srp source check #3

8/7/2019 SRP Source Check #3

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SRP Source Check #3

Aaron Oleson

Final Literary Thread:

Gary Snyder uses the Zen Buddhism and Native American cultures in his poetry to communicate

his negative views on the destructive factors that humans intentionally impose on nature.

Art Connections:

Art Connection #1, Artwork:

Citation:

Dahlsen, John. The Pass 2009. 2009. John Dahlsen: Environmental Artist and Contemporary

Painter .Web. 28 Apr. 2011.

Information:

³The Pass 2009´, John Dahlsen, 2009



Notes on Artwork:

y This piece artwork is an interesting piece of art that has a strong connection to my poet.

y This piece of art is relevant to the life of my poet because my poet still writes poetry

defending the cause that he believes in to this day which is fighting against the

destruction of nature.

y This abstract picture depicts a pass in between two hills.

y This abstract picture at first appeared to me as a painting of two plain hills but upon

digging deeper into this painting I found a darker meaning contained within this painting.

y The pass that this painting has been destroyed. You don¶t know how but the hills on

either side of the pass are destroyed and all that remains is the rubble left behind from the

destruction.



y While studding other works in this collection by the author one can see a dark message

contained within his paintings that depict land destructed and environmental degradation.

y This is the thing that Gary Snyder spoke out about through his poetry.

Art Connection #1: Review

Citation:

Millner, Jacqueline, Dr. "Review of John Dahlsen." Dec. 2006. John Dahlsen: Environmental

Artist and Contemporary Painter . Web. 29 Apr. 2011.

Summary:

y When Australian artist John Dahlsen began his littoral walks over a decade ago, he was in

some respects honoring Long¶s tradition of exploring the relation between humankind

and the environment through daily, ritual, embodied interaction(Jacqueline 1).

y In the case of Dahlsen¶s practice, however, the ecological dimension was more explicit,

for during these sauntering¶s along the coast of his local area in Northern NSW; the artist

would collect the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the shore (Jacqueline 2).

y When Australian artist John Dahlsen began his littoral walks over a decade ago, he was in

some respects honoring Long¶s tradition of exploring the relation between humankind

and the environment through daily, ritual, embodied interaction(Jacqueline 2).

y In the case of Dahlsen¶s practice, however, the ecological dimension was more explicit,

for during these sauntering¶s along the coast of his local area in Northern NSW; the artist

would collect the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the shore (Jacqueline 2).

y Unlike Long¶s engagement with the natural environment, Dahlsen was actively

harvesting from µnature¶ the many- times-removed products of human manufacture: the



y But for Dahlsen, land art-inspired sculpture and assemblage have paved the way for a

recent reengagement with painting. Before turning to the found object some ten years

ago, Dahlsen¶s practice had comprised primarily of gestural abstraction (Jacqueline 3).

y Now, the time spent exploring environment-based, sculptural and conceptual approaches

have radically transformed his painting (Jacqueline 3).

y For Dahlsen, painting has emerged as a new way to explore the relationship between

waste and use, form and formlessness, and environmental empathy and destruction

(Jacqueline 3).

y Dahlsen¶s retrieval of the waste product of plastics manufacturing partakes of the same

spirit, serving to remind us of the interconnectedness of environmental issues, but also

attempting to reclaim waste and the destruction of nature in the beauty of art (Jacqueline

4).

y This play between abstraction and figuration, between synthetic/organic matter and

immateriality in the purge paintings, has been applied in Dahlsen¶s most recent works to

landscapes ² dark works whose subtle references to environmental degradation all but

disappear before forcefully catching you unawares(Jacqueline 4).

y This tension between inorganic abstraction and emotionally charged organism lends these

works particular resonance, given their inception in the politics of environmental art

(Jacqueline 5).

y They play out, in elegant and economical aesthetics, the unstable boundaries between the

natural and the artificial, reminding us of Wendell Berry¶s paradox that µthe only thing

we have to preserve nature with is culture; the only thing we have to preserve wildness

with is domesticity¶(Jacqueline 5).



Art Connection #2, Movie:

Citation:

Thompson, Monte. Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction. Species Alliance, 2010. Film.

Information:

Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction, Directed by Monte Thompson, Produced by Chera Van

Burg, 2010

Notes on Film:

y This documentary is an interesting and frightening film that I chose to be the piece that is

related to my generations.



y The reason for me choosing this for my generation is because while it is also related to

the poetry of Gary Snyder this documentary talks about my generation and the effects we

have/ will have on nature.

y Lots of Gary Snyder¶s poetry is about the destruction of nature in relation to humanity

and that is exactly what this film is about.

y It talks about the mass extinction levels in our world today and how humans are to blame.

y This film goes into depth explaining the effects that society has on nature and why the

extinction levels are rising due to us.

y What this film is speaking out about is also the same arguments the Gary Snyder is

posing to society through his poetry.

Art Connection #2: Review

Citation:

1. Cronise, Justin. "Review of Call of Life." 3 Nov. 2010. Call of Life: Facing the Mass

Extinction. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.

2. Laumer, John. "Review of Call of Life." N.d. MS.

3. Reel Earth Film Festival. "Review of Call of Life." N.d. MS.

Summary:

Review 1:

y Written by Justin Cronise from The University of Buffalo

y Informative film that is also a call to action(Cronise 1).

y With alarming data about the Earth¶s rapidly dwindling plant and animal populations²

and the skyrocketing rate of extinction²this film tells us that we as humans have to

change the way we are living(Cronise 1).



y It is a powerful and compelling message, describing a far-reaching crisis in nature and

also in human nature (Cronise 1).

y As an expert notes in the film, humanity has never been faced with a challenge on such a

global scale (Cronise 1).

y Call of Life features in-depth analysis with thought-provoking interviews of articulate

scientists, environmentalists, and visionaries (Cronise 1).

y The film is also visually striking and features gorgeous nature footage, much of which

comes from excellent stock footage or visuals from numerous nature photographers and

filmmakers (Cronise 1).

y While Call of Life celebrates the glorious diversity of nature and species, there is at the

same time a deep sadness with the anticipation that so many species (even just those

scientists have discovered) are going extinct each day, and one may feel the helplessness

of the slippery slope and the mounting crisis that affects not just the plants and animals

around us²but our own species as well (Cronise 2).

y The crisis in biodiversity is a fascinating aspect of the global environmental crisis in

which climate change plays a critical factor, but the solutions are essentially the same

(Cronise 2).

y The difference here is that the extinction of the human species is on the line (Cronise 2).

y Call of Life is another valuable addition to a growing group of excellent documentaries

about the effects of humans on our natural environment (Cronise 2).

Review 2:

y Said by John Laumer a field biologist.



y ³A documentary in the manner of An Inconvenient Truth. Quite well done«Call of Life

features a stellar list of scientists´ (Laumer 1)

Review 3:

y By the Reel Earth Film Festival, New Zealand.

y "A fascinating and informative film, Call of Life provides an unusually rigorous, in-depth

analysis of the importance of biological diversity and the devastating consequences of the

current, out-of-control extinction rate. Serious, rich and challenging, Call of Life rises far

beyond the superficial jeremiads of many environmental documentaries and explores its

subject in commendable depth. Fronted by some of the best-respected, most articulate

names in ecology and environmental science, it should be required viewing for anyone

with a vested interest in maintaining the diversity of life on Earth ² and that, as the film

explains so convincingly, means all of us´(Reel Earth Film Festival).

srp source check #3

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