Paradise: The International Environmetntal Center for Creation and exhibition of Art in Nature -Competition

International Competition of Environmental Art

Selected Artists:

Abigail Doan - USA - Italy, Stephanie Douet UK, Barbara Roux - USA, Carlotta Brunetti Italy & Germany, Herman Prigann - Germany Carole Driver – Australia, Francois Davin- French- Australia, Dodd Holsapple - USA, Richard Thomas – Australia, Suikang Zhao – China- USA, Lane Last - USA , Andreas Templin - Germany , Malgorzata Szandala- Poland Zach Pine- USA

Abigail Doan USA - Italy,

Lives and works in: New York, NY and Siena, Italy

EDUCATION:

Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, NY, BFA, summa cum laude, 1989
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, undergraduate coursework, 1984
Additional coursework at The Center for Book Arts and Dieu Donne Papermill, New York, NY

1. White Sands Seed Project (2004) temporary, site-specific installation in New Mexico(USA)

medium: collaged boxes with Hopi gourd seeds, encaustic, lace

dimensions: 120 x 8 x 3 inches ; print of installation: 14 x 20 inches

Artist Statement

As a geomorphic (earth-shaping) agent and environmental tinker, I create recombinant maps, floating topographies, and in situ souvenirs that highlight the delicate nature of our environs and the degradation of spirit that results from our repeated abuse of natural resources and shared terrain. By festooning and inserting leave-no-trace materials into a landscape, I hope to reinforce the inevitable processes of decay and destruction with galvanized seeds and visual cues that hover as
poetic hosts for ecological and narrative propagation.

The following projects were site-specific experiments that I performed during 2004 and 2005 in the White Sands Desert in New Mexico, at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert and along the Great Salt Lake Basin, near Interstate I-80 in Utah. In both locales I wanted to introduce delicate materials such as knotted paper rope, lace, string, and seeds as a means to bring to light the fragility of these sites and their susceptibility to erosion and neglect. I chose to use Hopi gourd
rattle seeds in White Sands as a pacifying agent in an environment that is adjacent to a weapons missile-testing site. Similarly, the paper rope and seed installation pieces in the Great Salt Lake Basin of Utah were a means to trace the migration of seeds over a parched surface and arid topology. I use seeds in my work as a means to reawaken stories that I believe need to be told about land use, cultural abandonment, and regional life cycles. My pieces are always temporary, and I aim to leave a site in better condition than I originally found it. I pay close attention to the wind and the light as I believe that the elements are co-collaborators with the materials that I have chosen. I want the forces around me to become even more visible by way of interacting with my environmental installations.

Stephanie Douet

EDUCATION

1975 - 78 History of Art B.A. Hons University of East Anglia
1996 - 97 Fine Art M.A. Norfolk Institute of Art and Design

'Golden tree': gold leaf, camellia tree.2004. Exhibited as part of 'The Garden of Earthly Delights', Brockwell Park, London. The idea behind this work was to make something beautiful and artificial out of something beautful and natural, a Midas tree that, in becoming valuable, was made fruitless and perished. Actually after the exhibition it was pruned and nursed back to health.

Barbara Roux - USA

"Fire in the Tree", 2005

Barbara Roux - Statement

As an artist dealing with issues of ecology, I am a hybrid. My installation projects are influenced by my conservation projects to protect habitats and record incidents in natural history. My conservation efforts stem from my respect and fascination for the natural world.

     The work I do is inspired by the many years I have spent in wilderness places as well as my study of topics in natural history and contemporary art. My father was a pharmacologist who did research for many years with plants and animals in the Amazon Delta of Brazil. His work had a great impact on me.

     It is my belief that the environment of the forest, meadow, seashore and wetland are a powerful and little appreciated resource to understanding our human world. Like all structured communities, the wilderness is in a search for survival. It is my hope, that through my work, people may become interested in the mysteries that are inherent in wild places. From interest, a desire to protect may follow.

