A juried show of twenty-six art quilts created by 22 Florida artists will be on display in Point Reyes National Seashore's Bear Valley Visitor Center on March 11, 2015. The show, titled Piecing Together a Changing Planet, highlights a few of the many ways that America's 407 National Parks are being impacted by climate change, water pollution, air pollution, and other human-caused phenomena. On display through May, the show then moves on to 8 other National Parks and National Park partner venues as part of the celebration of the National Park Service’s Centennial in 2016.
The artworks were all created by members of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), a 3,000-member national organization dedicated to promoting the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, documentation, and publications. Far from utilitarian quilts traditionally used as bedcoverings, art quilts focus on aspects not only of stitching and piecing, but also of layering, "thread-painting" and graphic design. The resultant pieces are often literally and figuratively three-dimensional: showy pink lady slipper orchids pop off the forested background, putting the viewer IN Great Smoky Mountains National Park ; icy glaciers melt down into an ocean of bleached coral heads, tying two drastically different impacts of climate change together in one compelling piece.
Maya Schonenberger, the exhibit's curator, said that "the artists’ goal was to help open people’s eyes to the beauty of nature that surrounds them, and share their concern for its loss." Melani Brewer, one of the exhibiting artists, hopes that "our art will serve as a call to action for viewers to take steps to protect our planet."
Meeting in Copenhagen in October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that the "warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen."
"Many of these observed changes are especially apparent in America’s national parks," stated John Dell'Osso, park spokesman, who helped get the exhibit to Point Reyes. "The quilts express beauty, fragility and urgency in ways that touch us, which opens the opportunity for discussion. What a great way to begin celebrating the NPS Centennial in 2016."
The national tour of Piecing Together a Changing Planet is made possible by SAQA and Biscayne National Park, with financial support from the National Park Service’s Climate Change Response Program, the South Florida National Parks Trust, Les Bouquinistes Book Club, and an Anonymous Donor.
For more details about the exhibit, visit the show's website at http://www.nationalparkartexhibit.com/ or the park’s website at www.nps.gov/pore. For regular updates from the park, “like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PointReyesNPS, or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/pointreyesnps.
-NPS-
Tags: point reyes point reyes national seashore art art exhibit studio art quilt associates piecing together a changing planet saqa biscayne national park quilts quilt climate climate change climate chaos climate disruption global warming global warming/climate change water pollution air pollution pollution
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
