Blue Mountain Gallery Hosts Panel Discussion on Artists Confronting Climate Change Today

From time immemorial art has functioned as a means to convince us of the existence of something we can't see. The artist has the power to circumvent verbal communication and fix images in the brain which the mind tends to accept as reality. Since the 1960s there have been artists who used their work to confront environmental issues. Now, as the scientific evidence of climate change is corroborated by increased occurrence of extreme natural disasters in the form of hurricanes, volcanic activity, tidal waves and cyclones, artists are responding in their artwork with a heightened sense of urgency. "Seeing is Believing" is an exploration of the ways some artists have confronted this challenge in order to foster crucial changes in consciousness and in human behavior.

The panel will include a climatologist who will give a science-based account of global climate change as it stands today, along with a current prognosis. Each of the participating artists will describe the ways in which their work is a response to the changing environment. A general discussion will focus on the means of drawing public attention to this work in order to heighten consciousness and foster necessary changes in human behavior.

Participants:

Martica Sawin, Moderator

Diane Burko

Marcia Clark

Mary Frank

Cornelia Kavanagh

Dr. Eric Posmentier