ARTS3206W

Art + Ecology explores the history, theory, and contemporary practice of artists engaged with the ecological issues of our time. This seminar offers an introduction to the dynamic and emerging field of Environmental Art, focusing on the ways in which artists use creativity to work across disciplines to address ecological concerns. This course investigates the role contemporary artists play as catalysts in relation to a range of concerns, including environmental justice, mass extinction, climate change, and treatment of "waste" as well as issues of the quality of the air, water, soil, and habitat. This seminar also will introduce the notion of artists as agents of change who build communities of ecologically aware practices around interrelated environmental and social issues. Students will be encouraged to see how their creativity and imagination can contribute to finding solutions to pressing environmental problems.