Environmental Art

The Environmental Art Program was created in the year 2000. It is an interpretive department that complements the Schuylkill Center’s two mission-driven objectives: Land Preservation and Environmental Education. This unique program offers an alternative both to traditional art venues, and to formal methods of presenting environmental education to the public. The program challenges established and emerging artists to reflect on environmental issues, to consider the natural context in which the artwork is being created, and to explore working with new and non-traditional materials. In presenting artworks that explore new methods and processes, our Environmental Art Program functions as an accessible educational platform through engaging and participatory art activities. Through partnerships with other arts and educational organizations, Environmental Art at the Schuylkill Center provides professional opportunities for artists, interpretive programs for the public, and arts-in-education programs for students.

The only one of its kind in Philadelphia, the Environmental Art Program presents its activities through three interrelated program areas:

The Art in the Environment program is the only art venue in the Philadelphia area which presents  exclusively site-specific installations— artists create and install work on-site in an environmental context, directly informed and inspired by the surroundings.  There are two locations on the grounds of the Schuylkill Center where these installations are created: On the Trails is a program which invites artists to consider environmental issues and the physical characteristics of the land as they conceptualize their work. On the Trails, artists are encouraged to use natural materials and integrate natural elements into their work. Works are presented each spring along the Gray Fox and Woodcock Trails Loop and remain on view through the summer. Our second location, Second Site: Brolo Hill Farm, was at one time an active farmstead.  It includes an 18th-century farm house and barn and the remnants of a plowed field once used to grow feed hay for livestock. Here, artists are encouraged to consider both the agricultural and cultural conditions that might have existed on the site when the farm was active, and examine through art installations the implications of those dynamics in today’s environmental climate. Exhibitions are presented at this site in the fall and remain on display through December.
  
The mission of The Schuylkill Center’s Artist-in-Residence Program is to directly enhance awareness of and appreciation for the environment through art projects and activities that involve school groups and the community. Planning for the Artist in Residence program is a collaborative effort between the visiting artist, participating classroom teachers, and the Schuylkill Center’s senior program staff, ensuring that artist-led activities are responsive to students’ needs and teachers’ cross-curriculum learning objectives.  Typical topic areas include: Insects, Frogs, Birds and Migration, Conservation, Renewable Energy, and Native Plants and Botany. The final project for the Artist-in-Residence is a unique outdoor art installation created in collaboration with students or community groups.  In addition to facilitating the group activity the artist is also encouraged to develop his or her own work that may be exhibited at the conclusion of the residency.  

The Schuylkill's Center Welcome Gallery is a public space located in the main building just past the reception desk. Welcome Gallery exhibitions are curated either by the Schuylkill Center Art Program Director and Program Manager, or by visiting curators or organizations. The Gallery’s curatorial concepts explore and reflect on environmental themes that relate to other Schuylkill Center departmental activities, such as our annual native plant sale or fall insect festival.   Four to five exhibits are presented each year and include works created in all media.  An exhibition statement accompanies the artwork and provides interpretive information about the exhibition and its connection to the environmental issues that it addresses.