Carlotta Brunetti Italy & Germany

Artist Biography

Born in Milan, Italy in 1949

1969 - 1970 Studies art history in Florence and Munich, Germany
1970 - 1972 Studies at the Art Academy of Munich, Germany
1972 - 1973 Studies in London "City and Guilds"
1973 - 1976 Studies at the Art Academy, Frankfurt/Main, in Michael Croissant's master class and with Karl Bohrmann, Frankfurt, Germany
since 1994 several Projects with Julia Lohmann
1997 - Foundation of Pozzo Pozozza Berlin with Julia Lohmann
2002 -2004 Member of the Board of the Artists´Club Malkasten in Düsseldorf

S t a t e m e n t

My wish as artist has for several years been to link my outdoor works with my interior installations. Pieces have come about that reflect man as a part of nature. Humans are not directly visible in my works, but appear in relics such as trash, footprints, etc., or in cultural associations. In the countryside I create my own spaces and take up the cultural givens of the respective region.

Carole Driver – Australia

EDUCATION

1996-97 Academy of the Arts, Queensland University of Technology
Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland. Australia
Master of Fine Arts
1991-93 The Art Institute, Capilano College
Purcell Way, North Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Post-graduate certificate in sculpture - Dean's List

Necklace of Infinite Possibility – Computer aided video, 4 mins

Necklace of Infinite Possibility can be seen as an exploration of a particular state of consciousness, the ’Eco-Noetic Self’ or the nature mystic experience. An experience of being the same consciousness as the plants and trees, seas and stars, of experiencing the consciousness of plant or tree or forest, whilst retaining the consciousness of the experiencing human being. As Ken Wilbur says ’in the nature-mystic experience, you are not a strand in the web. You are the entire web. You are doing something no strand ever does – you are escaping your ‘strandness’, transcending it , and becoming one with the whole display.

This state is not a retro-romantic state, which is one of thinking that nature is spirit, but a recognition that consciousness is in everything, and that nature is a manifestation of that consciousness. The One in the Many and the Many in the One.

Francois Davin- French- Australia

Why site-specific art ?

by françois davin

I am a French artist creating exclusively FOR specific places, primarily in nature. Depending on the place and circumstances, I use different materials and techniques.

Since 1991, I have not been making any transportable/commercially marketable objects. I started this approach at the beginning of the 1980s, immediately removing myself from the then very dominant land art, giving all my attention to the memory of places, principally to the traces of local mythology. In 1984, on a Mediterranean beach, I "rediscovered" one of Icarus wings by adjusting together pieces of driftwood in a long airy structure. In 1986, in the mountains of Greece, I "rediscovered" the Rock to which Prometheus had been bound. These two works are exemplary of what I refer to as my Mythical Archaeology, which I still sometimes use. I enjoy the excitement provoked by actually seeing and touching something that belongs to our most profound cultural archetypes, those beliefs which sometimes seem more real to us than "real" historic events. And it was with surprise that I watched the public reacting passionately to these experiences. Some of these were not even photographed, and none of them were maintained. The reason for this was the recognition that the essential part of art is in the act of art, the sacred endeavor, not in the piece of art.

In 1990, after the forest fire that destroyed one-third of the mythical Forest of Broceliande (considered in the Latin tradition to have hosted the Arthurian cycle), I started to give birth to "possible myths"...myths that might have occurred. The "Golden Tree of Broceliande" was created in a small valley in the middle of the Forest at the limit of the burned area and featured a very old chestnut tree, burnt to death during the fire, standing in a circle of burnt oaks. I cleaned and treated the chestnut tree and then had it covered with gold leaf. To accomplish this, I embraced the project as a pilgrim, willing, for the first time, that no monetary payment (that is, any fee for materials or logistics) should desecrate such a quest.... I simply asked from those who were willing and able to give it, the help to achieve the project. About 250 people helped me, from the 30 local farmers who joined me in carrying the golden tree a half mile into the forest, to those workers in southern France in the factory which developed the treating products, to the Parisian master guilders who covered the tree with gold leaf. All of them gave their services, not for monetary consideration, but for the pleasure of being a part of something surreal. Since then, I have devoted myself to creating site-specific pieces, involving the people who are "using", that is to say, participating in, and experiencing these sites.

