Nature in the arts Books

Book SynopsisThe extraordinary palm: diverse, prolific, essential, symbolic and often sacred, exotic - and at times erotic - exploited and controversial. The signature plant of the tropics and subtropics, these record-breaking botanicals produce the world's biggest and heaviest seed, the longest leaf and the longest stem. Over thousands of years, palms sustained rainforest communities and were bound up with the development of ancient civilizations. They gained mystical and religious meanings and became a plant of abstractions and fantasies, a symbol of being at leisure, away from civilization and closer to nature - and at times of danger and devastation. In the nineteenth century capitalism used palm products to lubricate industry and cleanse empires. Iconic palm houses put on show this exceptional vegetative performer. Far from its natural homelands, it nowadays clothes and glamorizes an astonishing diversity of landscapes. Today oils from palms are consumed daily by millions of people worldwide. The plant is embedded in modern consumer societies, but mired in environmental controversy over the destruction of rainforests. In Palm Fred Gray portrays the cultural and historical significance of this iconic and controversial plant over thousands of years. Superbly illustrated, this lively and engaging book is the first of its kind.

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Book SynopsisThe rainbow is a compelling spectacle in nature - a rare bridge between subjective experience and objective reality - and no less remarkable as a cultural phenomenon. A symbol of the Left since the German Peasants' War of the 1520s, it has been adopted by movements for gay rights, the environment, multiculturalism and peace around the globe, and inspired poets, artists and writers including John Keats, Caspar David Friedrich, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The scientific `discovery' of the rainbow is a remarkable tale that takes in ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Persia and Islamic Spain. Rainbows have also been regarded as ominous or even dangerous in myth and religion, while the twentieth century saw their emergence as kitsch, from the musical film version of The Wizard of Oz to 1980s sitcoms and children's cartoons. Daniel MacCannell's enlightening and instructive guide to the rainbow's relationship with humanity is the first book of its kind. It describes what rainbows are and how they work, how we arrived at our current scientific understanding of rainbows, and how they have been portrayed in myths, the arts, politics and popular culture.

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Book SynopsisSunflowers are the most recognizable members of the world's largest family of plants, Asteraceae, which includes lettuce, chrysanthemums, asters, dahlias and weeds. The sunflower family is found in almost all habitats, from the driest deserts through grasslands and the tallest mountains to urban wastelands, and includes more than 32,000 species. The family has become a part of our literary and visual cultures, inspiring artists such as Vincent van Gogh, and is used by advertisers to promote countless products. It produces hugely popular and economically valuable ornamental flowers, as well as familiar flavourings such as tarragon and artemisia, and sunflowers are also used in the production of antimalarial drugs, artificial sweeteners, insecticides and fish poisons. Sunflowers unravels the interplay between the biology of sunflowers and human cultures over the last 6,000 years. It explores our fascination with the family and how our uses of the plants have changed over millennia. Illustrated with many rarely seen images of the sunflower family, this beautiful volume will appeal to those looking for a new, surprising perspective on familiar flowers.

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Book SynopsisFor millennia corals were a marine enigma confounding classification and occupying a space between the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Ultimately their animal and symbiotic natures were recognized, and they remain the focus of intense fascination and research. The danger to seafarers posed by unseen underwater coral reefs led to their association with death and interment that has figured in literature, poetry, music and film. The bright redness of precious Mediterranean coral was associated with blood, including coral's gory origin in European and Indian mythology, and its place in religion. Corals have long been prized as jewellery and ornament, and were a feature of many Kunstkammer collections during the Renaissance. Seen as `rainforests of the sea’, coral reefs have become greenly emblematic of fragile marine biodiversity, warning of human-driven global climate change. This book uniquely treats the many manifestations of corals in biology and geology; how diverse corals came to figure in art, expeditionary accounts, medicine, folklore, geopolitics, and international trade; and corals as builders of islands and protectors of coastlines, and as building materials themselves. Exceptionally illustrated with a wide range of natural history images, underwater photographs and fine art, this book provides a unique resource for all interested in ocean environments and the cultures that have flourished there.

