Sanctuary

I have been enamored with this image of a child in an enormous tree ever since my recent discovery of it. It keeps appearing in my artwork, as I find myself wanting to reinvent it. In this version I played with the ideas of an intimate relationship with nature and protection.

In the original the child seems perfectly at ease, reclining in the branches. Almost to the point of merging into the tree, or as though the tree were protecting him. Also, the advertisement implies a reconnection between our children and the natural world.

I wanted to expand the child's connection to other parts of nature, particularly plants and animals that have been or are endangered. By bringing the plants and animals into the image I created a type of family tree, and offered the tree's protection to them and their young.

Jennifer Truppner

North Carolina Special Advertising Section. (Jan/ Feb 2010). Preservation. Center Section.

Congratulations!

Dear Class of EA & Ed 2010!

Welcome to our Environmental Arts & Ed. Class Blog. Congratulations on your wonderful media art remix projects! I'm excitedly waiting for your second remixes.

Good Luck!
Young

Move Me

I chose the images of Holland because I admire Dutch ingenuity and progressive attitude, especially regarding transportation infrastructure. Boston could follow Holland's lead promoting cycling to create a cleaner, healthier, more vibrant and social city.






Original Image: (Harvard Alumni Association: "Travels," June, 2006)

Neil

Sleep

The reason I picked this picture was because it's tragic how the survivors of the earthquake in Haiti have had to live since the disaster. It's a shame that this family has not received adequate medical care or even a place to stay during their time of need. My father's family is from Haiti and I know people that I love had to live under these conditions.
I remixed the picture this way because I felt that the little girl in the picture should be dreaming about the things most kids her age dream about - going to Disney World.

Original Image: Newsweek, January 25, 2010, page 25
Artist: Logan Abassi, Photograph (no title)

Betsy

Survival of the Fittest

Digitally manipulated image by Cameron Davidson. P. 202 Vanity Fair magazine, May 2006

Survival of the Fittest. Jen Sutherland 2010

This image remix is about the arrogance of the human race and their need to dominate the Earth. It is also about the damage caused by their ignorance. Thousands of animals and plants survived for millena before humans altered the physical and ecological make up of the landscape. To avoid the inevitable disaster depicted in the original picture, we need to reconnect with nature and keep their interests in mind while creating mutually beneficial solutions to environmental problems. To achieve this we should look to ancient cultures like Native Americans who had a more symbiotic relationship with the natural world. This piece challenges the viewer to listen to the animals and plants, for it is nature, not humans, that has endured the longest.

Original image: Digitally manipulated image by Cameron Davidson. P. 202 Vanity Fair magazine, May 2006

Jen Sutherland

Man in New York

I'm not one hundred percent sure why I selected the image I did, it just grabbed my attention (probably because the picture is taken in Manhattan and I like the feeling I got from the picture).
Because the image is of a cityscape and because it's in black and white (and because this class is about environmental art), the obvious choice, to me, seemed to be to incorporate as much nature/color as possible into the image (or to "reincorporate"). I couldn't think about what I was going to do, beforehand, to any great extent because the idea was to do this project, in class, within alimited time frame.

Original Image: Vanity Fair, page 55, No. 599, July 2010

Christiane Robinson,

"Don't lay on Nature, Become Nature"

We have learned to completely rely on nature, therefore we tend not to worry about it, because nature has always been and will always be there. We have taken it for granted.

In the image there is a nice pair of legs and feet showing a pair sandals. In the background we can see some images of mountains, a moon, stars and some flowers and fruits. With my remix I tried to bring nature to the front and made it the principal element of the image. I turned the legs into trunks and the feet into the foliage. I did this in a way to say that we can also be the base for nature, we can be its trunk. We should now let nature rely on us, and as those legs became trunks and those feet became leaves we should also become nature. It is not about being part of nature but to BE nature. Hence, the human world and the nature world can bond and work as one.

Original Image: Cosmopolitan May 2010, Advertisement for Birkenstock

Yeni.

My Global Home

I was struck by the pristine beauty of the original image. Yet, the black river flowing through the city reminded me of oil. Possibly because the oil spill in the Gulf has been on my mind a lot lately.

Speaking with a friend of mine recently, she told me that she often forgets about the spill because it is so far away. Though, we may be far away, relatively, from the spill here (MA) it is still something that will affect us: our access to fish from LA, pollution spreading through the world's water, the threatened loss of species . . .

My remix collage is my way of communicating the presence of major environmental disasters within human communities and pristine places.

