READING ART
IT'S ENVIRONMENTAL, MY DEAR WATSON...
MEN ARE GRASS detail, glass, etched crystal, grass, approx. 45 x 34 x 60 inches
Photo: Kathleen Brennan
The syllogism of the form

Men die.
Grass dies.
Men are grass.

should not be dismissed as illogical or invalid.

This “grass syllogism” (first expressed by Gregory Bateson) reflects the way poets, artists (such as I), and schizophrenics communicate with metaphor.

This metaphorical form comes closer to explaining human relationship to the environment, a longstanding concern of mine. It seems more ecologically sane to believe human beings are part of, not apart from, nature.

Art is given as religion and dreams, the freedom to distance itself from logic, much as Zen Buddhism invites us to return to pre-linguistic consciousness where there is no “I” separate from “the other.” I strive through my art to make the point that nature and humans are the same.

To destroy one is to destroy the other.

MEN ARE GRASS, Installation of glass tubes, crystal drops, etched eye glass lenses, grass,
approx. 45 x 34 x 60 inches
Photo: Kathleen Brennan

Sorry Watson, no sleuthing needed.

It's no mystery that our climate is changing.

The big question is, and has been for many years - "What are we going to do about it?" Two things come to mind - food and water.

These two things are intrinsically linked, and are front runners in their contributions to climate change. Especially food by way of agriculture. It took 10,000 years for humans to become reliant upon an industrial agriculture built upon annual crop monocultures.

The consequence of these practices of big agribusiness are draining our aquifers, depleting the soil of nutrients, sacrificing rain forests, contributing to the decline of species, and allowing top soil to be blown away in the wind.

Please see a few of last year's READING ART!

The technology to change these practices is available,
more importantly, we know how to use it. Let's do it!

It is elementary my dear friends!
BOUND GRASS, White Italian Marble, 13 x 14 x 15 inches
Photo: Kathleen Brennan
Installing and un-installing MEN ARE GRASS is

more than one person can manage. Meet

CAROLINE WATT (left) who's not just a friend,

but a friend extraordinaire...coming to the rescue when the 100 +glass installation had to come down - pronto! Thank you, Caroline!