Nick Reeves Award for Arts and the Environment - nominations
We are now open to receive nominations for this year's award, made by the Arts and Environment Network of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) in association with CCANW. The award is made annually in recognition of an outstanding contribution in the field of environmental arts in the UK and globally. Deadline 26 July. Details.
Nature to the Power of Art - Clive Adams speaks at Bath School of Art and Design
Clive was a student of Bath Academy of Art in the late Sixties and began his career at Arnolfini in 1975. Over the past forty years, he has had an abiding interest in art which engages with nature, and he founded CCANW in 2006. Now based in Stroud, he is keen to interest Bath's graduates in the field of art and ecology. Thursday 28 March 2pm at Sion Hill Lecture Theatre, Bath School of Art and Design. A limited number of seats for the public are available, please contact Ben Parry, b.parry@bathspa.ac.uk
Betsy Damon – major American ecological artist speaks in Stroud
Since 1985, New York based artist Betsy Damon has focused on water and ecological issues, and her Living Water Garden - a six-acre urban park in Chengdu, China - has become an icon for natural water-cleaning systems. She is the founder of 'Keepers of the Waters', which promotes environmental education, ecological planning and community projects worldwide. She will be speaking at Stroud Valleys Artspace (SVA) on Friday 12 April 11-12am during one of their regular artist meetings at 4 John St. A CCANW event, free.
Betsy Damon, Living Water Garden Park, Chengdu, China, 1996-98
News from our partner art.earth at Dartington Hall, Devon
If you are thinking about attending Evolving the Forest this June (19-21), places are disappearing fast. Numbers are strictly limited, so once they’re gone, they’re gone! Produced in association with the Royal Forestry Society and Timber Strategies, this event will debate many of the most pertinent and troubling issues facing our woodland and trees as we head into the second century of commercial forestry in the UK. Full information at evolvingtheforest.uk
Also coming in June, writer Dougald Hine will give an evening talk and then lead a day-long workshop/seminar focusing on our emerging theme of Death & Dying. Negotiating the Surrender explores ideas around our approaches to climate change and the meanings of sustainability. What can we learn from understandings of ‘surrender’ in military strategy and peace negotiations, but also in spiritual traditions and addiction treatment programmes? June 5/6 – full details at artdotearth.org/negotiating-the-surrender-with-dougald-hine
And to top off the midsummer programme, two short courses. We are running Swimming: labour of imagination again from June 9-14, with artist/swimmers Kari Furre and Nancy Sinclair (artdotearth.org/swimming-2019) and Branching Out: collaborations with trees with artists Camilla Nelson and Alex Metcalf from June 21 to 24 (artdotearth.org/branching-out).
The Ephemeral River: a Global Nomadic Art Project
Copies of a publication which documents last Summer's project on the River Dart will soon be arriving in the UK. Designed and printed bi-lingually in collaboration with the Korean artist group YATOO, it runs to 144 pages and will cost £18. Order from artdotearth.
Still from Mirjami Lantto film PINTA : surface
Applications are also invited for YATOO's International Artist in Residence Programme; eight generous residencies in South Korea starting in May for two months or in June for one month. Highly recommended. Deadline 31 March.
Conference of the Global Network of Water Museums – register now!
The third International Conference of UNESCO's Global Network of Water Museums will be held in Valencia 12-15 June. Entitled 'A Common Heritage for a more Sustainable Future', the conference will include a number of interactive seminars and field trips. Clive Adams of CCANW will be leading a session on artist residencies 'Art, Water, Museums: Engaging the Audience'. You can download the programme and register now. Deadline for early registration 15 April.
Water Rising: Making art in storm and calm
This new exhibition at GroundWork Gallery in King's Lynn features the work of 8 artists who are thinking creatively about direct encounters with water, about its dangers and about its beauty and power. GroundWork's community engagement programme, funded by Anglian Water's 'Keep it Clear' campaign, explores the presence of water in town, how it flows, is controlled and its domestic and commercial use. Open until 1 June, closed Sundays and Mondays.
Dress, sea; a video installation by Lynn Dennison.
'Water Rising' will culminate in a day-long conference at Thoresby College, 17 May with contributions from artists, a geographer/environmentalist, an engineer and an architect. Clive Adams will speak about CCANW's work with the Global Network of Water Museums. See GroundWork's website for more details.
Altered Ocean: Mandy Barker at Royal Photographic Society
Mandy Barker is a photographer who, along with other notable artists such as Chris Jordan, Hannah Tofts and Robert Callender, has long addressed plastic pollution in our oceans. Her solo exhibition will be shown at the RPS's new building in the Paintworks Creative Quarter in Bristol, accompanied by talks and other educational events. Opening 4 April until 23 June, Thurs – Sundays, standard admission £7, concessions £5. Press Release
Mandy Barker, Hong Kong Soup 1826. Poon Choi 10 objects of municipal waste collected from 10 different beaches relate to the Hong Kong’s traditional village New Year dish, Poon Choi, comprising of 10 layered ingredients that go into this one pot meal. Includes; child’s sandal, retail mannequin hand, race duck, ribbon, spectacle frame, toy dinosaur, fishing float, shipping tag, pocket game and toy boat.
