Professional Documents
Culture Documents
know from our heritage and studies and all there on the ground below. The hawk’s nest is hidden
is to discover moment by moment—the dynamic from my binoculars, but when she flies off to an
ecotone of art and science. She considers that adjacent pine, her reddish belly and underwing
the creative process of art making gives students colors flash resplendent. Striped tail feathers fold
the confidence to visualize an idea and make it and talons extend for landing.
real—whether that’s installing a complex public
sculpture or saving an old-growth forest. Artistic I am reminded of the efficiency of animals. The
discipline provides students with a practiced form hawk’s patterned colors and form blend with
and skills for expression so they avoid depression, rough bark and pinecones, so only her move-
aggression, and repression—the burnout and health ment gives her presence away to my unaccus-
issues that accompany challenging projects. Over- tomed eyes. Author Annie Dillard suggests in
all, Olsen concludes, the arts help you feel—sus- Notes for Young Writers: “If you have a choice,
taining a conservation ethic through responsive- live at least a year in very different parts of the
ness to both form and flow. country.” Stretching perceptual habits is a skill
requiring that I alternate between field guide,
Sustainability and Art Making binoculars, typing, and listening. Sitting still
Andrea Olsen helps me notice.
There are two qualities necessary as an artist:
fidelity and originality. Fidelity because it takes When The Dance Company of Middlebury
so much work and time to bring something to comes from Vermont to The Monterey Institute
fruition, and there will be times when you will as part of our 30th anniversary California tour,
want to leave it behind. Originality because you it’s rather like family arriving to meet relatives.
are making something new, something never MIIS is now affiliated with Middlebury Col-
experienced before. lege—my teaching home—and we introduce
ourselves through dancing. Outdoor rehearsals
There are two qualities —Terry Tempest Williams, “Mosaic: Finding in various locations, from beach to county court-
Beauty in a Broken World,” the Scott A. house lawn, help us become familiar with people
necessary as an artist: Margolin 1999 Lecture in Environmental and place; performance in a nearby theatre links
fidelity and originality. Affairs, presented at Middlebury College, us to dance aficionados. As calcaneus and toe
March 2007 meet new soil and stage, students connect to oth-
ers who share interest in bringing an embodied
perspective to intercultural exchange.
development project stating in this ominous way: look or feel like real “work.” There are days when
“Right now Carlsberg is focusing on temporary nothing productive emerges. Yet lab work in both
uses of the area.” Once the artists increase eco- art and science trains consistency: You show up
nomic values (generally a 30-year span), their daily and tap at the door of discovery.
future is nebulous.
In the end, for our Maine-based project, funders
Urban studies theorist Richard Florida identifies were caught by the stories; brochures and
the economic value of artists in community as the national magazines featured the photographs;
“bohemian index,” showing that creative commu- and the community enjoyed viewing their land-
nity draws crowds. Importantly, it also encourages scape through an aesthetic lens. The scientific data
young folks to commit locally and play a role in supported long-range conservation efforts and
what unfolds. Permanency and long-range think- was the underpinning for the creative work. Both
ing are required. The Lloyd & Delphine Martin the science and the art extended the range and
Prosperity Institute (University of Toronto, On- relevancy of the project from a local to a national
tario, Canada) maintains updated charts on the scale. The 342,000-acre conservation project,
bohemian index of various cities internationally, including a community forest, was successful.
showing the “concentration of working artists, And the interns are now professionals, sustaining
Arts play three musicians, writers, designers, and entertain- a conservation ethic through a broader range of
ers across metropolitan areas.” You choose your skills.
essential roles in home base with creativity in mind!
sustainability projects: Arts play three essential roles in sustainability
Yet many artists disdain “using” art in the projects: They focus our attention; they help us
They focus our attention; service of something else. For example, grants become comfortable with uncertainty, practicing
often require that projects serve a specific popula- the edge (of not-knowing); and they help us feel.
they help us become tion or follow guidelines that limit investigation As we feel we care, becoming caretakers of body,
comfortable with and risk-taking—trying to harness the unwieldy caretakers of place. Hiking in the mountains with
creative process in service of a predictable out- Marli, I’m also reminded that the process of art
uncertainty, practicing come. Rather than explore and give voice to the making—whether it’s your lifelong professional
unknown (creativity and innovation), you repeat focus or a pleasurable component of daily life—
the edge (of not- what’s already succeeded. In essence, art is nei- plays a role in refreshing perceptual habits, valu-
knowing); and they ther predictable nor measurable; it slips under the ing what’s here.
