An exhibition on view at SNRE’s Art & Environment Gallery

In Reflections on Place, artist Rebecca Lambers explores how she can assure authenticity, communicate meaning, and create genuine, useful art.  A working artist for over 40 years, Lambers practices couture: the melding of a designer’s aesthetic sense with fine fabrics, master workmanship, and interactive process. For the last several years, she has focused on flowers and botanical installations dealing with the nature, creation, and appreciation of beauty.

Last year, as she created work for this exhibition, she wandered moraine acreage on the old sheep farm owned and cared for in the Sharon Short Hills, where she collected found, recycled, and sustainable materials. She also hand-dug a foundation for a solar room, planted trees, moved rocks, cleared invasive plants, extended her food garden, and divided flowers as she wore out jeans and shoes. Her body learned through doing; her back got stronger. Sitting in the quiet dark, she breathed in deeply, opened her senses and her heart, and listened.

To suggest her desire to live integrated with nature, Lambers minimized the defined space of each window display in the gallery by connecting them visually and by bringing elements beyond them to illustrate less of a “separation” with the outdoors. The “screen” case demonstrates this concept while also exploring the wealth of undiscovered knowledge concerning insects, their role in cycles of nature, and the fleeting quality of life. Flowers are sensual symbols of renewal; signs of life’s bounty. They are her response to austerity, deprivation and mass-market materialism, and they express her belief in the philosophy of aesthetics as an integral and valuable part of our world. The Crossing Over vine is evidence of contemplation and evokes feelings of commitment, a promise to change continually for the better: to grow, to live, to be true.

Reflections on Place is on view at the Art & Environment Gallery from January 20 to February 28, 2015.

 

About the Art & Environment Gallery

Located in the School of Natural Resources and Environment draws attention to the role of art in environmental education and stewardship and in support of the mission of the institution towards a sustainable society.  The gallery features work from local and national artists whose work speaks to how people interact and understand the environment.  Each show features an opening talk by the artist followed by a reception.

Gallery hours: 8am–6pm,  Monday–Friday; Closed Saturday and Sunday

Location: University of Michigan Central Campus, Dana Building, 1^st floor / 440 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

About the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment:

The School of Natural Resources and Environment’s overarching objective is to contribute to the protection of the Earth’s resources and the achievement of a sustainable society. Through research, teaching, and outreach, faculty, staff and students are devoted to generating knowledge and developing policies, techniques and skills to help practitioners manage and conserve natural and environmental resources to meet the full range of human needs on a sustainable basis.