VISION SHIFT! ART IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 8, 2009

VISION SHIFT! ART IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Santa Fe, N.M.- Santa Fe Mayor David Coss recently signed a proclamation declaring a Vision Shift! Art in the Age of Climate Change week. Vision Shift! opens October 8, 2009 at six venues in Santa Fe with more than 100 works and runs through November 30, 2009.

Vision Shift! is the brainchild of the Art Collaborative, headed up by New Energy
Economy and a collection of organizations including Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe Art
Institute, Earth Care (Youth Allies Organizing Program), Earthworks Institute,
Fine Arts for Children and Teens (FACT), Santa Fe Place, Warehouse 21, The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts and the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). People involved in the arts, social activism, environmental sustainability, youth development, law and literature are collaborators on this exhibition.

The Art Collaborative is presenting Vision Shift! Art in the Age of Climate Change in the hopes that it will affect public policy and create meaningful social change.

Three of the Vision Shift! art pieces will become part of the City of Santa Fe's Art in Transit bus project. Photo collages with catchy phrases such as: Please don't burn my house down, Please let us grow up, and Put some ice back in their drink, are all by 70-year-old Charles Strong, an abstract expressionist painter for more than 30 years who now works in photography, sculpture and more. Strong studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn, Jack Jefferson and Frank Lobdell. He was influenced by Lobdell and Clyford Still. He submitted work to Vision Shift! because he wanted his message to be accessible on an everyday level.

"I felt that climate change needs to be communicated at a real grass roots level," says Strong, "so the buses really appealed to me. We all need to work together and get everybody thinking about the problem. I approached the Vision Shift! project with minimal artistic ego, just to get the message out. I hope the Santa Fe buses (and other projects like this) touch as many people as possible before we reach critical mass and are at a point of no return."

Another work in Vision Shift! is Arctic Melting, which will be on view at Warehouse 21. This collaborative glass sculpture depicts the melting of the Arctic and was created by a group of Native American students from IAIA.

The artists and organizations involved are hoping that the ingenuity of art can outmaneuver the corporate machine that is strangling us; reclaiming an imaginative vision for our future landscape - one powered by the sun, the wind, and the land, not fossil fuels. It's only the commitment and conviction of artists that can help us transform our carbon footprint and create meaningful social change.

"This community collaboration will depict the beauty of nature itself, as well as its destruction," says Ana Gallegos y Reinhardt, Executive Director, Warehouse 21. "Through the presentation of art in an environmental context, we hope we will awaken some thoughts and actions that can help our local and global ecology."

The Art Collaborative will host one opening night at each exhibition space. From October 8 through October 11, different performance artists will translate ideas into movement, dialogue, or visual imagery at each opening. Live art will complement the paintings, installations and sculptures, feeding the audience's imagination and compelling action to address climate change.

"Now, more than ever, we need our poets, musicians, actors and singers - all our creative people, to speak loudly, to help
decipher our situation and find remedies for the destructive effects we have on our environment," says Mariel Nanasi, Senior Policy Advisor for New Energy Economy and the facilitator of Vision Shift!

Vision Shift! Art in the Age of Climate Change artists will communicate concerns about pollution and environmental destruction occurring in the world today and raise the consciousness of climate change. The mission of this innovative exhibition is to impact policy and create meaningful social change within the community and beyond.

VISION SHIFT! EVENTS

Saturday, October 3, 2009 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Printmaking Workshop - As part of Santa Fe's Vision Shift project, Fine Arts for Children & Teens (FACT) will offer a special printmaking workshop-centered around the theme of art in the age of climate change-with local, prominent artist, Ron Pokrasso (www.ronpokrasso.com), at his incredible studio off Old Las Vegas Highway.This workshop is for children and their families. Cost: $35 per child/ $25 for each additional family member (includes materials). Artwork created during this workshop will be exhibited at Warehouse 21 on October 10 as part of the Vision Shift! project. Registration: Indi McCasey, Program Manager, Fine Arts for Children & Teens (FACT),program@factsantafe.org, 505 992-2787.

Thursday, October 8, 2009,
5-7p.m. Kick Off Event at Santa Fe Place, 4250 Cerrillos Road.
Santa Fe Mayor Coss reads Vision Shift! Proclamation, unveiling of the mural, music with DJ Anjali. DJ Anjali has done shows in New York and with DJs such as DJ Spooky.

Bryan Dixon (Diné) working with Earthworks,is the main mural artist. His father worked in the coal mines in Farmington and knows all too well the negative impacts to his community from the reliance on fossil fuels. Info: 505-469-4060.

5:45 p.m .Littleglobe's artistic director Molly Sturges and members of Littleglobe's arts and activism ensemble Common Ground- Santa Fe will lead a short interactive performance exploring our shared post fossil fuel future and the evolving collective mythologies that can get us there. Sturges, a United States Artist Fellow, is currently at work developing an interactive community musical dealing with fossil fuel dependency and energy independence. (http://www.littleglobe.org/) . Info: 505-989-1437.

