Prize Recognizes Artist’s Work on Climate Change
The “Honoring the Future® Sustainability Award” will be presented at preview night April 20, prior to the April 21 opening of the 2016 Smithsonian Craft Show. This is only the second time in the Show’s history such an award is being offered.
The award, which comes with a $1,000 prize, recognizes an artist whose work educates the public about climate change or inspires or models a sustainable response to climate change. Lloyd Herman, founding Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, will serve as judge.
“This award serves three purposes,” said Honoring the Future Director Fran Dubrowski. “It showcases pioneering artists, challenges us to rethink consumer choices, and invites craft show visitors to discuss sustainability with creative artists.” An estimated 6,500 visitors are expected to attend the show.
Eighteen artists from 12 States are vying for the award. Many salvaged raw material from waste, refashioning broken skateboards, discarded zippers, beeswax, and wood and fabric scraps into beautiful art. Others used clean energy sources (e.g., solar, recycled fuel) or natural materials and dyes. One, Mary Jackson, led a successful campaign to protect the native sweetgrass used in her basketry from encroaching development.
See images below.
Kate Cusack – repurposed zippers
Miella Green – repurposed beeswax
Mary Jackson – natural sweetgrass
Tara Locklear – repurposed broken skateboards
Dianne Nordt – natural materials and dyes
Julia Turner – repurposed wood scraps
Holly Tornheim – solar energy, repurposed wood scraps
Lucrezia Beerli-Bieler – theme: balance in nature
Aaron Hequembourg – salvaged wood, metal and books
Wence & Sandra Martinez – natural materials and dyes
Niki Ulehla – repurposed wood scraps
Claire Kelly – theme: conservation
Sara Drower – theme: air pollution
Chie Hitchner – natural materials and dyes
Yoshiko Komatsu – reused antique silk
Amy Nguyen – natural materials, zero waste garments
Paula Shalan – recycled fuel firing
Eric Serritella – theme: human disregard for nature
Media requests for permission to reprint these images can be obtained at press@honoringthefuture.org.
Several artists emphasized respect for nature. Lucrezia Beerli-Bieler’s intricate paper cuttings, each crafted from a single sheet of paper, “show that everything in nature is connected.” Glass artist Claire Kelly said, “My elephant sculptures describe the fragility of our world.” Sara Drower’s miniature quilt, containing a digitized photo of humans caught up in a Shanghai air pollution episode, emphatically makes the point: “We Are Poisoning Ourselves.”
Some artists offered wry inspiration. Eric Serritella’s ceramic “trees” – crafted to resemble weathered bark – emphasize nature’s tenacity, despite human disregard. “I strive for each creation to foster awareness and hope viewers acquire new environmental appreciations and behaviors,” the artist said. Niki Ulehla carved dump-salvaged wood scraps into marionettes named “Dante” and “Virgil” after characters in Dante’s Inferno. She intends Dante’s and Virgil’s literary descent into hell, where they encountered greed and gluttony, to remind us of “the wastefulness of our consumer culture and its long-term environmental ramifications.”
The Sustainability Award is the result of a partnership between Honoring the Future and the Smithsonian Women’s Committee. The Smithsonian Women’s Committee is a volunteer grant making organization dedicated to advancing the Smithsonian’s mission to increase and diffuse knowledge. The Smithsonian Women’s Committee produces the Smithsonian Craft Show to generate funds for grants to support education, outreach and research at the Institution’s 19 museums and galleries, nine research facilities, 20 libraries, and the National Zoo.
“The Sustainability Award highlights sustainable design while generating funds to support the Smithsonian goal of understanding and sustaining a biodiverse planet,” said Craft Show Co-Chair Sue Beddow.
Widely regarded as the most prestigious juried show and sale of American fine craft, the Smithsonian Craft Show is in its 34rd year. It will be held April 21˗24 at the National Building Museum, 401 F St., NW (Judiciary Square Metro station) in Washington, D.C. The 2016 show will feature the work of 121 artists, chosen from a pool of 1,100 applicants. All of the chosen artists were invited to apply for the Sustainability Award.
