Printable Version Email to a Friend Artist Shai Zakai tackled the problem of dumping excess construction cement into a creek bed near Beit Shemesh, Israel by using advocacy, site restoration and these sculptures made from the cement. To see more click here.

The primary goal of greenmuseum.org is to create a resource to catalyze the environmental movement and inspire people to create more environmental art. By using the term museum, the founders hoped to serve a growing art movement and display art, and "help with our mission to get the word out to others who were unfamiliar with this type of work." As the movement expands and more environmental artworks are created, the online museum connects the many diverse parts of this interdisciplinary field.

In the late 1990s, as Sam Bower and several fellow artists in the Meadowsweet Dairy collaborative worked on environmental art, they realized that there were many artists exploring ecological issues in their work, but information about their creations was hard to come by. To improve communication and knowledge, they came up with an innovative solution: an online art museum. Bower, now the museum's executive director, acknowledges that it may seem "odd that a movement with an emphasis on being outdoors and connected with nature might find support and solidarity through a community of folks sitting indoors typing on computers." However, the Internet helped make large-scale, outdoor, site-specific, ephemeral artworks accessible to wider audiences than would be possible for physical media. Also, many environmental artworks are difficult, if not impossible, to install in a museum, as they are tied to the land on which they were created. For this "verb-based" art that "cleans up a polluted river" or "melts into the land," an online museum is the perfect venue.

The Internet allows artists to share images and texts related to their work with people around the globe, transcending geography to create a global forum where people can exchange information and learn about new projects. The online museum turned out to be an effective use of resources as well. For the cost of building even a small museum, greenmuseum.org could have an endowment and stay online indefinitely. It is also free, which builds upon ecological art's commitment to shared aesthetic responsibility for the commons and allow for wider diffusion of existing work and ideas.

Art Driving Community Change

An example of environmental art and its capacity to encourage and support community change is the AMD&Art project in Vintondale, PA, an old coal mining community. Many areas in southwestern Pennsylvania, and throughout the Appalachian region, suffer from devastated environments, crippled economies, and abandoned populations that are the legacy of coal mining. Acid mine drainage (AMD) is the most widespread environmental problem in this region, one which devastates entire watersheds by destroying wildlife habitat, as well as recreational, industrial, and community resources. AMD&ART is a collaborative effort to replace the typical negative expectations of the region with large-scale, artful public places that address both the environmental and social consequences of acid mine drainage.

At the site in Vintondale, where the last deep mine closed in the 1960s, artists worked with community members to re-envision the landscape. Together they designed a series of ponds that work as a gravity-fed wastewater treatment system, neutralizing the acid in the water discharged from the mines. These ponds are surrounded by a litmus garden, whose foliage changes colors as one descends the path, reflecting the changing chemical balance of the water as it moves through the natural treatment system.

In addition to the treatment area, the residents and artists created exhibits - including old maps and sculptures - to tell the stories of local history, and a recreation area that community members and tourists can enjoy. With its central location at the midpoint of the Ghost Town Trail, a hiking-and-biking trail that runs through the area, Vintondale has become somewhat of a tourist destination for people to visit the AMD&ART projects. Thus the environmental artwork not only helps restore the natural surroundings, but has also contributed to the economic revitalization of a near-abandoned community. This eco-art activism is one of many similar projects highlighted and shared on the greenmuseum.org's website

Starting a Movement

Bower parlays the public recognition from the museum into speaking engagements at conferences and universities where he addresses the challenge of leveraging artists' roles in society. He explains how projects that involve community collaboration can create lasting positive interventions and new ways for people to relate to their environment. In this way, environmental art acts as a catalyst for activism and social change by local residents. He also emphasizes the need for communities to embrace art and creativity as they strive to become - or remain - places where people want to live. Bower also encourages environmental artists to make their works fun and interesting, and to ensure that they resonate with local communities and local history.