Friday, October 9, 2009, Opening 5-7 p.m. Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail.
Mapping a Green Future, curated by Lea Rekow.
Mapping a Green Future, an exhibition that looks toward the promise of sustainability and the challenges we currently face. The connection between the automobile, life and air is explored through Andrea Polli and Chuck Varga's Cloud Car. Polli's weather station, Hello, Weather! attempts to de-mystify the collection and use of weather and climate. Bill Gilbert documents walking the grid, as topography and legalities allow. Jenny Polak negotiates border politics through a sound installation made from conversations with immigrant workers. Joan Myers panoramic photography of power plants deals with industrialization's impact on the environment.

6 p.m. John Fogarty Lecture. CA Info: 505-982-1338.
Opening John Fogarty's lecture, Litteglobe's Santa Fe arts and activism ensemble, Common Ground Santa Fe, will do a short music and spoken word performance with guests J.A. Deane and Joel Glanzberg. Led by Littleglobe's artistic director, Molly Sturges, performers include ensemble members Jaime Figueroa, Brent Herrera, London Wilder, Audreyann Martinez, Acushla Bastible, Elisa Keir and Adelma Hnasko

Friday, October 9, Opening 5-7 p.m. The Museum of Contemporary Arts Scout's Honour and Badland Exhibition Openings. The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts 108 Cathedral Place, Santa Fe, NM
Scout's Honour, an exhibition which explores, among many things, environmental issues and relationship to land. Opening. Badland, an exhibit that is part of the statewide Land Art project, deals with environmental issues.
Info: 505-983-8900.

Saturday, October 10, Opening 5-7 p.m. Warehouse 21, 1614 Paseo de Peralta. Info: 505-989-4223 x 1; ana@warehouse21.org

5-7 p.m Artwork from the Vision Shift FACT printmaking workshop goes on display at Warehouse 21, W21 Flying Cow Gallery

7:00 p.m. Spoken Word, ABQ/UNM/ Spoken Word Team member from SF Indian School Nolan does a 10-minute piece.
Nolan Eskeets is a graduate of the Santa Fe Indian School and a current student at the University of New Mexico. He works as a college intern and apprentice coach for the Santa Fe Indian School Spoken Word Program. Nolan is a three time member of Team Santa Fe, participating in the Brave New Voices National Youth Poetry Slam in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2008, Nolan earned 2nd place nationally in the Office of Indian Education Student Artist Competition for the writing division. With the SFIS poetry team, he has traveled and performed locally as well as in California, Washington DC, South Dakota, Chicago, and even Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and appeared in the NY Times, on the Jim Lehrer News Hour, and in the recent HBO series about teen poetry.

7:10 p.m. Ed Mazria Lecture, Warehouse 21. Free. All ages.
Is it possible to achieve energy independence, solve climate change and revitalize the United States' economy with a single solution? According to award-winning architect, author, educator and visionary Ed Mazria, Founder and Executive Director of Architecture 2030, it is. Mazria, will deliver an eye-opening presentation of current climatic, energy and economic events, illustrating the magnitude of the challenges and opportunities confronting us today.

Info for all Warehouse 21 events; Info: 505-989-4223 (Ext 1);ana@warehouse21.org

Friday, October 16, 10 a.m - 2 p.m., Live Feed from Bioneers, Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA), 1050 Old Pecos Trail,3 to 7 p.m. (Repeat)
Saturday, October 17, 10 a.m - 2 p.m., Live Feed from Bioneers, CCA 3 to 7 p.m. (Repeat)
Sunday, October 18, 10 a.m - 2 p.m., Live Feed from Bioneers, CCA 3 to 7 p.m. (Repeat)
CCA Info: 505-982-1338.

Thursday, October 22, 7:30-8:30 p.m: Global Warming = Global Warning VisionShift! Exhibition Reception following the SFAI's monthly Open Studio event at the Santa Fe Art Institute, 1600 St. Michaels Drive on the College of Santa Fe Campus. Light refreshments will be served. Contact: info@sfai.org; 505 424-5050.

Saturday, October 24, 1-4 p.m. In observation of the 350.org International Day of Climate Action, Earth Care's Youth Allies Organizers will host an action to raise awareness about climate change and demand movement by political leaders to cap carbon emissions and reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below 350 parts per million. The action will include a critical mass bike ride, march, and mass bus ride from CCA to the Roundhouse to leave a powerful message (both literal and figurative) for our leaders. Contact: youthallies@earthcare.org, (505) 699-1025.

Participating in the event will be Littleglobe's art and activism ensemble,Common Ground Santa Fe, led by Littleglobe's co-founder Chris Jonas and Executive Director, Valerie Martinez. Performers include: Jaime Figueroa, Brent Herrera, London Wilder, Audreyann Martinez, Acushla Bastible, Elisa Keir and Adelma Hnasko

Saturday, November 7, 12 p.m. The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts Members' lunch with Scout's Honor talk by exhibit curator Ryan Rice. Location: 108 Cathedral Place, Santa Fe, NM. Info: 505-983-8900.

Art-in-Transit, Santa Fe buses, opening: October 1, 2009.
WHEN: October 8 - November 30, 2009
http://www.visionshift.org/
http://www.newenergyeconomy.org/

Contact:
Jennifer Marshall
505-231-1776
jennifer@jmarshallplan.com
www.jmarshallplan.com