Since 1987 I have devoted myself full-time to my activity as an artist. In the past fourteen years, I have realized more than 100 public commissions in Europe, 2 in America, 6 in Asia, and 6 in Australia. I am a founding member and General Secretary of "Artists in Nature International Network". On January 1, 2000, I was knighted in France for my contribution to the arts.

One of my greatest concerns, when looking at the global situation of art, is the limited way in which contemporary art reaches society. As a parallel to creating my art, I tried to discover the criteria that had allowed me as an artist to encounter unexpected passionate supporters... The search for these criteria has led me into creating experiences of encounters between artists and communities. "Act of Art, Work of Healing" (1993-94) was a platform of encounter between 12 artists of various disciplines and 40 doctors, medical researchers, nurses, healers and terminal patients. "Sculptors and Territories" in 1994-95, in poor and risky suburban areas, investigated the combination of public space, sculptors, and unemployed youngsters for an action on the visual aspects of such areas.

In 1996, having moved from Paris to a farming countryside, I conceived "Le Vent des Forets" as an attempt to prove that a remote and modest farming community could, by itself, generate a thriving contemporary art experience and insure its continuance. This was brought about by transferring the ownership of the experience from the usual "art world" to the community itself. The area, in seven years, has hosted 110 artists who have each created a site-specific large-scale art piece in the forests around 6 small villages of 25 to 200 inhabitants. Since the initial installation, 250,000 visitors have come to visit this previously unknown area, resulting in a combination of positive impacts on the communities' self respect, identity, cultural awareness, and tolerance of others. Meanwhile, the participating artists have discovered and/or validated the functional and social value of their art. This approach has been adapted to more than 30 events in other parts of the world. I continue helping communities to implement this approach.

Francois Davin

Dodd Holsapple - USA

Holsapple1

Living sculpture from the "View Planter Series. 85" x 96" x 8" Contemporary urban yard and Earth awareness vehicle.

My work as a visual artist for over the past 15 years has centered around environmental issues and awareness. From the highly published Earth work series of living sculptures, bringing gardens into contemporary living situations to the thought provoking pollution awareness work like the Drain Strain sculpture, I have been very active in green community building and environmental rights developer.

Herman Prigann - Germany

1942 born in Western Germany.
1963-68 studied painting and city planning at the Academy of Art in Hamburg.

“ THE SCULPTURAL WOODS – Spiralhill and the skystairs.”

This project is realized in the area of the city Gelsenkirchen / Germany.

It is a former industrial site, a coalmine – 75 hektar large.

Herman Prigann

The transformation of this area from a devastate site to a new kind of park was realized from 1998 to 2005. The “Spiralhill” is a artifical hill and from the top the people have a far view over the surroundings. The hill is 120 m high. The “Tower” on top is made from 36 peaces of old concretblocks from the former industrialarchitecture. It is in this case a place of rememberance of the old industrial history of this region – coal and steel. We have integrated the sucsession of natur and in this wilderness are situated some “Metamorphic objects and sculptural places”. This different sites gives the hole area orientation and attractions. Today the people use the parc as a recreation area. It is an example how we can integrate former industrial sites back in cultural landscapes.

Suikang Zhao – China- USA

Public Art Experience:

Floating Poetry and Burning Green were commissioned by Djerassi Foundation, Woodside, CA 1996, and built upon the estate of the foundation. Both projects are out-door / site-specific. Floating Poetry deals with specific issue and memory of life and death on the site. The artwork is made by 68 floating objects that are installed along two miles of the creek at property of Djerassi Foundation. These objects are made of resin in different dimensions. Poetry of life, death and reincarnation in different languages are imbedded in these glassy floating objects. The objects are surrounded by woods and rocks and look like pieces of ice before sun comes upon the creek. When a spot of sunlight hits the water, it reveals the texts and also, in shadow, prints the image on the bottom of the creek or rock. Burning Green is rubber hand sculptures that are placed on huge burned redwood tree. The hand sculpture are itched by a poetry in both Chinese and English versions that associated my particular feeling and thought of the site and the time.

