions in ways that support healthier lives for all species? The exhibition includes works from 21 artists, 10 writers, and 2 performers from five countries.

Open Saturdays and Sundays from 12 pm to 5 pm at Swale House on Governors Island, accessible by ferry.

For more information and a schedule of events, see this link.

Curated by Creature Conserve Arts Curator Heather McMordie with support from Margaret Boozer (Co-Director, Art Extension Service, NYC Urban Soils Institute) & Mary Mattingly (Founder, Swale.)

Artists: Angela Baron, Chloe Bulpin, Donica Larade, Eileen Holland, Elizabeth Ellenwood, Emilie Houssart, Hayley Cranberry Small, Hernán Jourdan, Jeanne Dodds, Jenn Houle, Lee Fearnside, Lisa Schnell, Madison Woods, Pamela Casper, Pooja Venkatachalam Kumar, Rachel Frank, Renee Crowley, Stephanie Garon, and Uma Sharma.

Performers: Kate Amrine, and Kate Douglas.

Writers: Adira Andlay, Barbara Kotick, Catherine Fletcher, Catherine Raven, Derek Russell, Diana Renn, Juliana Roth, Mary Arnold, N Nitha Fathima, Uttama Patel, Lisa Schnell, and Susan Tacent.

Artworks shown below:

Leopard Frog Pen & Ink with New York State Habitat and Access Stamp, Angela Baron

Rewilding Offering Hand, Oysters, Rachel Frank

Hive Facade, Chloé Bulpin

Destination Unknown, Madison Woods

About the exhibit, from curator Heather McMordie:

To me, the range of topics, mediums, and backgrounds represented in Re-Imagining Conservation: From the Ground Up parallels the biodiversity necessary for healthy ecosystems. Within the overarching theme of soil as the foundation of healthy ecosystems and the foundation of conservation, there are some artworks that look directly at the connections between soils and creatures. Jeanne Dodds’ ‘ō’ō fading, and Madison Woods’ Destination Unknown, for example, use mineral pigments to depict wildlife species native to those soils. Emilie Houssart’s Columbian X-Change installation and Hernan Jourdan’s Quickchua performance, on the other hand, explore a different aspect of soil: the history of colonization and its impacts on present-day conservation issues.

Other artworks focus on specific creatures, many which have close ties to Governors Island. Bees, for example, have been a particularly strong theme in this exhibition (a beautiful coincidence considering that the Bee Conservancy’s Bee Sanctuary is located on Governors Island). Chloe Bulpin’s Hive (photographs of a beehive designed using recent research indicating bee’s predisposition to UV wavelengths) hangs next to Donica Larade’s Medieval Bee Keeping, which traces the practice of Beekeeping back to the Byzantine Empire. The pairing presents a modern and medieval take on human-bee relationship.

I’m also excited about the fact that we will have several artists-residence and public programs throughout the run of the exhibition. I highly recommend stopping several times between now and November 5, 2023. As with any healthy ecosystem, there will be new things to notice with every visit!

Host or Publisher Creature Conserve, Inc.