Eiffel by [sic]

I come from a small agricultural town in Northern California where the line between nature and cordoned human life was never strict. Since leaving for college at age 18, I have more or less lived in large cosmopolitan cities: Los Angeles, Madrid, San Francisco, New York City. Now I know the nature of a human soul split between city and country.

The anthropocentric city connects human to human but disengages human from its natural connection. Electric light extends the day; buildings allow only a small degree glimpse at the movement of celestial bodies; our internal clocks are rearranged; a grid is laid over the structure and flow of life. The urban human is essentially unplugged from natural flow; “nature” becomes a life preserver thrown into a sea of concrete.

From this standpoint, “Eiffel” shows respect and astonishment with the feats of human while looking skyward and asking this question of “Where is Nature?” In this case, I believe an exclamation mark is a good addition alongside the question mark.[sic]

artist’s website: www.sic.ph
current project: www.iheart.org
See Eiffel (and other photos) on [sic]‘s Flickr account

[sic] is a conceptual media artist whose works focus on the creation of emotive narrative architectures. His immersive and interactive installations cull influence from a hybrid terrain of theory and culture, informed by the moving image, pop, technology, the public/street, performance and music.

Personal Commandments: I Will Not Poison Mother
by Tim Gaudreau

In re-visiting all of my trash images to prepare for an installation of my project, Self Portrait as Revealed by Trash, 365 days of photographing everything I threw out, in San Francisco, the photos became reminders of my consumption and spark a renewed self-analysis. I see areas where I’ve certainly changed habits and reduced consumption, but I also see reminders of areas that still need improvement. Even worse, I spot evidence of where I’ve slid backwards.

Doing the right thing requires such perseverance and I struggle with it on a daily basis. Sometimes I make great choices, sometimes I make mistakes, yet other times I’m lazy or I forget. So, I’ve set new goals – personal commandments of sorts – to guide my choices. I will not worship false idols; I will not accept plastic bags; I will not use plastic bottles; I will use my ceramic coffee mug and rinse daily; I will not succumb to convenience. These commandments are a work in progress that forces me to reconsider my choices on a daily basis.

View Tim’s website here.
Tim’s email: tim@wake-up.ws

Vallone dei Mulini
photographed by Juan Salmoral

Vallone dei Mulini is an abandoned mill in Sorrento, Italy. The mill used flowing water as a power source to process raw materials for sale and trade. What used to be a bustling hub of human activity is now host to a diverse community of ferns. The dramatic topography provides a mix of moisture and lighting characteristics to accomodate many varieties of vegetation.

Juan Salmoral is a prolific photographer from Mataró, Barcelona, Spain. He is a seasoned traveller with an eye for structural and architectural beauty. More of his wonderful photos can be viewed on his Flickr account.

Juan’s Flickr Account: here

Ubehebe Crater by Janet Morgan
(original dimensions 12″ x 22″)

Janet Morgan is a Brooklyn-based painter of sacred landscapes, supreme beings, and belly dance. Her work has been featured in the New York Times and in gallery events in the US and Kyrgyzstan, and she has been an artist-in-residence at various places including Death Valley National Park. Janet received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

The watercolor featured here is part of Janet’s ‘Death Valley 2006′ collection. For more of her work, as well as contact and biographical information, you can visit Janet’s website. Her email address is artist@janetmorgan.net.

Blind by Lorna Carlson

Blind is my statement on the human race being blind to what we are doing to the environment. The buttons on her chest are: Return, three arrow keys, and the Home button. I have since removed the Help key from her mouth. I started out by doing commissioned sculptures and this was the first piece I did for myself. I am a graphic designer and know a lot of tech types, so it was fairly easy to acquire a small pile of obsolete PC’s and I had a blast ripping them apart. I am a proud tree hugger and the environment is a major concern of mine.

Lorna Carlson is a Graphic Designer living outside of Harrisburg, PA. An avid photographer, her favorite subjects are her daughter and the natural environment.

More of Lorna’s works can be found at the following links:
Photography; More Photography; Sculptures.
She can be reached at lornacarlson@comcast.net

Untitled Puppet by Mark Dannenhauer
(photo courtesy of Nashoba Paddler)

“My work began with puppetry, primarily performance and international tours with the Bread and Puppet Theater. Then, my wife and I did our own tours, mostly within 20 miles of our then-home on scenic Mission Hill in Boston. Then, Jane become a school librarian and I started doing puppet making workshops. Over time, these workshops became more and more about making puppets of local animals. Thinking it might be good to actually know something about animals and habitats, I entered Antioch in 1998. I emerged from the Individualized Program two years later, self-titled degree in Community Landscape Interpretation in hand. So, that’s what I’m doing, Community Landscape Interpretation. I provide the tools and techniques, shape the design parameters, and assist with necessary problem-solving that community members use to create their own interpretation of local landscapes. My principal media are puppetry and photography, to which I’m hoping to add phonography (work with sound).“

- Mark Dannenhauer

Naked Trees by Aviva Cohen

“Last winter I began to photograph deciduous trees on my way to and from my job at New Hampshire Community Technical College. I was fascinated with the various shapes and structures of the trees that were only emphasized by the fact that they were bare of leaves. I would stop by the side of the road and snap them with my digital camera. I teach digital imaging and my favorite software application is Photoshop. I manipulated the images in Photoshop to create this montage. I sought to emphasize the structure of the trees and the way the branches grow out from the trunks, break into smaller branches and are silhouetted against the sky.” – Aviva Cohen

Contact Aviva Cohen – aviva114@comcast.net

Aviva Cohen earned her BFA in art education from the Massachusetts College of Art. She is an alumni of Antioch University of New England, graduating from the Experienced Educators program in 2003. She has taught Art grades 8-12 in Melbourne, Australia and Chelmsford, MA. Currently she is teaching Digital Design and Animation and Fine Arts at New Hampshire Community Technical College at Stratham and Pease. She works in pencil, watercolor, and Photoshop.

Death Valley Jet by Greg Frux

(original dimensions are 35” x 22”)

Brooklyn-based artist Gregory William Frux documents and celebrates the life of his city in oil paintings & drawings. His work has earned recognition from such diverse organizations as Brooklyn Arts Council, The Library of Congress, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the National Park Service.

Besides his urban work, Greg has been inspired by his time in the wilderness. His travel adventures have become sources for his art.

“When I returned to Death Valley for a second time in 2006 I had a pretty good idea I would do a painting of a fighter jet over our national park. Flying from bases in Southern California and maybe also Nevada, the military’s right to overfly the western half of the park was grandfathered as part of the agreement to add this land under the 1994 California Desert Protection Act. I looked at these metal war machines with horror and fascination. The effect of seeing something so heavy moving fast only a couple of hundred feet off the ground is stunning. The image came to me as I saw a pair of jets fly down the canyon in the Inyo Mountain which I had just hiked up. They were violently loud, amazingly fast, precise and disturbing. I have tried to capture the experience as I saw it. The apparent steepness of the dive is a product of the angle of viewing.” ~ Greg Frux

Visit Greg’s website http://frux.net/
Contact Greg at art@frux.net