Lane Last - USA

Education:

1991 M.F.A., University of Wisconsin - Madison
Visual Arts- emphasis Painting and New Media
1987 B.S. - Arts, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Visual Arts - emphasis Painting and Video

Teaching/Workshops:

2005-2006      Associate Professor, University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, TN
1999-2005       Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, TN
1997-1999       Assistant Professor, Mount Senario College, Ladysmith, WI
1996-1997       Instructor, Highland Community College, Freeport, IL

Artist Statement

The basis of most of my work as an artist is my fascination with the natural processes of growth and adaptation in our world, both macro and localized, and its’ primordial elements. The perceptions most humans have about their environment are colored by social, cultural, and educational factors. Unfortunately these are not constants across borders or peoples. My work encourages the viewer to experience nature as it lives and breathes, a potent force within our view and world.

In “Luddite Garden”, I have metaphorically challenged the notion of technological progress planting and tending native plants to the region to overtake a symbolic relic from mediated reality, a satellite dish. Artists and art itself are often seduced by the myth of progress. I feel it is important to use my work to turn the gaze from the artificial back to the power and beauty of wildness.

Andreas Templin - Germany

Born 1975 in Germany, lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Studies: 1997-99 Study of Visual Art, Department of Free Direction, Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amesterdam, The Netherlands

Crashed Satellite

Urban Legends / Crashed Satellite

The proposed artwork "crashed satellite" consists of two imaginative outlines: Applying the concept of the "urban legend" to an artwork and, resulting, the way most people would imagine a crashed satellite to look like. This interplay of the sculpture as an object instantly fulfilling the Urban legend idea (something which is very uncommon as rarely any urban myth or legend was ever proven) describes for me in a very immediate way of addressing and performing a work of art in the public space.

My intention with this artwork is to offer a direct connection for the passerb. As this work unfolds his meaning to most viewers in an immediate manner (Did this satellite really crash? What if it fell on my head?) it acts as a pointer putting the attention to the moment and the image of the crashed satellite in the street / square / public

Richard Thomas – Australia

Biography / Education

Born Nhill, Victoria, Australia
Lived in: Canada, Papua New Guinea, Berlin, Germany
Currently live and works in Melbourne Australia
1983-85 Sydney College of the Art, Bachelor of Arts (Painting).

STELLAR BOTANICUS ::: Tolarno Galleries ::: Melbourne, Australia October 1995

50 tonnes earth, 220 brachicomb multifida, chalk, stones, 21 x 7 metres

Constellations of high magnitude visible over a point opposite Melbourne were represented using a species of daisy that would have been indigenous to the gallery site prior to European settlement. Each white flower corresponded to a star which would be visible if one were to look through a hole in the earth to the heavens below. A series of spatial equivalences: day = night, down = up, earth = space, gallery = garden. This installation was initially realised at Galerie Torch, Amsterdam, 1994

Zach Pine-

،oppled: Afternoon, Stinson Beach, California. Toppled rock tower. 7/27/05.

I have made thousands of rock towers. Some people comment that they look fragile, while others tell me they look “timeless,” as if they would stand forever. As I built this tower, I could feel that it was very vulnerable, especially in the middle. I decided to show that vulnerability in my photo: I held my camera with one hand, and with the other I threw a pebble at the base of the tower. As it wobbled and fell, I took a photograph, showing the top stones falling near the base while the tower bent in half. As it fell, so did the wave behind it. Like breaking waves, all our buildings eventually come down – even the ones that seem “timeless.”

