Today our class had the privilege of visiting the Two Rivers Art Gallery here in Prince George. The visit included a tour of the two exhibitions currently on display, as well as a creativity activity at the end. The two exhibitions “Nonreturnables” and “Dismantled Worlds” had themes related to Environmental Science and showed art pieces in different formats that portrayed a variety of messages surrounding climate issues.
Nonreturnables
Nonreturnables was the first exhibition that we toured through. It showed art pieces from multiple artists and different media. The central, guiding question was “How does this complicated relationship with plastic inform our relationship with the land, our bodies and future generations?”. I feel this theme has ties to the pedagogy of our education program “People, Place and Land”. This also has connections to a wide variety of subjects including science, social studies, english and art. I believe that any class could benefit from a visit to this exhibition and challenge ways that the “industrial epidemic” is connected to our education.
There were many beautiful and thought-provoking pieces in this exhibition but the ones that stood out to me the most were the woven pieces by Mima Preston. I particularly like that from far away you can not tell what the textiles are constructed of but when you move closely and take a deeper look, you realize that she used grocery bags and mop cotton to craft these beautiful patterns. I also appreciate the concept of taking “garbage” and repurposing it into something wonderful.
Dismantled worlds
Dismantled Worlds is composed of art pieces that are all crafted by artist Jude Griebel. This exhibition also has many cross-curricular connections. There were science-focused classmates who relied on their education to make inferences and reflect on the messages about climate change and human impact, there were visual representations of literary devices that could be reflected on (personification, satire, juxtaposition, etc.), and the works all commented on social issues which tie into humanities.
Ice Cap
Mounted work stands at 87” x 58” x 48”. Wood, air-drying clays, acrylic, textiles, antique glass eyes, and glass beads. 2018. Photography by On White Wall New York.
The first piece of art I was able to take a deep look at was “Ice Cap” from the collection “Illuminated Collapse“. This is the artwork I was at when we worked through the first method for observing art. It was a very meditative method that required us to slow down and sit with the piece for much longer than we normally would. Spending this time standing and observing, then closing my eyes and reflecting was a very profound way to take in the art and deeply think about the message that the artist is trying to send. This is a very disturbing and saddening piece for me. I did not realize at first that the eyes of the ice cap are crying and it is this water that is flooding the little world below it. A lot of my education in the last few years has been in environmental science and seeing the threats and impacts of climate change depicted in art is very impactful for me.
One thing I appreciated was hearing the different observations and inferences that my classmates had. With this piece, I appreciated Lacey pointing out that the rocks form a hand formation that makes it look like the ice cap figure is trying to lift the drowning world out of the water. As if it is trying to save the world that it is killing with its own demise. Another observation that stuck with me (though I can not remember who said it… perhaps Talia?) is how the cars make it look like the people still out of the water are completely oblivious and carefree. This stuck with me because it is so true of our world. There are so many serious world events and concerns that are easy to forget about or ignore when we live a privileged and isolated life.
The second piece I spent a significant amount of time with was “Dismantled World”, a sculpture depicting various animals all piled on top of each other. The method we followed to inspect this artwork was much more structured and had more collaboration. We found that the more we looked at this work, the more questions we had about the artist’s intentions and message. Why are most of the birds belly out? Why are some animals upside down? Why are there some colourful species and others that are more grey-brown? Is there a specific category of animals? Why is there the inclusion of trees with this pile of creatures? Is that one leg sticking out part of a horse or a donkey?
These are just a few of the questions we found ourselves asking. Overall I got the impression that this is a pile of natural elements that represent the loss of species (both plants and animals) due to our human impacts. Again this cut straight to my heart and made me reflect back on some of my education (Conservation Biology, Contaminated Northern Environments, Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems, etc.).
Slick Form
54.5” x 20” x 24”. Air-drying clays, wood, oil paint. 2015. Photography by Blaine Campbell.
The piece that stood out to me the most is actually a piece I did not get a significant chance to look at. “Slick Form” is a sculpture of personified oil, spilling out of a ship. I often caught myself looking over at it from across the gallery. I am not even sure why it is the one that stays with me. Perhaps it is because it is the first one that caught my attention when I walked into the gallery, perhaps it is the fact that it seems to look right into your soul when you walk past. It also seems to defy gravity with the boat suspended in the air. I think it is the fact that Griebel personified the oil and gave it big eyes, a bird wing and generally human form. I think the depiction of an oil spill is also a scenario that is still an environmental concern, but less apocalyptic and despairing than some of the other pieces, so I wanted to mentally wrestle with it more.
Art Activity
At the end of the gallery walk, we moved upstairs to the loft and challenged ourselves to show our own personal expression through art, while working with different media (sketching and play dough).
While exploring Jude Griebel’s website I came across some drawings and it caused me to reflect on our activity where we were depicting one message through different media. I noticed one of the newer drawings “Trash Tide” looked reminiscent of one of the amazing sculptures ” Off-Shore” that we were able to see at the gallery. Seeing an artist’s creativity and strong message through different media is wonderful.
My own artwork (pictured below) does not quite match the mastery of Griebel’s work. Still, I did manage to connect my own personal connection to land (specifically my hometown Terrace) as well as environmental concerns. My creature is made up of mist from the river (the Skeena River that runs through Terrace is commonly called “The Misty River”) and it lives by eating the pollution that would harm the river and the species that it supports.
I enjoyed both the mental and creative challenges that this field trip presented to me and would like to revisit the art gallery in the future, either with a class as a teacher or in my own spare time.