The exhibition “GAIA II: The Pale Blue Dot” begins a month-long run at Des Moines’ Grand View University on Monday, Oct. 20. A beguiling blend of expressive imagery and compelling messaging, celebrated artist Mary Kline-Misol and conservationist Christine A. Curry join forces to create an immersive, thought-provoking climate crisis dialogue anchored by complex paintings.
Kline-Misol created two large triptychs incorporating tree and natural imagery. Also featured are two historical figures, Hildegard of Bingen and John Muir, well known for their good stewardship and advocacy for land conservation. Hildegard of Bingen was a 12th century German Mystic, Abbess, artist, writer, healer, liturgical composer and early environmentalist, while Muir, co-founder of the Sierra Club and “Father of the National Parks,” was a late 19th/early 20th century American naturalist and environmental philosopher.
Kline-Misol blends myth and legend with natural and agricultural touchstones, achieving a vivid spirituality between humankind and the natural world. In Icon for Hildegard: Cultivating the Cosmic Tree, Kline-Misol places the image of Hildegard sitting in a lush woodland scene, contemplating her vision of the Cosmic Tree.
Curry draws inspiration for her PURE IOWA – Sparking Stream Water visual arts environmental message from Andy Warhol and the pop art movement. As a longtime advocate for animals, nature, art and environment working in synchronicity, her foundational message is delivered with a bold clarity: clean water is essential and Iowa’s water quality issues are grim.
Curry’s exhibit includes 24 3′-by-7′ panels promoting the fictitious sparkling water company PURE IOWA, water pulled directly from Iowa streams. Using hyper-sized 2D and 3D graphics and labels on 16-ounce aluminum cans, coupled with a video, she clearly presents Iowa’s water quality problems. She also honors proactive conservation farmers from six representative watersheds that show how land management can be part of the solution. These water regions are the Mississippi River, the Cedar River, Squirrel Hollow, the Floyd River, Keg Creek and Bloody Run.
Her blend of wit, bold visuals and artistic expression allows her message to reach audiences that may not respond to, or have been desensitized to, scientific data alone. Opening minds is the magic sauce that both she and Kline-Misol offer with this exceptional exhibition.
Gaia means “Earth” in ancient Greek. In the 20th century, the term was used in the Lovelock Gaia hypothesis, a scientific theory that describes Earth as more than just a home, but a living system of which we are a part.
The rest of the title for this exhibit came from a more recent source. On Feb. 14, 1990,Voyager I captured an image of Earth from a distance beyond the planet Saturn. Famed astrophysicist Carl Sagan wrote in his book, The Pale Blue Dot, “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives … every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
Now some 35 years later, with news that NASA is strategically switching off Voyager instruments to conserve power, Kline-Misol and Curry have added their voices to the growing choir pleading for action to save the planet we all share.
As one tree does not a forest make, one art exhibition for the environment does not a battle win. The strength of a formidable choir comes from the unity of many focused voices whose efforts in sharing a common goal will positively impact environment healing. “GAIA II: The Pale Blue Dot” is a bold, impactful addition to this chorus. Our future generations are counting on us to make this happen.
John Busbee produces The Culture Buzz, a weekly arts & culture radio show on www.kfmg.org, covering Iowa’s arts scene with an inclusive sweep of the cultural brush. He received the Iowa Governor’s Arts Award for Collaboration and Partnership in the Arts.