May 4, 2020
As the Year of the Environment nears its end, we extend our deepest gratitude to all who joined this celebration by participating in the Earth Day@50 – Arts Initiative. Throughout this year-long initiative, artists, environmentalists, and community members of all kinds came together to honor the past fifty years of environmental stewardship through the power of artistic expression. While the initiative is now over, we invite you to continue connecting to the environment through art in virtual ways:
•Browse the Overture Center digital galleries, where you can view several exhibitions that explore the diverse understandings and expressions of nature.
• Watch ClearCut- The Wages of Dominion, a recent webinar in which artist John Riggs and University of Wisconsin-Madison scholar Monika Shea discuss clearcutting as a metaphor for the tensions that exist in how humans perceive and interact with the natural world, and more broadly how clearcutting can be seen as a useful metaphor for our current climate crisis.
• Municipal Building exhibition- the Madison Municipal Building will be housing a collection of art inspired by the natural environment through the end of 2020. While the exhibit is currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several of the artists have shared their work as a part of this article highlighting the exhibition.