Art is Necessary Activism

From Picasso's Guernica to Marvin Gaye's Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) to Faith Ringgold's The American Collection, creativity in images, sound, or words touches us and we feel, sometimes viscerally, sometimes gently. We are compelled to see the things we've ignored, injustice, beauty, or a vision of the way things could be. As Angie Thomas says, "art is activism."

At our December meeting the roundtable question was, "What art comes up for you in relation to climate change?" The answers were heart-felt and nature-based—a good way to share what makes our day and brings us into the WCA fold. Here are a few:

• Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World, a reminder to embrace the place you are, with who you find yourself with;

• Light Reign: James Turrell's Skyspace at the Henry Gallery showing us an ever-changing a bit of sky—an offering of the widest expanse of our natural world

• The way Mary Oliver can pull us close to the earth to feel, and deeply relate to nature;

• Or, our own Dave Anderson, whose paintings remind us of how the natural world is constantly nurturing.

We have decided to include art in our monthly newsletters and we begin with WCA's Dave Anderson, who painted the two works above. He writes:

A friend of mine reassures me when I get down, worrying about the effects issues like nuclear proliferation, authoritarianism or climate change will have on my grandchildren, that “beauty will save the world.” How could it not?  When anybody looks at a sunset, a newborn child, a leaping orca,  name your favorite image. Is humanity so far gone that it would allow or facilitate any of the listed disasters to take precedent over beauty? Beauty can take many varied forms: the visual arts, music, literature, a life saving surgery, a protozoa, your pet, you name it. I've attempted through my art to illustrate beauty in one form or another. Here's an example. A painting (first image at top) showing several life forms, birds in the sky and maritime creatures dancing to the music from a violin and a cello. I pray my friend is right: "beauty will save the world" and art will help.

What inspires you? What do you see, hear, feel in art that evokes your feelings about the earth, climate change and the work we do?

Send us your inspirational art candidates.

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