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Book SynopsisSavour a taste of the edible alphabet, from A to Z. Throughout history, visual and performance artists have rendered their visions within the whimsical medium of food. In Carolyn Tillie’s deeply satisfying A Feast for the Eyes, you’ll embark on a delicious adventure that redefines the art world. Explore the surprising artistry of apple-head dolls, butter sculptures, coffee paintings and a grand cathedral carved entirely from salt. Learn about the ancient role of food creations in ritual and global folk art. Experience the modern magnificence of electrified vegetable sculptures and ethereal molecular gastronomy. Discover why Salvador Dalí had an obsession with lobsters, and why there is a giant palace in the American Midwest made entirely of corn. Whether you’re a food lover or an art aficionado, this book serves up an aesthetic banquet that will delight your senses – and nourish mind, body and soul.

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Book SynopsisContemporary art has a complex relationship to crisis. On the one hand, art can draw us toward apocalypse: it charts unfolding chaos, reflects and amplifies the effects of crisis, shows us the dystopian in both our daily life and in our imagined futures. On the other hand, art’s complexity helps fathom the uncertainty of the world, question and challenge the order of things, and allows us to imagine new ways of living and being – to make new worlds. This collection of written and visual essays includes artistic responses to various crises – including the climate emergency, global and local inequalities and the COVID-19 pandemic – and suggests new forms of collectivity and collaboration within artistic practice. It surveys a wide variety of practices, oriented from the perspective of Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Art making has always responded to the world; the essays in this collection explore how artists are adapting to a world in crisis. The contributions to this book are arranged in four sections: artistic responses; critical reflections, new curatorial approaches and the art school reimagined. Alongside the written chapters, three photographic essays provide specific examples of new visual forms in artistic practice under crisis conditions. The primary market for the book will be scholars and upper-level students of art and curating at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Specifically, the book will appeal to the burgeoning field of study around socially engaged art. Beyond the academic and student market, it will appeal to practicing artists and curators, especially those engaged in social practice and community-based art.Table of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: Contemporary Art and Crisis Grace – McQuilten and Daniel Palmer PART 1: ARTISTIC RESPONSES 1. Beyond the Dystopia-in-Progress: Rehearsing an Indigenized Future ‘Australia’ Through Public Art – Robert E.Walton and Claire G. Coleman 2. Weentayoothan – Which Way? – Vicki Couzens 3. The Space in Between Us: Photographic Portraiture, Social Distancing and Touch – Cherine Fahd 4. A Melting Landscape: Mapping the Eco-Acoustics of the Swiss Alps – Philip Samartzis 5. Survivalist Samplers: Restoring Sampling Traditions and Utopian Perspectives – Sera Waters 6. Presenting the News Anew – Alison Alder, Marian Crawford and Richard Harding (aka The News Network Project Australia: AA & MC & RH) 7. Practicing Utopias – Sophia Cai, Bigoa Chuol, Gabriela Georges, John Mashar with Tania Cañas and Bruno Catalán Visual Essay 1: Inland Sea – Heather Hesterman PART 2: CRITICAL REFLECTIONS 8. The Art of Giving Up: Contemporary Artists and Domestic Violence – Madeleine R. Clark 9. Refugees, Neighbours and the Question of Empathy: Jakkai Siributr’s There’s No Place – Zara Stanhope 10. The Thorny Question of Art and Economy – Nancy Mauro-Flude and Kate Rich 11. Imagine a World Without Zoonotic Viruses – Keely Macarow 12. Writing About Art from Behind an Inclined Rock (A Geological Allegory for the Third Millennium) – Susan Ballard Visual Essay 2: Lisbon Dreaming – Clare McCracken PART 3: NEW CURATORIAL APPROACHES 13. Amor Mundi: Towards a Curatorial Ethics for Climate Crisis – Tara McDowell 14. The Gentle Activism of ‘Bruised Food’: Art and Curation in Times of Crises – Marnie Badham and Francis Maravillas 15. Hong Kong’s Utopian Dream: Art, Nostalgia and Identity – Kelly Ka-Lai Chan 16. Thinking With, and Acting From, This Place: Caring In and Through Our Practices – Jacina Leong Visual Essay 3: Scribble Me This … – Benjamin Sheppard PART 4: THE ART SCHOOL REIMAGINED 17. Unsettling Projects: Keeping Art Schools Agile Through Dialogue and Disruption – Fiona Lee 18. Towards Community Praxis in Community-Oriented Art Education – Kelly Hussey-Smith Notes on Contributors

