Environmental Art in Action: LandLab Residency Kicks-Off at the Schuylkill Center
May 22, 2014

On Wednesday, May 14 in the muggy golden late afternoon, three artists walked up a trail at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education to a clearing where the spring brambles were just beginning to crawl across the ground. They paced out the area, comparing sketches and diagrams, assessing the angle of the sun and the likely hours of light the space will receive.

Maggie Mills, B. H. Mills, and Marguerita Hagan are three of the artists recently named for the LandLab artist residency at the Schuylkill Center. The residency pushes the edge of environmental art, asking that art not only respond to the environment, but that it become an active participant in its setting. A kick-off party on June 6, at 6 pm, will celebrate the LandLab residency as well as the emerging role of environmental art.

Environmental art occupies a unique place in the cultural dialogs of both art and the environment, creating a space where the two dovetail and strengthen each other. Over the decades environmental art has ranged from the inherently ephemeral � works that melt as the sun rises or vanish as the tide comes in � to the enduring � installations designed to provoke conversation and thought for decades and centuries to come. The LandLab residency, a Knight Foundation supported collaboration of the Schuylkill Center and the Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA), will push that definition a step farther. LandLab installations will actively work to restore the land or remediate local environmental problems, as well as being works of art in their own right.

This year, LandLab residencies were granted to six Philadelphia area artists for four residencies: Jake Beckman and Leslie Birch will each complete solo projects while artist group Maggie Mills, B.H. Mills, and Marguerita Hagan and artist-botanist duo WE THE WEEDS (Kaitlin Pomerantz and Zya Levy) will do collective installations. These LandLab projects each answer a pressing question being asked in our region, our nation, and around the world: how can we respond to environmental degradation? The answer, in this case, is through education, public engagement, and art. Each of the installations will be site-specific, that is to say, each will be uniquely suited to its placement on the Center's property. In addition, the LandLab artists will be bringing the public into their art, creating opportunities for the community to participate in art-making and be a part of these lasting artworks.

"The public education aspect of LandLab is particularly exciting," says Christina Catanese, Director of Environmental Art at the Schuylkill Center, "because through this engagement, the community can make meaningful connections with the art, the artists, and the land." Catanese notes that whether community members are participating in art-making, interacting with finished works, or attending associated programming, LandLab opens the door to creative solutions and explorations in the environment.

Leslie Birch will be investigating stormwater run-off, an issue that our wet spring has brought into brighter light. Jake Beckman's residency will explore the cycle of detritus and forest decay and regrowth. WE THE WEEDS are will both remove invasive vines from the Center and use them as part of an installation that explores current and past patterns of plant migration. And Maggie Mills, B. H. Mills, and Marguerita Hagan, surveying the land last week and spending their weekends carrying wood and soil through the forest, will construct an installation that fosters the growth of native pollinator-friendly plants.

The Schuylkill Center and CFEVA will be celebrating the launch of the LandLab residency with a First Friday kick-off party on June 6 that will gather artists and art-lovers from the region to meet the resident artists and learn more about each of the projects. The community is invited to join the Schuylkill Center to celebrate LandLab on June 6, and also to head out to the Schuylkill Center for a summer of special events.

Upcoming LandLab Events:

LandLab Kick-off Party
Friday, June 6 | 6:00 � 8:00 pm | Free
Spend First Friday with LandLab and meet our resident artists Jake Beckman, Leslie Birch, Maggie Mills, B.H. Mills, Marguerita Hagan, and We The Weeds, a collaboration of artist Kaitlin Pomerantz and botanist Zya Levy. At this residency kick-off party, you'll have a chance to preview the artists' projects and learn how you can engage with their work over the course of the residency.

Clay Bee Making Workshop
Saturday, June 14 | 11:00 am � 1:00 pm | Free
Help artists create a swarm of ceramic bees. Make a few bees of your own and learn how you can help us monitor our native pollinator population in the process. This LandLab residency focuses on the importance of the reciprocal relationships between honeybees, native bee-pollinated plants, and humans. Come back for the Great American Backyard Campout on June 28, when we'll fire the bees in a bonfire. Families welcome.

Vines of SCEE with WE THE WEEDS
Saturday, July 12 | 10:00 am � 12:00 pm | Free
Join WE THE WEEDS botanical arts team for a hands-on vine identification and harvesting workshop, highlighting the characteristics, uses, and lore surrounding different local and invasive vines on the SCEE premises. This event runs in conjunction with the creation of a woven installation artwork exploring plant migration, created by WE THE WEEDS during their LandLab Residency this summer through fall. Please wear sturdy shoes and protective clothing.

Opening Reception & Artist Talk with LandLab Resident Artists
Saturday, July 26 | 3:00 � 5:00 pm | Free
Come out for the official unveiling of Maggie Mills, B.H. Mills, and Marguerita Hagan's completed installation. See their pollinator-friendly garden in full, midsummer bloom and their sculpture in full swarm. The artists and scientific experts will speak on plant-pollinator interactions and their importance in our ecosystem.

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