Original Image: Landscape Architecture, 2010 January, Cover Page

Jen T

"From Wasteland to Homeland"

My original image came from a magazine called All Animals and the article was about animal hoarding. In the image you see a dog before he was rescued with many other Cats, Dogs, Puppies, and Kittens. When I turned the page of the magazine my heart immediately sank into the pit of my stomach and all I wanted to do was find this dog, bring him home and give him a nice safe and comfortable place to live. I then came to me senses and told my self that if I did that than I would end up with too many dogs and would myself become an animal hoarder which would not be good for anyone involved.
Because I had such a strong reaction to the original image I decided to remix the image to give him a home and bring the image into a more positive light. If I had more time to finish the remixed image the image would have a much more "homey" quality but even as it ended up its a whole lot better than where it started out.

Original Image:
Artist: Carrie Allan; Title: "Rescued from Squalor"; Magazine: All Animals - July/August 2010 pg. 27

~Blaine Bacchiocchi~

What are we doing?

I am unsure what drew me to this image initially. It is very dark. Probably my most important thought is that "I'd like to hear what's going on. It feels like there is so much that I don't understand and I don't know how to educate myself on this without the media biases. For me there is a huge sense of hopelessness. A lot of blah, blah, blah....

Original Image: Newsweek, July 26,2010. Richard H. Haass, P32

Kristine Biegel

Designer Ora Ito's family room

This is a giraffe statue in Ora Ito's family room. I think it is a satire on the displacement of animals. It giraffe, usually found in hotter climates, is contrasted by the contemporary furniture. He looked like he was trying to get a drink. So, I converted the square couch in front of him into a watering hole, surrounded by flowers. I thought this gave him more of a natural setting.

Original Image: Interior Design (2010 number 8), cover page; Ora Ito's apartment

Alexis Schwede

Remixed Image

Original Image
On Earth magazine, page 52, summer 2010 issue

The original image I chose depicts a dried up, barren landscape. The dried earth is cracking and splitting with only two remaining specimens of plants growing from the ground. Due to rising global temperatures, the natural environment is changing. This image serves as a warning to what the landscape will look like if we as global citizens do not take responsibility for the ways in which we impact the environment.

According to an article from the summer 2010 issue of On Earth magazine, the number of people who believe that global warming is a hoax or is an exaggerated notion is on the rise. They do not believe that humans have been altering the atmosphere, contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer by unnatural processes. This is alarming since these people continue to destroy our natural environments by having this view.

The second image transforms the original desolate landscape into one that is lush with vegetation, water and wildlife. We need to work to protect and maintain the earth's natural environments and make smarter choices with regards to the global ecosystem for the future.

Original image: On Earth magazine, page 52, summer 2010 issue

Cheryl

Renewal of life

My image started out as an image of a woman surveying the damage left behind by a natural disaster. She is walking down a once tree and house lined street. I remixed the image so that it showed that same woman walking down the same street. The street was transformed into street surrounded by a lush and green wilderness with two mountain cottages on either side. It represents the fragility of human creations, life and the natural world. Many natural disasters are made worse and turn deadly due to human actions. Deforestation, dams and global warming all are to blame for the increased severity of "natural disasters".

Original Image from Sports Illustrated, July 2010, Salvation Army ad.

-Laura Sweeney

No longer extinct.

I chose the image of the very last dusky seaside sparrow (which died in 1995), preserved in formadehyde, lying in a jar. This sad yet beautiful specimen made me think of all of the different species whose habitats have been threatened (and, in some cases, destroyed) and their chances of survival diminished. In order to renew my sense of hope for those who have survived thus far, even if there are not many of them left, I have chosen to resurrect the dusky seaside sparrow. I gave him a sparkle in his once deadened eye and fluffy feathers to represent youth. The dusky seaside sparrow is no longer extinct.

Original image: National Geographic, January 2009, p.91

Zoë Wyner

Nature Cycle

My original image stood out to me because of two contrasting images within the photo. The first aspect that stood out was a man dressed in cycling clothes with his bicycle & the second aspect was the environment he was surrounded by. Some people may view these two images as related; however, the man in the photo did not look like he belonged in that environment, and that is what bothered me about the image.
Ideally, the man with his bicycle would feel "at one" with nature and he would be comfortable in his surroundings. In the original photo, my impression is that the man is intimidated by the environment and is therefore detached from it. In order to remedy the initial photo, I added colors & materials to the image that would make it seem like a flourishing environment that is welcoming & a place the man would be eager to explore. I also incorporated a bridge from the man down into the pit of the mountain to unite the two.
I completed my new image by cutting the outline of the man out of the image and making him more abstract to better fit into his new surroundings.

