On November 11 at the Fleet Library, four current grads shared their research and work around Nature, Ecologies, and Sustainability in the Grad Artist Talk series. Ava Reynolds (PR 27) traced her trajectory from climate activist to climate artist, sharing examples of works made in response to and in collaboration with scientists. Kun Park and Tina Tang (MADE 27) described their methods for extending the definition and the life of “waste” materials by giving new form to trade-show refuse. Charlston Britton (MDes 27), reflecting on his own experience of environmental disaster, asked us to do the same after sharing works traversing adaptive reuse, sculpture, and materials research. All three presentations encouraged fellow artists and designers to bring environmental justice into their practice, whether in ways direct or indirect, big or small.
Below, find the speakers’ selected reading lists (their books were displayed at Fleet), and photos. And stay tuned for a call for proposals for the next round of talks, coming soon in Wintersession, on Sex, Sexuality, and Gender.
Ava Reynolds:
Fieldwork for Future Ecologies - Radical Practices for Art and Art-based Research /
edited by Crone, Nightingale and Stanton
All we can save: truth, courage and solutions for the climate crisis / edited by Ayana
Elizabeth Johnson & Katherine K. Wilkinson
Art and climate change / Maja and Reuben Fowkes
Along Ecological Lines: contemporary art and climate crisis / edited by Barnaby Drabble
Art & Ecology Now / Andrew Brown
What if we get it right?: visions of climate futures / Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Kun Woo Park and Yiyuan Tang:
1000 New Eco Designs and Where to Find Them / Rebecca Procto
Sustainable Design Book / Rebecca Procto
Social Design: Participation and Empowerment / Museum für Gestaltung Züric
Sustainist Design Guide / Michiel Schwarz and Diana Krabbenda
Up-cycle!
Charlston Britton:
Why materials matter : responsible design for a better world / Seetal Solanki
Nature : collaborations in design / Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial
Assemble : building collective / Aaron Betsky
Of salt and spirit : Black quilters in the American South / Sharbreon Plummer
Meaningful stuff : design that lasts / Jonathan Chapman
The city creative : the rise of urban placemaking in contemporary America / Michael H. Carriere & David Schalliol
Eco-aesthetics : art, literature, and architecture in a period of climate change / Malcolm Miles
The Anthropocene : key issues for the humanities / Eva Horn and Hannes Bergthaller
Place and Placelessness / Edward Relph
