Thursday 3 July 2008

Beechworth businesses ‘tread softly’ as environmental art takes to the streets

Beechworth businesses have offered their shop windows for the month of July to display the work of dozens of regional artists taking part in tread softly, an exhibition focusing on environmental issues relating to climate change, global warming and loss of habitat and biodiversity.

The exhibition is being presented in the lead-up to the 2008 Kerford Oration which will be delivered by Professor Tim Flannery on ‘The Climate Change Challenge’ at LaTrobe University’s Beechworth campus on Sunday 27 July at 11am.

tread softly, which includes works on paper, photography, paintings, objects, jewellery and sculpture, celebrates the environment and draws attention to environmental issues as well as provides a showcase for the ideas and work of regional artists.

A diverse range of subjects tackled by artists featuring in the exhibition include a commentary on the impact of domestic pets on native wildlife, declining river systems, salinity, drought, the massive and mounting global problem of waste disposal and the warming of the planet as a result of human impact.

But while many of the themes are both confronting and alarming, the work Milagros for Beechworth by gold & silversmith, Rose Wedler, on display in the Pots of Thyme window, tells a good news story. The work celebrates the small miracle of the rediscovery near Beechworth a few years ago of a plant previously thought extinct – the Swainsona recta or Purple Pea.

Catalogues for this intriguing and innovative exhibition are available from the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre at 101 Ford Street. In keeping with the theme of tread softly, collection points for recycling the catalogues are available around the shopping precinct.

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