Original Image from Competitor Magazine, July 2010

Carolyn Hubbard

More, A Song

This image is idealistic. It shows a portrait of humans interacting with nature appropriately. The ships are peacefully sailing into the sunset as a seagull flies in the sky. However, the text has nothing to do with the environment. It is an advertisement for vacationing in Key West. In my remix, I attempted to isolate key words from the text to reshape what the image actually portrays. I changed the words to read, " more a song. quintessential state of being." The relationship between human beings and the environment should be more like a song, where all the notes should fit together to create something beautiful. I wanted the image to look like fantasy. In many cases, people are able to interact with the environment peacefully and appropriately. However, given what is happening not so far from Key West right now in the Gulf of Mexico. I thought it fitting to portray this image as a fantasy. Something that people can and should hope to achieve. I want this image to remind people that the relationship between humans and nature is an important one. Human beings need to get back to basics and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. We need to be kind to the world we have. Sail peacefully while a seagull flies overhead.

Original Image: Coastal Living, September 2009, pg 103

Shannon

Bee Committed...The Plight of the Bumblebee

I saw a honeybee in my parent's backyard a few weeks ago and swatted at it thinking it was a hornet. My three year old niece screamed "Aunty No! Honeybees are endangered!" Shocked that she knew what the word "endangered" meant and that honeybees were in peril, I asked her more. She explained she learned about them at school and how it was important to save them. After my fascinating conversation with my favorite 3 year old naturalist, I was curious to find out more. How does she know more about this than I do? For some particular reason unknown to scientists, the population of honeybees has plummeted. People may not realize this "pest" is responsible for fertilizing 1/3 of the food we eat. For my remix image I used the honeycomb and turned it into the "HoneyBee Haven" to represent the importance of giving safe places for honeybees to live and rebuild their population. I used images of food (some may not all be fertilized by honeybees, but you get the idea) and turned them into honeybees to represent the idea that they are responsible for so many of our natural food resources.

Original Image: Hannaford Fresh Magazine, May/June 2010, pg. 8

Leslie

Washed Away

Images of consumerism are subsumed by images of nature - just as our physical bodies will one day become a part of nature. However, the many of the products we manufacture today will continue to exist long after our bodies are gone. Some human made plastics and polymers will never break down to their component chemicals, and will remain a part of our world even centuries in the future. I remixed a high fashion advertisement. The photographer used a model against the backdrop of a beach to display an assortment of accessories. I removed the models body and covered it over with a beach landscape, leaving only the synthetic products and seashells behind.

Original Image: TUMI advertisement, Vanity Fair, September 2007

Loren

"Greener Pastures"

The picture I chose to remix originally depicted a man scavenging through the rubble of an old factory in China. What angered me about this particular picture was that the smoke stacks were polluting what should have been a beautiful blue sky in the background and the fact that the snow covered rubble seemed to have been there for ages. I wanted to change the picture by recreating the rubble covered land into a green recreational area where animals and people could spend their days. I also tried to use landscaping of taller trees to mask the smoke stacks in the distance. The man originally in the picture was also changed from scavenging through the rubble with a metal detector to playing in the happier surrounding with his dog.

Meghan

Picture found in:
Smithsonian Magazine
May 2006
Page 47

"Life Returned"

Andrew Wyeth's "Airborne" is a beautiful picture, however, while looking at it I get a very empty feeling. It seems as though everyone has deserted this land, animals and plant-life included. I decided that I needed to bring the life back into this picture. I included a beautiful pink colored sky with a blue ocean, and trees that weren't there to begin with. Also, I included the birds whose feathers has littered the land. Even though this may not be a project that I could undertake on my own, creating this piece of art made me hopeful that one day someone could.

Original image: Andrew Wyeth, "Airborne" Smithsonian Magazine, June 2006, Pg. 91

Kelci

Office Space

The original image I chose showed e-waste discarded carelessly and reminded me not only of all the personal electronic products that we create and discard, but also about general consumerism and resource use. We are not always mindful of how we use/consume resources and then discard them. With the constant development of new technology, electronic devices are often discarded and upgraded. The article accompaning this image explained that this e-waste, which was mostly generated in the US, was sent to Ghana ~ where it hardly seems like it's being disposed of properly. I added images of businessmen into this landscape, inviting them to interact with the environment that their technology usage has helped create. Perhaps greater awareness of just what happens to all of the gadgets and devices we discard may lead to more thoughtful consumer behavior.

Original image from National Geographic, January 2008, pg 64

Jennifer Shaby