PROJECT: Create a work of art celebrating either a neglected situation or an abused object.
Celebration is a persuasive strategy to draw attention to some component of the environment that is ignored or abused. For example, Dory celebrates a threatened pastoral way of life. Fournier celebrates weeds. Gelitin celebrates decay. Haapoja celebrates micro organisms. Hundertwasser celebrates mold. Lee celebrates urine. Potrc celebrates shanties. Schneemann celebrates flesh. Strachan celebrates the power of the sun. Yeh celebrates the healing power of beauty.
READ – TO LIFE! Any three chapters listed above.
PROJECT: Create a work of art celebrating either a neglected situation or an abused object. An example of a neglected situation is ‘dawn’ because few of us take the time to observe or contemplate this wondrous role of the sun that begins each day and infuses the earth with life-enabling and sustaining energy. An example of an abused object is ‘dirt’. It is even denigrated in common phrases. ‘Dirty words’ are rude. ‘Dirt cheap’ means low value. ‘Dirt poor’ means severely impoverished. Such phrases disregard the fact that dirt is Earth’s principal life-sustaining substance. These derogatory associations might account for the fact that dirt is regularly depleted by thoughtless land use, negligent waste disposal, unrestrained logging, mono agriculture, and so forth.
Your celebratation might take the form of an ode, a ceremony, a solemn offering, a love song, an occasion cake, a parade, a banner, etc.
DISCUSSION: Consider the moods evoked by the celebrations presented by the students and/or the artists in this section. Some are solemn and evoke reverence. Some are joyful and augment respect. Is one more likely to develop the public’s environmental consciousness and reform behaviors than the other?