Art Reflects Nature

Rotting logs and gray water sound pretty unappealing--unless you use them right.

Last night artist Buster Simpson and writer William E. McKibben '82 gave the first in a series of presentations on the collaboration between artists and scientists facing environmental challenges.

McKibben, a regular contributor to The New Yorker, discussed the usefulness of art in raising public awareness of environmental dangers.

"The connection [between art and the environment] is more profound than would seem," McKibben said before a crowd of about 100 at the Agassiz Theatre.

He added that the "invisible" nature of many environmental problems makes it difficult to arouse "public support for what needs to be done."

"[We have to] make visible this thing that is now invisible and unpleasant to think about," McKibben said.

Simpson showed slides to illustrate the "poetic pragmatism" he uses "to deal with environmental issues."

Among the projects Simpson described was a drinking fountain doubling as a watering can.

The device makes use of so-called "gray water," which would otherwise have been drained away, to nourish a tree.

Another artistic-environmental endeavor involved a rotting log. The lack of nutrients in deciduous forest soil often encourages various plant life to take root in fallen trees.

Simpson took one such log that had sprouted Douglas firs and hemlocks from the Bull Run, a reservoir located near Portland, Oregon.

"It shows the romantic concept of life springing from death," he said.

Simpson received national acclaim for a series of "anti-acid" river projects--limestone tablets deposited in various streams to neutralize the acidity of the water.

The presentation was the first in a four-part series coordinated by Rebecca C. Rickman of No Time to Lose, an organization which focuses arts on the environment.

"Aesthetics should be part of a more holistic discussion of environmental problems," Rickman said. "I hope that this is the beginning of a discussion at Harvard to have more creative solutions to these problems."

The next presentation, featuring artist Ned Kahn and agro-ecologist Catherine Sneed, will take place on November 18 at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.