Art + the Environment

Art + the Environment explores the various ways art engages and responds to the natural environment. Drawing on photography, painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and textiles from the museum’s comprehensive collection, Art + the Environment positions artists as observers, responders, and activists of local, regional, and global environments.

Some artists featured in the exhibition represent nature as nurturing and humbling through quiet landscapes, while others show its destructive side through bold color choices. The resulting work is complex and powerful, exploring themes of exploitation, fragility, and wonder.

Nature has shaped artistic practice for centuries all across the world. Art + the Environment asks us to consider why the environment has endured as a persistent subject in art and question how artists choose to represent it.