Fragility and Resilience: Art, Ecology, and Our Contemporary Moment (Panel)
5:30 PM EST
with Sayler/Morris, Rachel Sussman, and Dr. Scott Manning Stevens
Presented by Basilica Hudson, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and The Olana Partnership at The Olana State Historic Site
Join artists Sayler/Morris, Rachel Sussman, and scholar Dr. Scott Manning Stevens as they discuss the connections between art, ecology, and climate change. This dialogue is held in conjunction with the exhibition, Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment, which is now on view at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana State Historic Site.
The artists will talk more about their unique works on view in the exhibition, including Rachel Sussman’s series, The Oldest Living Things in the World and Sayler/Morris’ video installation Eclipse, which is an homage to the passenger pigeon and its 1914 extinction. Through their artwork, both Sayler/Morris and Sussman examine the fragility of life and the question of balance between humans and the natural world. During this conversation, all of the artists will be in conversation with Dr. Scott Manning Stevens, Associate Professor and Director of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Syracuse University.
The panel will be co-moderated by Cross Pollination Co-Curators Kate Menconeri, Curator / Director of Collections & Exhibitions at Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Will Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership.
New-York based artists Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris (Sayler/Morris) use diverse media to investigate and contribute to the development of ecological consciousness. Sayler/Morris are also the founders of Toolshed, housed at Basilica Hudson, and the Canary Project.
Rachel Sussman is a New Mexico-based artist whose critically acclaimed, decade-long project “The Oldest Living Things in the World” combines art, science, and philosophy.
Scott Manning Stevens, PhD, is a citizen of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation and Associate Professor and Director of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Syracuse University with primary interests in Native American cultures of the Northeast from the pre-colonial period to the present.
2) Sayler/Morris, Eclipse, 2014, composited stills from video installation, 7-minute, 41-second loop. Photography courtesy of the artist.
The exhibition “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church & Our Contemporary Moment,” was created by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. The exhibition tour is organized by Crystal Bridges.
Support for the exhibition and its national tour is provided by Art Bridges. Additional major support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Exhibition support also provided by Terra Foundation for American Art, The National Endowment for the Arts, Empire State Development’s I LOVE NEW YORK program under the Market NY initiative, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, Greene County Legislature through the County Initiative Program of the Greene County Council on the Arts, and many others. Support for the catalogue is provided by Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund. ® I LOVE NEW YORK is a registered trademark and service mark of the New York State Department of Economic Development; used with permission.
