The Art of Environmental Activism

On Thursday, April 14 at 7:00 pm join The Umbrella Community for The Art of Environmental Activism featuring Liz LaManche, Kyle Browne, Ellen Callaway, Mags Harries, and William Turville. The discussion will be moderated by C.C. King, one of the founders of the Musketaquid Arts and Environment Program. These four artists will discuss how their visual artwork incorporates the environment and activism around the environment. From photographs of recycling and recycled sculptures to large scale public art installations, these artists are well-versed in what it takes to create in collaboration with the environment.

The ArtTalk series brings presentations about visual art to The Umbrella that spark insightful conversations and rich contemplation. Tickets to all of The Umbrella's ArtTalks are $10 for the general public and $7 for resident artists.

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About the panelists:

  • A sculptor and architect, William Turville’s work ranges from festival sculpture and installations for the Revolving Museum, Somerville Arts Council,  First Night Boston, Figment Boston and the Celebrity Series Street Pianos project to commissioned work for institutions and corporations and unique work for themed shows, causes and charities, such as his Brickbottom Gallery installation on landmines and children, a FishBike artbike for Bikes Not Bombs and art furniture for the Mass. Homeless Coalition.  Mr. Turville has done installation art, community art and curated outdoor sculpture shows with Reclamation Artists, Bedford Center for the Arts, The Umbrella Center for the Arts and the Concord, MA DPW and in many towns and cities in the greater Boston area. He is an active member of the Arts League of Lowell, Brickbottom Artists Association and Reclamation Artists and was previously on the Board of Directors of The Revolving Museum. He teaches sculpture at Arlington Center for the Arts and other local art centers as well as teaching as a guest artist in public schools in the Boston area. A Pratt Institute graduate, he also studied at Mass. College of Art and The DeCordova Museum and has had several residencies at the Vermont Studio Center. His architecture and sculpture studio is located in Arlington, MA.  

  • Mags Harries' public art projects have received national recognition and have won many awards. They are also popular and accessible. She observes the small things that, like DNA, reveal all that is important to know about a place. She looks for the charged image, the jolt of electricity that often lies dormant, but can be released to energize a public place and the community. Some of her older projects, such as Asaroton '76 cross walk at Boston's Haymarket and Glove Cycle at the Porter Square, Cambridge MA, subway station, have become landmarks for communities.

  • Liz LaManche is best known for creating “Connected By Sea”, the 1000-foot tattoo-themed installation on the cement pier at Boston Shipyard, and for the “Stairs of Fabulousness,” a giant rainbow of fluorescent safety grit tape that brightened the central atrium staircase in Boston City Hall in 2014-2015. Based in Davis Square, Somerville, she likes to work in large public media, using color and symbolism, that aim to enrich the urban streetscape and create a dialogue.

  • Ellen Callaway, an award-winning Boston area food & product photographer, has a special place in her heart for making waste diversion wonderfully fun. She's addicted to learning how to recycle effectively, and passionate about communicating what she learns in new and unique ways. 

  • Kyle Browne is a visual artist practicing across mediums and disciplines. Her inspiration comes from the natural and built environments, steeped in experiential exploration and site-specific research. She discovers and engages with place through drawing, printmaking, installation and visual documentation. She investigates the contradictions and parallels between nature and humanity through underlying currents of time, consciousness and narrative. Kyle has been awarded six artist residencies including two in New Zealand, one in the White Mountain National Forest and at Caldera Arts in the Deschutes National Forest in Sisters, Oregon. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute, M.Ed from Lesley University and is a candidate for an MFA from School of Visual Arts in New York. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and her next exhibit, Timeline(s) opens on April 30th – July 2, at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. She currently directs a youth arts program with Lesley University.

Dates: 
04/14/2016 - 7:00pm
Event categories: 
Gallery