WAVE: Chris Drury
Exhibition of echograms from Antarctica, mushroom works and earth waves by Chris Drury. Avivson Gallery, Highgate, London. 3-30 April. Chris's work 'Horizon Line Chamber' at Sunderland Point, Morecambe Bay opens to the public on 30 March.
A Gift of Water: Fiona Campbell
Last year Bath Spa University MFA graduate Fiona Campbell was selected for the Ingruttai Palermo workshop and exhibition, part of Manifesta12. This short film documents her performative work reponding to the city's ancient underground water network, supported by BSU's Enterprise Showcase Fund.
Radioactive Boglach: Aimee Lax
Solo exhibition by Stroud-based artist Aimee Lax exploring her fear and fascination of human effects on the natural world at New Brewery Arts, Cirencester, 30 March-2 June. To promote the show, Aimee was interviewed by BBC Radio Gloucestershire's Jo Durrant - Beautiful Universe. The interview is about 33 mins in.
Between The Dog and The Wolf: Alastair Mackie
Cornwall based artist Alastair Mackie's first solo exhibition at Copperfield, London explores and preserves far-reaching connections to the land that sustains us. Weds - Sat, 12 - 6pm until 13 April.
Letters to the Earth: open call – urgent deadline 29 March
We are invited to write a letter as a Cultural Response to the Climate and Ecological Emergency, as part of 'Culture Declares Emergency'. You can also read an exchange of letters last November between Clive Adams and Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England published in CIWEM's magazine.
Greenpeace: Plastic-free rivers – sign the petition!
Scientists and other experts from Greenpeace are currently testing 13 UK rivers for pollution by plastic particles. You can sign their petition to Government to back an Environment Bill that slashes the production of throwaway plastic.
The John Ruskin Prize: Agents of Change
Nationwide call out for entries for the 5thJohn Ruskin Prize for artists, makers and designers to respond to the theme 'Agent of Change'. Deadline 12 May.
OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS ITEMS Emma Critchley awarded first residency at Science Gallery Venice
Chosen from 150 entrants from 32 countries, UK artist Emma Critchley will undertake an EARTH WATER SKY residency starting in June, working with the Ice Memory environmental scientists and students at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. You can hear a programme she made last year for Radio 4 on artists who work underwater.
Water stories from Living Waters Museum, India
Our colleague from the digital Living Waters Museum in India, Dr. Sara Ahmed, sent us a link to two water stories; one by artist Basia Irland on the sacred Narmada River in India, another by student Ritesh Ohja on life on the floodplains, or diaras, in West Bengal. You can see and hear several other video and audio documentaries by Basia here.
Sara also introduced us to 'Our Body and Hands in Water', an interesting series of residencies involving 42 artists from 7 countries and an exhibition organised by the Kala Chaupal Trust in Jaipur which ended in Nov. 2017. You can see their publication here.
Women, Water and Work digital exhibition, India
The Living Waters Museum also invite you to submit short stories, poems, blogs, photographs or other creative contributions (digital only) celebrating the everyday world of women's water work. Selected contributions will be curated in a digital exhibition that will be launched on World Environment Day 5 June. Deadline 30 April. Submissions to livingwatersmuseum@gmail.com
Water as Heritage conference, Taiwan
CCANW Associate Dave Pritchard has been invited to address the international conference on 'Water as Heritage' in Taiwan from 27-31 May. He will give a paper entitled 'Water in its context of ecological and socio-cultural systems – opportunities in heritage policy, practice and research, from the Ramsar Convention to contemporary artists (and beyond)'.
Water Docs Film Festival and Water Warrior Award, Canada
At the start of their annual Film Festival in Toronto, 20-24 March, the Ecologos Institute made its annual Water Warrior Award to Josephine Mandamin (1942-2019), initiator of the Great Lakes Water Walks, and her great niece Autumn Peltier, one of Canada's youngest water activists.
World Water Day at the Emirates Soil Museum, Dubai
Following the theme 'Leaving no one behind', the Soil Museum will celebrate WWD on 25 March with activities for students to learn about water access and conservation, its relation to soils and living, whilst fostering a spirit of empathy, cooperation and creativity.
Ahmad Nadalian: Environmental and Social Art from Iran
Clive Adams has recently written an introduction to a book in English and Persian on the work of the important Iranian artist Ahmad Nadalian. Here, you can download the entire book in English. Enquires over the purchase of the bi-lingual printed version to Nadalian@yahoo.com or www.riverart.net
The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030-2100, Russia
The first and largest exhibition of its kind in Russia to explore important issues around environmentalism and ecology through the language of visual arts, science, technology and activism. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow. 28 June-1 December
Pangea United, Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland Exhibition curated by Joanna Sokolowaka which invites the viewer to imagine the earthly community as one household. Pangea (or Pangaea) is the name given to the ancient supercontinent which began to break apart around 200 million years ago. Until 9 June.
OUR NEXT BULLETIN WILL FOCUS ON THE VENICE BIENNALE
One of this year's highlights will be Joan Jonas's immersive multi-media installation at TBA21-Academy's new 'Ocean Space' in the Chiesa di San Lorenzo, 24 March-29 September
