Environmental Art Project

At first, the task of creating a piece of environmental art seemed daunting as I sat in the classroom brainstorming possible ideas. I realized what Goldsworthy meant about finding real inspiration working outdoors as soon as I took a breath of cool, fresh air and my eyes began scanning the scene. I found that actually walking around outside as I tossed ideas around in my mind; helped me to visualize the possibilities. When I saw a pile of broken twigs scattered around a patch of grass, an idea came to me. The broken twigs reminded me of the destruction that has occurred to our environment, and the cracking tar nearby that is now pretty ordinary to see; brought my idea together. I gathered some twigs and got to work spelling out the letters, reject. Cracked tar has always reminded me of the idea that nature seems to reject the changes humans force upon it. The idea that nature will always have the final say is a powerful one and proves to be true quite often. As I worked to construct the letters with twigs of varying sizes, the wind fought my efforts, which was only further proof of the extent of nature’s powerful grip. I discovered that the letters became a lot more stable after I stacked a few twigs to overlap the first layer. I also found it kind of ironic how the cracks in the tar ended up helping further stabilize my message, even as they symbolized rejection. The message behind my environmental piece of artwork was that nature shows rejection of human contributions in many forms. The example I used, cracked tar with the aid of broken twigs, is very common in many parts of the world. Something seen as often as tar can easily be overlooked, although taking a ride in a vehicle over the same tar causes much more notice. Once this connection is made, it’s easy to pick out a variety of instances when nature prevailed over human creations. As I am now apart of the result of some serious environmental abuse, I’ve seen that nature’s capabilities are hard to predict. It’s especially evident that if we continue to ignore the reality of the upcoming consequences of our environmental abuse, nature will retaliate back twice as hard. Joining the environment is something I really enjoy, because it clarifies my thoughts and brings me to a closer understanding of nature. Human beings have a lot in common with nature, including the idea of rejection. Our bodies subconsciously react to unwanted contact or occurrences, which isn’t very different from the message in my piece of art. As I spend more of my time exploring nature and all that it has to offer, I become closer to it and to myself. Being in nature is a wonderful experience for me because it helps me to forget about the many distractions in society today and clear my head. The more time I spend in nature, the more I see the relationship between the environment and human beings, and how intertwined they really are. This experience of creating a piece of environmental art was unique, hands-on and helped me to gain insights that aren’t possible in a classroom.