radar of convention and convenience and promis-
help us feel. es something more valuable—access to the imagi-
nation. Ocean View
Sometimes a partnership between art and sci- The Monterey Peninsula is surrounded by the
ence enriches both in the search for sustainability. Pacific Ocean. Honoring this constant presence,
I learned this when involved in a conservation my husband and I walk for an hour and a half
project in Downeast Maine. Our land trust host- each day—fulfilling a wedding vow we made
ed four Middlebury College interns “document- some 20 years ago, to walk regardless of weath-
ing an ecological reserve with place-based art.” er, schedules, or moody inclinations. Following
Students participated in a 10-week biological in- a path along Asilomar Beach at the base of our
ventory on 61 lakes and surrounding forestlands, Pacific Grove hill, we spot back-floating sea otters.
giving equal time to art making in each person’s We learn that they balance a chosen rock on their
preferred art medium. The project concluded chest for cracking open the hard shells of clams or
with a public presentation of photography, video, the occasional abalone, foods chosen according to
painting, and creative writing, along with data individual preference and availability.
from written reports for the final natural resourc-
es inventory. During our second week in Monterey, gray whales
are migrating. As we walk the shoreline, a woman
Students found that the major challenge in this runs past us with binoculars. “We’ve been driving
project was to learn to value the time spent with the coast all day looking for whales,” she exclaims.
art making as much as the time spent on field- “Have you seen any?” “Yes,” we offer, “there are
work. It’s one thing to gather your field equipment maybe 15 to 20 right off the shore—watch for
and head out every morning to net dragonflies their spouts.” She hurries on along the path. There
or drill tree core samples, with seemingly direct are two problems with this response: First, gray
results (although data sent off to experts takes whales offer a few visible breaths, then dive for
months to process, and you may never know how around eight to 10 minutes. So time and timing
it is used). But art making requires cleaning an are required for viewing. Second, if you’ve never
empty garage for a studio, curling up with coffee seen a whale spout, it just might not register in
to write, or heading off to take pictures: It doesn’t your visual field.
the through line that joins our diverse moments Arching back to view the tree canopies of these
in vital integrity and also dives deep into the giant relatives, the word stature comes to mind.
underwater canyon of our authentic voices, seek- When no one is present, I dance with General
ing wisdom beyond the chatter of thoughts? Ri- Grant, one of the three largest trees on Earth by
gidity of form in the creative process limits sus- volume. At 268 feet tall and 40 feet in diameter
tainability; flow allows fresh vision. Mobility and at ground level, my partner is the widest known
responsiveness to change are inherent to life, basic sequoia, although not the oldest. Because I’m only
to every cell, nature’s gift to each of us. sixty-four, this 1,700-year-old “big tree” has much
to teach me about sustainability, including chan-
While visiting Sequoia and Kings Canyon neling a life force that endures through countless
Stephen Keith
National Parks, 100 miles east of Monterey, an storms and fires, and the whims of people. We
e-mail from a report-writing colleague requests breathe in, we breathe out, exchanging a chemi-
two reasons the arts are important in environ- cal elixir that sustains both our lives on this plan-
mental studies programs. I ask a young park et. Dancing together in the deep silence of this
ranger her views. Michelle Fischer tells me that sequoia grove is an exchange: We’re not the same,
she studied dance at Marlboro College in Ver- but we’re one.
mont. Tonight she’s giving a ranger’s talk, “Imag-
ining the West: How American Artists Created Andrea Olsen is the author of Body and Earth: An
the Myth of the American West and Supported Experimental Guide, and Bodystories: A Guide to
National Parks.” Ranger Michelle tosses up her Experiential Anatomy in collaboration with Caryn
hands at the idea of condensing her views into McHose. Her new book, The Place of Dance: A
two lines: “I’ll think about it,” she offers, and sug- Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making,
gests we make our first pilgrimage to the sequoia with McHose, will be available this fall. Olsen per-
at Grant Grove. forms and teaches internationally.
Andrea Olsen at
base of Sequoia