Wet / Land Gatherings by Christy Rupp & Kris Garnier – Opening reception

When:

September 3, 2021: 5:00PM to 8:00PM

Where:

The Lamb House, 41 Market Street, Saugerties, NY 12477 map

ShoutOut Saugerties is presenting WET / LAND, an eco-art exhibit, at the historic Lamb House in Saugerties Village. WET / LAND is part of ShoutOut’s ‘Environment and the Arts’ programming. The show brings attention to issues affecting the health of the Esopus Creek. The WET part of the exhibit displays sculpture made by capturing silt from the waters of the Esopus, while LAND shows plants collected locally that will be revisited in five years to chart their survival and changes. WET / LAND features the art of Christy Rupp, an eco-artist and citizen scientist, and herbarium artist Kristen Garnier.

On display weekends through Sept. 26.
Fridays – 5pm to 8pm; Saturdays – 1pm to 5pm; Sundays – 1pm to 5pm.

Christy Rupp is an American eco-artist and citizen scientist. Having grown up in the Rust Belt of upstate NY, she witnessed firsthand the hazards of industrial waste and efforts to conceal the underlying causes of pollution. She moved to NYC in the late 70’s as it faced bankruptcy and offered fertile ground for a generation of artists lucky enough to participate in the petri dish of history, culture, and nature that was late capitalist downtown. Originating from an interest in urban ecology and the waste stream, Rupp’s work taps into universal themes of climate change and justice. Her work has focused on environmental hazards like fracking waste, oil extraction, and water quality.

For this exhibition at Lamb House, she has created a series of filter sculptures based on studies of indicator species found in freshwater creeks. Placing her welded and muslin covered filters along the Esopus Creek this past spring, she has collected sediment from the turbid releases the DEC has been conducting, as muddy water is re-routed downstream through Kingston and Saugerties. Due to Climate Change, the releases have dramatically increased, resulting in elevated flooding and runoff throughout the NYC Watershed.

Rupp has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Anonymous Was A Woman Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation (Creating a Living Legacy Award,) and Art Matters Foundation. Her work has been visible in the US and internationally since 1979. She lives in New York and Saugerties.

More info at: #Stopthemud and Christyrupp.com

Photo: Jessica Glacobbe

Kris Garnier
For over the past 20 years Garnier has been overseeing greenhouses, gardens, and indoor plant collections for businesses and estates throughout the Hudson Valley. She self-educates about plants and explores wherever they may grow—woods, fields, mountain trails, streams and roadsides, overgrown lots, and cracks in sidewalks. She collects and preserves plants for both private clients and organizations, and also uses flowers grown on her property for her artwork. Kris frequently gives guided walks on plant identification, and demonstrations on plant pressing throughout the Hudson Valley. Through her work she aims to inspire and ignite others’ passion for the natural world.

In 2020, Kris became a recipient of the Susana Meyer Creative Arts Award through Shout Out Saugerties for a plant identification, collection, and preservation project within the town of Saugerties, NY, where she lives.

In her exhibit at Lamb House, in addition to the creative mountings of plants, Kris will present videos of area water sources and audios of birds.

Garnier is certified in botany through The New York Botanical Garden. A practitioner of many art forms, Kris is also a vocalist, composer, storyteller, and amateur photographer. Among many venues, she has performed at the Knitting Factory in NYC, Le Gibus in Paris and The Colony in Woodstock.

More at: www.goflowergo.com