“We cannot have peace on the Earth unless we also have peace with the Earth”
– Julia Butterfly Hill
The SCWCA Eco-Art Collective Meets Monthly

Founded in 2005, the Eco-Art Collective is an activist group of SCWCA artists focused on environmental issues that comes together to learn, make art and take actions towards a sustainable future. The group focuses on both individual, group and public projects, hosting monthly meetings, coordinating exhibitions and programs and community involvement.

In January 2017, curator Timothy Campbell organized a seven week exhibition at Golden West College Art Gallery in Huntington Beach that featured the SCWCA Eco-Art Collective. Participating artists include Kim Abeles, Suvan Geer, Carolyn Applegate, Ulla Barr, J. Cheryl Bookout, Marie Cenkner, Danielle Eubank, Brenda Hurst, Ann Isolde, Katherine Kean, J.J. L’Heureux, Meg Madison, MaryLinda Moss, Sandra Mueller, Seda Saar and France White. The exhibition which opened on January 12, 2017 also included a public program featuring artists talks followed by public conversation with Standing Rock Allies on Saturday, January 28, 2017 and Ken Marchionno talking on sustained activism.

In May 2015, the collective offered the “Wilderness Mind: Activating Wonder” exhibition at Modest Fly Art Studio Gallery in Tujunga. Curated by Marie Cenkner, it features thirty-one works by members Carolyn Applegate, Amy Bauer, J. Cheryl Bookout, Marie Cenkner, Danielle Eubank, Ann Isolde, Katherine Kean, J.J. L’Heureux, Nancy Lissaman, Meg Madison, Marion Melchiorre, Sandra Mueller, Annemarie Rawlinson, Seda Saar, Louise Wannier, France White. The exhibition is part of an ongoing “Wilderness Mind” initiative by the collective that includes exhibitions, programs and writings to foster sustainable stewardship. A community conversation moderated by artist Suvan Geer with area activists will accompany the exhibition on May 17, 2015. More at Wildernessmind.org.

In May 2012, the collective produced “Wilderness Mind: Dissolving Duality” exhibition at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro. Curated by Deborah Thomas, it featured thirty works by members Carolyn Applegate, Ulla Barr, Marie Cenkner, Danielle Eubank, Ann Isolde, J. J. L’Heureux, Nancy Lissaman, Meg Madison, Hiroko Momii, MaryLinda Moss, Sandra Mueller, Annemarie Rawlinson, Deborah Thomas and France White. It ran through August 2012 and included monthly programs including curators and artists talks, a poetry reading and outdoor Solstice Day Festival.

In 2007, EcoArt hosted their first collaborative 2007 Eco-Art exhibition in Barnsdall Park at the Junior Arts Center that included artists talks and a full color catalog. The participating artists included: Ruth Askren, Ulla Barr, Gregor Goethals, Ann Isolde, Julie Kornblum, Linda Lundell, Cathy Salser, Hani Shafran, Gabriela Sincich. Deborah Thomas and France White.

SCWCA artists, art historians, writers and curators are encouraged to join this ongoing group that meets monthly in members studios and homes. Please contact Ann Isolde for more info about joining the group or hosting a program, exhibition or workshop.

EcoArt recommended

  • Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone
  • Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
  • Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
  • An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
  • It’s Too Late by Thom Hartman
  • In The Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations by Jerry Mander
  • Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins
  • One Place After Another by Miwon Kwon
  • The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartman
  • Through a Window by Jane Goodall
  • The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature by David Suzuki
  • Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins
  • The New Earthwork edited by Twylene Moyer and Glenn Harper
  • The End of Nature by Bill McKibben
  • The Great Work by Thomas Berry
  • The Hidden Connections by Fritjof Capra
  • Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature edited by William Cronon
  • The Universe Story by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme
  • Wholeness: On Education, Buckminster Fuller, and Tao by Alex Gerber Jr.
  • The World We Have by Thich Nhat Hahn

More environmental-specific education