Location: Jean Albano Gallery, 215 W. Superior, Chicago IL 60654

Opening; Friday November 4, 2010 5:30pm  to 7pm

We can't swim forever (2011)

This exhibition, organized by Nicolas Lampert and Raoul Deal, addresses the shifting ecological and political dimensions of water in Milwaukee and the Great Lakes Basin, and relates them to similar issues around the world.

Water is the most critical resource on earth. It has traditionally been held in the public commons, but is now being privatized by multinational corporations at a frightening pace. Water has become big business and the struggle over who controls water — corporations or communities — will likely define many of the social justice movements, political decisions, and wars of the 21st Century.

Watershed features installations by Sweet Water Organics, Colleen Ludwig, Lane Hall and Lisa Moline, Raoul Deal, and Nicolas Lampert; Prints by students at the Bruce Guadalupe Middle School and the Walnut Way Conservation Corp in Milwaukee; Films by Laura Klein that document public intervention projects by Nance Klehm, Jesse Graves, Sarah Lewison, Amy Mall and Sherwin Ovid, Tiffany Holmes, Maria Cristina Tavera and Xavier Tavera, Katie Martin Meurer, Jenny Plevin and Al Westbrook, Ximena Sosa and Cristian Muñoz, Deal, and Lampert.

Watershed also features a series of Thursday night presentations in February by Milwaukee-based artists, scientists, and community activists, and a presentation by the Brooklyn-based environmental artist Betsy Damon.

More information: http://watershedmke.wordpress.com/

Drinking the Lake (2010) by Tiffany Holmes

The exhibition features a new piece called Drinking the Lake, a large photograph that visually describes the rising and falling water levels in Lake Michigan over the last 150 years.  Other works that are on display include: darkSky, World Offset, solarCircus, and Fresh.  There is a related exhibition at the Deerpath Gallery based on workshops the artist conducted with Lake Forest students on October 20 and 26.

The press release for the upcoming exhibition can be found here.

Life Under the Sun is part of the John and Katherine Covington Exhibition Series.

Students who are taking the course can download the materials here.

Workshop handout can be accessed here.

Tiffany Holmes will be showing solarCircus in Out of the Garage Into the World, a large exhibition that is part of the 2010 01SJ Biennial curated by Steve Dietz and Jaime Austin (http://01sj.org/).

Holmes’ solarCircus (2009-2010) is an interdisciplinary platform for eco-dialogue about the future of renewable energy in urban spaces. Inside South Hall, visitors can browse a resource library, hack a solar toy, and experiment with solar cell construction. Outdoors, a miniature city of the future displays the creative potentials of solar power. This imaginary world is constructed from recycled materials, various electronics, and solar panels.

solarCircus: DIY Solar Sculptures

I will be conducting workshops and drop-in demonstrations from September 16-19 and Beth Ferguson from Sol Design Lab will be facilitating workshops from September 5-14.  Sign up for all 01SJ workshops here.

On September 18th the project will take to the streets and be part of the Green Prix parade.   The Green Prix is an all day festival that surrounds sustainable, ecological friendly, and fun modes of transportation—artful “eco-motion.”

LISTING OF SOLAR TOY HACKING WORKSHOPS (SOUTH HALL)
All workshop participants invited to contribute a sculpture to the large outdoor solar city.

Sunday, 9/5/2010, Hours: 2-4pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Beth Ferguson (Sol Design Lab)

Friday, 9/10/2010, Hours: 5-7pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Beth Ferguson (Sol Design Lab)

Saturday, 9/11/2010, Hours: 10am-12pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Beth Ferguson (Sol Design Lab)

Thursday, 9/16/2010, Hours: 5-7pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Tiffany Holmes

Friday, 9/17/2010, Hours: 5-7pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Tiffany Holmes

Saturday, 9/18/2010, Hours: 5-7pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Tiffany Holmes

For the Watershed Project, FRESH 3.0 included a one-night performance on Thursday, July 8th from 6:00pm-9:00pm in the Riverwest neighborhood (on Center Street, in front of Riverwest Film and Video) to bring the bottled vs. tap debate into the street for discussion. Passerby were asked asked to identify the best tasting water sample: tap or bottled.  Thankfully, the Riverwest residents mostly selected Milwaukee’s fine tap water as the better tasting sample (Note: the bottled water was either Pure American or Aquafina).

Overall, the exhibition Watershed: Art, Activism, and Community Engagement addresses the shifting ecological and political dimensions of water. This project, organized by Raoul Deal and Nicolas Lampert, uses art as a form of activism to comment on water issues in Milwaukee and the Great Lakes Basin, and their impact on the world at large.  It deals with issues such as water shortages, notions of abundance, water privatization, invasive species, industrial pollution, and water as a human right.

There are three components to Watershed: (1) Community Outreach: Fall 2009- Summer 2010: silkscreen workshops with students at the Bruce Guadalupe Middle School and the Walnut Way Conservation Corp in Milwaukee to create images that address water issues. (2) Public Interventions: (July 2010) local and national artists work on art actions along in the shores of  Lake Michigan, the banks of Milwaukee’s three main rivers,  in the city, and the surrounding suburban and rural areas. (3) Gallery Exhibit: January, 2011, UWM Union Art Gallery, documentation of the first two events, and new installations by Raoul Deal, Nicolas Lampert, and Colleen Ludwig.

Bottled vs. tap water tasting at Watershed in Milwaukee

More information on Artopolis is available here: artchicago.com.  The art fair runs from April 30th through May 3rd.

Your face is safe with me (2010)