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October 2017
Review Mother Earth Maria Johnson and Marcy Ellis at Galleria at the YW, Tucson Reviewed by C.J. Shane |
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W e are finally coming around to the realization that climate change is real, it’s happening now, we’re the main cause, and life for us could get really difficult if we don’t act to mitigate its effects. Artists are leading the way to help us achieve these insights and actions. Some artists approach climate change from the point of view of a documentarian, others express anger, loss, or deep grief. And some choose love to help us connect to what we are losing.
Maria Johnson and Marcy Ellis show us artwork in their current Mother Earth exhibit at Galleria at the YW that expresses many of the thoughts and emotions we experience with increasing knowledge about climate change. The exhibit is on view now and will be available through November 27, 2017.
Maria Johnson has training and experience as a marine conservationist and scientific illustrator. She worked on a trawler studying bycatch at Prescott College’s Kino Bay Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies (Bahía de Kino, Sonora, Mexico). As a consequence, she has a decidedly scientifically-informed approach to her art. You may be familiar with a collaborative project she did with Tucson poet Eric Magrane titled Bycatch which they presented last year. Accompanying her black and white illustrations are informative statements on each work that help us to understand the science as well as the art of her subjects. [click on all images to enlarge]
Maria Johnson and Marcy Ellis show us artwork in their current Mother Earth exhibit at Galleria at the YW that expresses many of the thoughts and emotions we experience with increasing knowledge about climate change. The exhibit is on view now and will be available through November 27, 2017.
Maria Johnson has training and experience as a marine conservationist and scientific illustrator. She worked on a trawler studying bycatch at Prescott College’s Kino Bay Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies (Bahía de Kino, Sonora, Mexico). As a consequence, she has a decidedly scientifically-informed approach to her art. You may be familiar with a collaborative project she did with Tucson poet Eric Magrane titled Bycatch which they presented last year. Accompanying her black and white illustrations are informative statements on each work that help us to understand the science as well as the art of her subjects. [click on all images to enlarge]
MJohnson_Sea Turtles_
Johnson presents us with several meaningful works. An example is With the Growing Heat, a bifurcated black-and-white portrayal of sea turtles. She explains that as the ocean waters heat up, the increasing heat affects the sex of those turtles that hatch and survive. More heat means fewer males and more females. She sums up this phenomenon as “cool dudes” and “hot chicks.” Any species dependent upon a male and a female to reproduce is clearly endangered when one sex becomes threatened or disappears.
Humans are not immune to this. In the past 40 years, Scientific American reports that human male sperm count has dropped by 50% in America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and the drop is continuing. Scientists cannot say exactly what is causing this but some possible explanations include pesticide exposure, obesity, and temperature changes due to climate change…just like the turtles. Temperature change is the cause least in question.
Humans are not immune to this. In the past 40 years, Scientific American reports that human male sperm count has dropped by 50% in America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and the drop is continuing. Scientists cannot say exactly what is causing this but some possible explanations include pesticide exposure, obesity, and temperature changes due to climate change…just like the turtles. Temperature change is the cause least in question.
MJohnson_A Rise of the Elements_
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When I asked Johnson if she had a favorite artwork in this exhibit, she brought up A Rise of the Elements.
Johnson explains: “I wanted to explore the ideas of balance, imbalance, choice, and consequence. The natural behavior and cycles of water and fire, which we absolutely depend on for survival, have been altered due to human causes, and we're experiencing the effects of this. The aging saguaro and a young woman stand tall together in a new world; for me, this simultaneously represents an acceptance of change and a recognition of an opportunity to find unity and create new ways of living with intention and compassion." |
MEllis_Parallel Bodies_
Marcy Ellis, a Tucson teacher and artist, works in ink like Maria Johnson but rather than adhering primarily to black and white, Ellis uses color in subtle ways to integrate elements of her paintings. She frequently illustrates the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert by sharing with us beautiful renditions of flower blossoms, insects, and bones. A human female figure is often a part of these representations, as if to draw attention to the “mother” aspect of nature. Here we see Parallel Bodies, a tripartite image made up equally of saguaro, nopal, and a human form.
Ellis titles one of her works “We Weren’t Apart of the Plan.” Note the “apart,” not “a part.” This is a very important concept here. We often behave as if climate change may affect the polar bears, but not us; the Arizona agave, but not us; the monarch butterfly, but not us. Ellis makes clear….we are "a part" of what is going on, and not “apart” from it.
Ellis titles one of her works “We Weren’t Apart of the Plan.” Note the “apart,” not “a part.” This is a very important concept here. We often behave as if climate change may affect the polar bears, but not us; the Arizona agave, but not us; the monarch butterfly, but not us. Ellis makes clear….we are "a part" of what is going on, and not “apart” from it.
MEllis_Plants Want to Help Us_
Her favorite work in the exhibit is titled “Plants Want to Help Us.” She says the work is an exploration of life to death cycles. “When we don’t return to [the Earth] what she needs to survive, the cycle fails." Ellis has included lilies, chrysanthemums and gladioli, all flowers that we might bring to a funeral. She adds that she used natural dyes in this work which she created in her kitchen by boiling produce.
The Mother Earth exhibit also participates in a global project titled The Climate Ribbon. Add a ribbon to the tree or take a ribbon say that “you will be the protector of that which you most love and are most afraid of losing.” Connect with others who are also deeply concerned about Mother Earth.
As the artists say in their statement, “we have created a safe space to open our hearts to the reality of what is happening to us and our planet.”
Learn more about Galleria at the YW here> Galleria at the YW
The Mother Earth exhibit also participates in a global project titled The Climate Ribbon. Add a ribbon to the tree or take a ribbon say that “you will be the protector of that which you most love and are most afraid of losing.” Connect with others who are also deeply concerned about Mother Earth.
As the artists say in their statement, “we have created a safe space to open our hearts to the reality of what is happening to us and our planet.”
Learn more about Galleria at the YW here> Galleria at the YW