As an aspiring illustrator, art is an immense part of my everyday life. As a person with such a deep connection to nature, it too is very important to me. When I visited ArtPrize in Grand Rapids last Sunday, I realized how many other people share that same passion for both art and nature. When we first entered the main display area in the open air of downtown Grand Rapids, I was blown away by the sheer strength of some of the artworks displayed. Below, I decribe some of the favorite pieces I encountered.
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| Dancing With Lions by Bill Secunda |
One particular piece, for example, was a sculpture of a family of lions made entirely of old welded nails, entitled "Dancing With Lions". The artist's statement mentioned the importance of lions throughout the artist's life as a symbol of strength and perserverance. This particular piece of artwork meant the most to me of all the ones we encountered that day. Nature is an aspect of life that can empower and inspire those who encounter it.
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| Broken Tusk by Lori Hough |
In the artwork "Broken Tusk", the artist used paper mache to emody half of an elephant's face with one broken tusk. The sculpture represented the fragility of even the most immense and regal creatures.
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Fibonacci Sequence by Danielle Burnside |
Some works were even more subtly inspired by the beauties of the natural world. "Fibonacci Sequence" seems to be inspired much less by nature than by a mathematical or scientific source, when in fact, the fibonacci sequence appears in many natural places. The pattern of the florets in the center of a sunflower, the spirals of a shell and the arrangement of a pine cone are all representation of the mathematical sequence.
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See the Forest Through the Trees by Jacqueline Gilmore |
"See The Forest Through the Trees" and "The Death of Mother Nature" both reflected many of the ideas represented in the stories we have read in class. Humankind's destruction and disregard of the natural world are obviously resonating with much of society.
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The Death of Mother Nature by Gary Bacon |
Many of these artist's opinions about nature and their connections to it and their representations of the natural world reminded me of the discussions we have had in class. As I walked through the collections of artwork that day, a particular quote from one author we've read stuck in my mind.
"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads" -Henry David Thoreau
Photos taken from: artprize.org
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