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Art and the Environment
Making the Mix Work
A dream came true in November 2003, when a new training course, “Art and the Environment - Making the Mix Work” was launched at Losehill Hall, Centre for Environmental Learning in the Peak District National Park. It took months of discussion between Cate Clark, freelance artist and trainer and Mandy Sims, Training and Development Officer at Losehill Hall, not to mention a generous slice of funding from Arts Council East Midlands. After two successful years, Mandy asks Cate about the course and the potential for environmental art.
Exciting and creative projects
Mandy: When we finally settled on the title Art and the Environment –Making the Mix Work for our training course, did you imagine just how appropriate the word ‘mix’ would turn out to be in terms of the range of people who came?
Cate: It was great; collectively they had a huge range of experience and opinion, which really brought richness to all our discussions. Do you remember the debate there was when the group looked at possible definitions of environmental art? We had put forward a pretty good range for consideration, but none of them were universally agreed upon!
Mandy: No, they weren’t, although everyone agreed that some phrases had value, like ‘connecting or engaging’ people with their ‘relationship with the environment.’ I remember that we did all agree that Creativity is not just the province of artists.
Cate: Yes, I was really pleased about the strength of feeling on this. Just by looking at the participants on this course, you can see that many people don’t want to be cast as an ‘artist’ or an ‘environmentalist’, but see themselves as having an interest or passion in both areas. A typical ranger encounters all sorts of different people and situations and engages creatively with all of them, be it firing a school group with enthusiasm about a derelict pond or communicating the wonders of fungi to the Women’s Institute.
Mandy: What were your thoughts when we explored some of the stereotypes that people can hold about artists and environmentalists?
Cate: Encouragingly, I think many people are quite sensitive about stereotyping others. I’d like to think that the course offers an opportunity to look at your own job and the jobs of others; there is a lot we can all find out about ourselves and about those from completely different disciplines. The essence of Art and the Environment –Making the Mix Work is to improve communication between people who are concerned about environmental art. Doing this will mean more exciting and creative projects for all concerned.
Engaging the local community
Mandy: We talked a lot about what makes a great environmental art project. In particular, there was an enormous amount of debate about the type of project that is most ‘worthwhile’: one that engages the local community versus a piece of art created solely by an artist.
Cate: I’ve always felt that there is room for both and many other possibilities too. Certainly folk on the course could see the obvious benefits of community involvement but there are many different ways to achieve this. Allowing artists the freedom to respond to an initial idea in their own way can be extremely powerful, too.
Mandy: Do you think that when people talk about environmental art, most people in the countryside sector think about only the visual arts, something like, say, a sculpture trail, or do you believe that people are thinking wider than this?
Cate: I do think some folk are thinking far more widely than this; the problem can be finding out about other successful projects that use a different range of media. Some of the course participants identified problems with the visual arts concerning upkeep and maintenance of sculpture trails and other public artworks. However, fund holders often want to see visible outputs – sculptures, seats, signs etc., which give the visual arts an obvious appeal. The answer, perhaps, is to find more creative ways of capturing the outputs of projects that are about music, dance, drama, storytelling etc.
Learn from each other
Mandy: The participants on the course so far have been an enthusiastic bunch, who obviously chose the course because of their interest in environmental art. As a practising artist, what do you think is the interest in environmental art generally in the environment sector?
Cate: It certainly seems to me that art is being used more and more by environmentalists, especially within education and interpretation. This is not just about big projects, either, with artists being commissioned for a discrete period of time. It also seems to be about people who would never describe themselves as artists, who are injecting the arts – the visual arts, photography, storytelling, even drama, music and movement – in small ways, into what they do, and so enriching their work.
Mandy: Considering that there are as many opinions about what environmental art is and what it does as there are people on the course, do you think that we can genuinely learn from each other?
Cate: Yes, I think the range of definitions is one of the most inspiring aspects. There are all sorts of amazing possibilities on the horizon; the important thing is not to let this area of work disappear out of sight. Anything we can do to raise the profile of today’s issues and encourage more people to become involved, and to respond creatively to environmental issues and concerns, needs to be grasped with both hands.
Art and the Environment: Making the Mix Work is aimed at artists and environmentalists, each with some experience and enthusiasm for using environmental art. It looks at inspirational ‘project snapshots’ and challenges participants to generate new ideas and to take risks to enable them to deliver exciting, effective projects. The next course dates are 29th – 30th November 2005.
Mandy Sims
(01433 620373)
Losehill Hall
For more details about the projects used as ‘snapshots’
on the course:
Bamford Living Memory Project
Confluence Project
Art at Eden