June and July 2007: AHN NEWS
This is a very special issue of AHN News as it Celebrates the 10th ANNIVERSARY of the AHN AWARD! Each year, we honor an artist who is a role model for excellence in the field of art and healing by granting him/her a surprise gift of $10,000.
I am delighted to announce that this year’s award winner is eco-artist LYNNE HULL who has pioneered “trans-species” art. You can learn more about Lynne’s outstanding work in the interview with her below.
To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the award, we have created a special podcast featuring the voices of all 10 AHN Awardees. Please see the information below to learn more about this podcast.
In this issue, we also feature books and links that have inspired Lynne Hull. And we highlight a recent post from the Arts & Healing Connection Center.
May this issue inspire you with the richness of the healing arts!
Mary Daniel Hobson
AHN Award Winners Celebrated in a Special Arts & Healing Podcast
2007 marks the Tenth Anniversary of the Arts and Healing Network Award. To celebrate the award's anniversary, we have created a special podcast (i.e. online radio program) in which each of the award winners speaks about where they are today and their thoughts on art and healing. Some of their stories are short, some are long, but all of them are inspiring examples of the healing power of art. The outstanding award winners are: Bill Witherspoon (1998), Marilyn Wood (1999), Betsy Damon (2000), Bonnie Ora Sherk (2001), Lily Yeh (2002), Patricia Johanson (2003), Bill Talen (2004), Tim Lefens (2005), Anna Halprin (2006), and this year’s recipient, Lynne Hull.
To listen to this podcast through your computer, please click here.
Or to subscribe to our podcast using iTunes, please click here.
The Arts & Healing podcast is hosted and produced by Britt Bravo. To learn more about it, please click here.
AHN INTERVIEW: Lynne Hull, the 2007 Recipient of the AHN Award
"I believe that the creativity of artists can be applied to real world problems and can have an effect on urgent social and environmental issues. I am increasingly aware that the greatest challenge faced by other species is the need for change in human values and attitudes toward conflicting rights, wants, and needs. I hope my work offers models for equitable solutions."
-Lynne Hull
The Arts and Healing Network is delighted to present the 2007 AHN Award to environmental artist Lynne Hull. For over 20 years, Lynne Hull has pioneered “trans-species” art, creating sculptural installations that provide wildlife habitat enhancement and eco-atonement for human impact. As she explains, “my client list includes hawks, eagles, pine martin, osprey, owls, spider monkeys, salmon, butterflies, bees, frogs, toads, newts, bats, beaver, songbirds, otter, rock hyrax, small desert species, waterfowl and occasional humans.” International in scope, her work has been installed in 14 states and 8 countries including Kenya, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Currently she is working on “Migration Mileposts,” linking communities in the hemisphere who share migratory birds, and she recently completed “East Drake Pondworks,” a major Art in Public Places for the city of Fort Collins, CO where she lives. Mary Daniel Hobson interviewed Lynne about her work in May 2007.
Mary Daniel Hobson: How did you get started in the arts? And what inspired the move toward environmentally conscious artwork?
Lynne Hull: I started my artistic life as a potter and vessel maker. I realized the life I was leading was not reflected in my work, and decided to explore bringing the two closer together. As I moved toward combining them, I realized how concerned I was about human relationships with the landscape and the other species we shared it with. This is very obvious in Wyoming—antelope outnumber people! Eventually I had to choose between the medium and the concept, and I realized my concerns were more important than my love for clay. What could I do directly for other species as an artist? Make art for them? What would that be like? If art was on the cutting edge of “the wealthiest, most advanced civilization in history”, could an art gesture cross species boundaries to assist wildlife? Since I’d been raised in the New Mexico desert, the first thing that occurred to me was water capture. “Desert Hydroglyphs” (pictured here) sent me on my way.
Mary Daniel: You have done so many wonderful eco-art projects. Could you tell me about the origin and ideas behind one or two of your projects?