Malgorzata Szandala- Poland

substitutesfor reality

[graphics,photos, installation]

Sunset, horizon, wave etc are phenomena which can’t be described as easily as “plain” things such as an apple ,a face, or a tree .They are more like concepts , they don’t exist in a fully explicit way. As concepts they also exist in our minds. Everybody knows what the sunrise looks like or what is the horizon, but as phenomena they are rather complex images.
In my graphics i tried to give them a form which would correspond with their character; to find out the images which are not literal descripitons, because there is no point in creating a calque [it is not even possible]; they are things in general, not in particular ; they are supposed to contain the features of many possible sunsets as the result of experiencing and observing them many times. Sometimes the conclusions lead to “unrealistic” results [by unrealistic i do not mean descriptive , or direct but closer to the core of things than a literal, detailed representation].
So, they’ve already gained a form as images. They have a new life, or a different mode of existence. That is why i call them substitutes for reality. Substitues that can fill up the living spaces.

On a certain level of translating the visual reality into the image/sign language the differences between :

1. an image of the object

2. a word describing or naming the object

3. the object itself disappear and became convertible. You can substitute one for another.

The graphics i am working on are always accompanied by a series of outdoor photos which fulfills my idea of creating and APPLYING the substitutes. Graphics are placed in the spots which devoid of phenomena my works represent.

Many of the pictures were taken in the ruins of an old coal mine in my home town – Gliwice/ Upper Silesia which is one of the most industrialized and polluted regions of Poland.

I would like to present the original graphics together with printed photos [it could also be a projection of slides ...] because it is necessary to give them the correct context / also the short printed texts or comments could join the graphics & photos.

Paradise International Art Center invites artists to participate in the International Competition of Environmental Art. The works can be photos and documentations of environmental works, installation, performance, video art, and interactive works.

Where is paradise

Paradise is a small garden of Iranian environmental artists. Ahmad Nadalian in Polour is situated in the north of Iran- Tehran (65^th kilometer of Amol Road). The two little villas in this garden have been the host of many international artists from countries as diverse as Germany, The Netherlands, UK, Lebanon, USA, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland. The artists from visiting countries have stayed there and produced environmental art. The International artists here in Paradise experienced living with Iranian families, society and tested traditional foods. Here in Paradise we have prepared workshops and short course for different groups of younger generation of environmental artists. Through discussion on examples of works by famous environmental artists they inspire and learn to develop their own works in nature.

Paradise International Center : New three storied building 2003

The Paradise Art Centre is internationally recognized as:

- A resident center for international environmental artists who wish to inspire or create and display their works in nature.

- A permanent gallery in nature which display works by Iranian environmental artist Ahmad Nadalian.

The Aim of Paradise

- One of the main goals of this center is to create peace and harmony between humans and nature.

- Promotion and appreciation of environmental artists.

- Paradise also aims to provide a platform where environmental artists can collaborate, develop ideas and gain shared insights and a different approach to making art.

- Paradise is place where European and Iranian artists meet and exchange experiences.

What is unique about The Paradise Centre?

- Paradise is among the few places in the world which receive only environmental artists and concentrate on environment issue. It is also a platform for development of the environmental movement and art.

- Beauty of nature, kindness of people who live in the village. Its lush green valleys, flowers, many springs and rivers (the source for Haraz River), Gol-Zard Cave, and the local tribe and indigenous people are some of the reasons why thousands make this their vacation spot during the summer.

The aim of Competition

The aim of this completion is to identify and appreciate the artists who use their art to protect nature works for environment. The fact is that the vastness and deepness of environmental crises requires global willingness, and collaboration between those who use art to express this tragedy, those involved in education, and finally all communities and people.

Condition for the Participation in the Competition

The selection of winner based on the background on environmental art.

Before 15th March 2006, the following materials are requested to send:

- CV with focus on Environmental art background

- Photo of artist

- Examples of environmental works 3 photos or of works (If you send by e-mail, please send them in Jpeg format and reduce the size of file less than 1 MB)- Text which explain the concept of works (Limit description to 1 page)

Call for artist in word format Click here

The selected artists of this competition will receive:

- Diploma and gifts

- The works of some artists will be selected and will be published in the web site of paradise. They also will receive the diploma of Competition.