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Book SynopsisOn December 28, 2016, President Barack Obama acted to protect nearly 1.4 million acres in southeastern Utah as the Bears Ears National Monument. The monument preserves a landscape of unsurpassed beauty, filled with more than 100,000 Native American archaeological sites, some dating back more than two millennia. For the first time, tribes who look to Bears Ears for spiritual and material sustenance will work collaboratively with federal agencies to set policies for managing the monument. The photographs in Bears Ears: Views from a Sacred Land capture the singular beauty of Bears Ears country in all seasons, its textural subtleties portrayed alongside the drama of expansive landscapes and skies, deep canyons, spires, and towering mesas. To photographer Stephen E. Strom's sensitive eyes, a scrub oak on a hillside or a pattern in windswept sand is as essential to capturing the spirit of the landscape as the region's most iconic vistas. In seeing red-rock country through his lens, viewers can begin to discover the remarkable diversity, seductive power, and disarming complexity of Bears Ears' sacred lands. Strom's photographs convey what so many have fought to preserve for so long. Like the land itself, they evince the full spectrum of emotional responses: exhilaration and disorientation, contemplation and serenity, passion and gratitude for the wild places and archeological treasures that now belong to all Americans. Rebecca Robinson's informative essay provides historical context for how the national monument came to be. Years from now, this book may serve as either a celebration of the foresight of visionary leaders, from Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Barack Obama who have set aside lands such as Bears Ears, or as an elegy for what was lost.Trade ReviewPraise for Stephen E. Strom: "Strom celebrates the universal beauty of line, color, and pattern and simultaneously situates it within a distinct landscape. . . . [His] photography creates timeless and abstract compositions that make visible the effects of universal geologic forces." - Rebecca A. Senf, Chief Curator, Center for Creative Photography, and Norton Family Curator, Phoenix Museum of Art"Bears Ears: Views from a Sacred Land importantly documents what could be lost to us all in this magnificent but endangered region." - Foreword Reviews"Stunning mesas, secluded canyons and sacred sites leap from the pages of this colorful tribute by photographer Stephen Strom. Bears Ears: Views from a Sacred Land celebrates the landscape and urges its preservation for future generations." - High Country News "Bears Ears is a beautiful volume that makes it clear why this visually striking and culturally rich landscape needs the protections of the original national monument designation." - Etienne Benson, Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, and author of Wired Wilderness: Technologies of Tracking and the Making of Modern Wildlife

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Book SynopsisNew Jersey has roughly one hundred and thirty miles of coastline, including a wide array of habitats from marshes to ocean beaches, each hosting a unique ecosystem. Yet these coastal landscapes are quite dynamic, changing rapidly as a result of commercial development, environmental protection movements, and of course climate change. Now more than ever, it is vital to document these landscapes before they disappear. Based on numerous aerial images from helicopter and drone flights between 2015 and 2021, this book provides extensive photographs and maps of the New Jersey coast, from the Pine Barrens to the ocean beaches. The text associated with each exceptional image describes it in detail, including its location, ecological setting, and relative position within the larger landscape. Author Kenneth Able, director of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station for over thirty years, has thoroughly ground-truthed each image by observations made through kayaks, boats, and wading through marshes. Calling upon his decades of expertise, Able paints a compelling portrait of coastal New Jersey’s stunning natural features, resources, history, and possible futures in an era of rising sea levels. Trade Review“Dr. Able is truly an expert on Southern New Jersey with decades of personal knowledge. Coastal Landscapes is a vivid and powerful way to use unique imagery to help share his experiences and perspective–a must-have book on the region.” -- David Tulloch * professor of landscape architecture, Rutgers University *“Coastal Landscapes provides new and intriguing views of landscapes readers might already be familiar with from the ground. There are few people that combine Dr. Able’s academic expertise along with his boots-on-the ground perspective on these coastal ecosystems.” -- Richard G. Lathrop Jr. * editor of The Highlands: Critical Resources, Treasured Landscapes *“The Jersey Shore is one of the nation’s great natural and scenic resources, with the great forests of the Pine Barrens feeding extensive marshes and estuaries formed by beautiful barrier islands. With his scientific expertise and vast knowledge of the region, Ken Able is an ideal guide to showcase this extraordinary systems of interconnected ecosystems.” -- Carleton Montgomery * Executive Director, Pinelands Preservation Alliance *Table of Contents1 Introduction 1 2 Nature Revealed 3 3 Relics of the Past 41 4 Recent Human Footprints 73 5 Connecting People, Places, and Resources 125 6 Sea Level Rising 161 Acknowledgements 191 General References 193 Index 000

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