Lynne: Two early projects, the Raptor Roosts (pictured here) and the Marten Havens, came from reading about challenges wildlife were having trying to survive amidst human actions. Raptors were being electrocuted on powerlines, and marten had trouble wintering over in clearcut and secondary growth forests. In both cases, I consulted friends who were zoologists involved with those species, and we brainstormed solutions and outlined the parameters of what the species needed. Both series were somewhat casually monitored for wildlife use, and I feel both ideas are a success.
More recently, in France, I was fascinated by the local historic tradition of “pigioniers”, or pigeon/dove shelters in the tops of elaborate ancient towers on old houses. The farmers displayed their prosperity by building these towers. There has been a long tradition of exchange between farmers and their domestic animals: a farmer cares for, feeds and shelters animals in exchange for their products and services. Here was an example of the same principle with an animal that remained wild. What would fair exchange between species look like? Numerous art actions resulted, from a secret installation in the top of an old tower for barn owls (whose exchange was to keep the village rodent population under control) to sculptures to help humans explore and enjoy a new wetland restoration. In one exchange, we made a video of a French friend conducting a concert of the frogs to bring their presence to the village. Since the tower I was using looked like something out of a fairy tale, I also created a long ladder to go up the side of the tower. My “Trans-species” ladder (pictured here) was made from a single tree, cut down the length and still joined at the top, with rungs made of branches. At the bottom it is human scale, but at the top only a bird could use it. So, the species must somehow find a way for both to come together to communicate.
Mary Daniel: In your interview with Sam Bower at the greenmuseum in 2001, you use the term “eco-atonement” to describe your work - please explain what you mean by that?
Lynne: I feel my works atone in some small way for the damage humans have done to wildlife. Since the artworks are involved in ecological systems, I think of them as “eco-atonements.”
Mary Daniel: You have done quite a lot of work internationally - how did you begin to reach out in such a global way with your art?
Lynne: At some point I realized I would probably never make enough money making art for animals - most of my “payment” is in spirit and soul - to do the traveling I would love to do. So I thought maybe my work could travel me to interesting places for wildlife conservation. I was able to find a few opportunities for funding targeted at bringing artists to a more global perspective, and was successful at getting these opportunities. Sometimes I feel the funding has to be almost as creative as the artwork.
Mary Daniel: Tell me more about your current project in Latin America.
Lynne: Latin America is a great area for my work. I have developed several contacts there (international work depends largely on networking and being willing to be very flexible, even uncomfortable) and I have many artist friends as well as some in the conservation field. There are so many talented artists in Latin America who could continue to participate in helping preserve wildlife and landscapes. Poverty is the great challenge. But many non-profits are being very creative on sustainable economic growth, and my art often can fit into their goals. There is also a greater awareness in the society that artists are visionaries and have a lot to contribute to social movements. I am hoping to work with two wonderful young women, Yolanda Gutierrez of Mexico and Patricia Lara of Colombia, to create collaborative projects, and also to teach environmental art concepts to young artists and connect them to reserves and parks where they can develop a continuing relationship working in conservation.
Mary Daniel: What excites you most about your work with eco-art right now?
Lynne: The opportunities offered by our need to turn to more sustainable ways of living, and the public awareness of global warming, which are both greatly increasing awareness and concern for the future of the planet. In my work, having some funding, thanks to the Arts & Healing Network, to initiate projects I have in mind for Latin America.
Mary Daniel: Do you believe art can heal? And if so, how?
Lynne: The Arts & Healing Network is proof of this! And there are as many potential ways for art to “heal” our wounds as there are artists to carry them out.
Mary Daniel: What do you believe is the role of the artist in today's world?
Lynne: In the US it seems to be to produce luxury objects for an over-consuming elite class of our society. I believe this is a waste, a corruption of what artists could be contributing in terms of badly needed imagination and creativity to solve some of the major problems the world faces. Plus, the current systems isolate us as individuals rather than creating community to effect change. But we are creative - we can change that! Many of us, including nearly all the artists on the Arts & Healing Network, are doing that.