- Selected works will be exhibited in one of the art center in Tehran

- Possibility of offering two-weeks residencies for the best artists in the late June or early July 2006 or 2007 at Paradise International Art Center for the artist who have relevant proposal for the natural environment of Iran (Airline tickets will not be paid).

About Environmental Art

Now, at the beginning of 21st century, we have made new discoveries and advances, and acquired new abilities. But at the same time we are encountering problems, crises, and diseases which never existed before. In many ways, contemporary man uses or abuse nature to make life better, yet the pollution and environmental problems can be easily seen by almost anyone anywhere in the world.

Technological developments, increasing population, inappropriate ways of using natural resources, change of climate and a lack of good behavior towards nature have resulted in many problems for all creatures, including human beings. Polluted environments are the result of polluted emotions, thoughts and attitudes.

In the contemporary world many artists and scientists, from around the globe, have shown an interest in environmental issues. The pollution of nature has been the subject of both scientific research and the development of new movements in society and art.

In societies which are fully equipped with new technology, many scientists investigate these environmental crises. But in many societies, mostly third world countries, we can see that many people neither have a belief in respecting nature, nor good education in how to behave with respect to nature.

Historically the movement ‘environmental art’ emerged in the 1960's in response to the ecological movement. They tried to facilitate a "sustainable balance between human and non-human nature through restoration, education, and multidisciplinary collaboration. Given the educational focus of environmental art, community involvement is often central." "Much environmental art is ephemeral, designed for a particular place (site-specific) and involves collaborations between artists and others such as scientists, educators and community groups".

We can distinguish environmental art from land art and earth art, though in some cases both terms can be applied to a single work.

Environmental movement and art in some cases has been a result of collaboration between scientists, artists and audiences.

Here we would like to classify at least four types of environmental art. First, some environmental artists are interested primarily in the aesthetic of their work: they use natural elements or environment to create beauty, it seems that they are not committed to educating the community and the people (or at least in their works the educational message is not obvious), they don’t protest or give awareness about losing nature, but just want to create a peace of art. Second, those artists whose work shows a strong ecological message: some of this work can be regarded as social activity or part of the green movement rather than art, and in these works the boundary between social movement and art is not clear. Third, a type of environmental art which shows a combination of both aspects: where we can see beauty as well as concept or social message. Fourth, where the artist uses virtual material and technology to produce environmental art: in this type of work the artist may use material by other artists or scientists, and this type of work is also often presented in museums, galleries or other media such as the web.

Now we need to provide a platform for further development of the environmental movement and art. We have to use every possibility to show the crises and ways to face this global problem. We need new knowledge, approaches, vision and spirituality to improve ourselves and our environment. Through education and art we can inform and educate societies.

Individual artists can not know and measure all change in environment. Scientists tell us what is happening on the bottom of ocean, in space, or in each atom and what will be the consequence of any change in nature. They have the ability to examine, record, and report any transformation in environment and can inform us of the dimension, aspect and vastness of environmental crises. Artists may have the ability to visualize the outcome of the scientist investigations and change the situation for better.

There is no question about the deepness of environmental disasters and crises. Environmental crises and diseases are the result of many changes in nature and a lack of good behavior and education. A pure world belongs to a pure being, but the pollution of nature comes from the pollution of the human soul.

The focus of environmental and ecological art can be in clarifying the fact that in this planet we are not alone and everything doesn't belonging to us. All we need to learn is to stop polluting it any further.

Finally we have to realize that we are part of "Mother Nature", so through a dialogue with nature and our environment we can learn how to behave and how to improve our attitude. Through this interaction we can enrich our culture, and create a new and ideal environment.

The building of Paradise in a fogy day

Poloor in late spring 1985

Small villa in Paradise Garden 2001

Anyone wishing to view the works in this village may contact the manager at +98 9121482177 or send e-mail to : Contact