Mary Daniel: What sustains you in your work as an eco-artist...emotionally, creatively, and financially?
Lynne: The urgent issues of sustainability for the future, and my concern that if we destroy the life systems of the planet we will take other marvelous creatures with us. The earth will go on, but can it ever again come up with something as marvelous as a cheetah? But this “crisis” also offers us opportunities to make “the great turning” and re-design our lives. Also, I’m always sustained by my enchantment with other species, by seeing wildlife interact with my artworks, and by traveling to see wildlife and meet the people in whose hands their lives rest. Humans have created many of the challenges, now our challenge is to use creativity and imagination to re-direct the way we live. I live in gratitude to have found a path and been supported to follow it. Financial support is often a challenge, even though I am content to have “sufficient” rather than excess. It seems as if every time I get really concerned, some wonderful surprise comes along and keeps it all going.
Mary Daniel: What advice do you have for other artists who would like to catalyze their creativity for a greater good?
Lynne: I’ve written an essay on this topic, but for now I would recommend any artist who wants to contribute to social or environmental issues find a non-profit organization in line with their personal concerns and interests, join it as a volunteer, hang out, help with whatever work is needed, and learn the organization’s goals. Slowly develop an awareness of what an artist could contribute creatively to those goals. Go to them with ideas, but try not to ask for money from them - try to find funding elsewhere to add an art component to their expenditures (aka - matching funds). The artist may not get paid for first efforts, but a track record and a cross-disciplinary partner will help find funding for future projects. If an artist is fortunate enough to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out Sharon Siskin’s and Richard Kamler’s “Out Reach: Artist as Citizen” year-long program.
To learn more about Lynne’s eco-art, please visit her web site at www.eco-art.org.
FEATURED BOOKS: : Recommended by Lynne Hull
Overlay:Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory by Lucy Lippard
Lynne writes, “This book is always in my thoughts…an early book about the overlay between contemporary and Neolithic art. I find it very spiritual.”
Ecoventi on: Current Art to Transform Ecologies by Sue Spaid
Lynne describes this book as “a good one on eco-art.” It looks at artworks that meld ecology and invention to generate solutions for creating a healthier and sustainable world.
Conversations Before the End of Time by Suzi Gablik
A collection of interviews and discussions with critical thinkers of our time on art and environmental issues.
The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community by David Korten
Lynne writes, “I'm not only reading, but helping host a radio program on this book.”
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming by Paul Hawken
As Lynne describes, this new book “documents the growth of thousands of non-profits around the globe as a secret grassroots movement with enormous impact.
FEATURED LINKS: Recommended by Lynne Hull
Lynne Hull recommends the following web sites on environmental art:
www.greenmuseum.org
www.ecoartnetwork.org
www.ecoartspace.org
For her work, Lynne also refers often to the following web sites:
Audubon
National Wildlife Federation
CONNECTION CENTER
Each month, we publish a highlight from the Arts & Healing Connection Center – a place on the AHN web site where visitors can read and post comments, sharing their stories, resources, and ideas.
This month, we feature this post from Ali who writes from Cambridgeshire, UK to share the “story of my journey from a very dark place, into a life full of light and serenity.” Here is an excerpt – to read the whole post, please click here.
“Back then when everything felt dark, my beading work was not about the product, but part of the process of my recovery. Finding ways of overcoming emotional difficulties and the daily stress associated with ill health was the key to getting better.
I am delighted, and so very grateful, to say that this therapy (which started with a couple of old ice-cream tubs full of ‘beads and bits’), along with a vast amount of self awareness and self work, has grown from an enjoyable and experimental process (and still growing), to being my way of life.
Now when I am 'making' it is not only rewarding and energizing, but I am comfortable with myself, self aware and peaceful. I live my life with my eyes wide open, embracing change and enjoying everything around me."
READERS RESPOND
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