May

EARTHWORKS ON PAPER AT SMITH COLLEGE ART MUSEUM

Set 5-1; AK; #698224

NORTHHAMPTON, MASS. — During the 1960s and 1970s, artists began to use the natural environment as a means as well as a subject for art. Creating sculptural works from and with soil, trees, rocks and the natural boundaries of land, “Earthworks on Paper,” on view at the Smith College Museum of Art through June 17, grew out of artists’ desire to leave the confines of the gallery and museum and engage directly with the landscape.

As these works often existed in remote places and sometimes for limited periods of time, documentation became an important part of the artistic process, as well as a method for preserving these vital projects. Since that the mid 1960s and 1970s, artists have continued to engage the natural environment, expanding the focus of earlier artists’ work.

“Earthworks” features 30 prints, drawings and photographs that document or translate site-specific environmental sculptural works.

Highlights include “Revival Ramp,” a print documenting Mel Chin’s 1991 toxic soil reclamation project in St Paul, Minn.; a preparatory drawing for Christo’s 1983 “Surrounded Islands” executed in Biscayne Bay, Fla.; and drawings by Welsh sculptor David Nash of Ash Dome, a living sculpture made from ash trees on his property, which took 30 years for the artist to complete. Other artists include Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, Ana Mendieta and Alan Sonfist.

The museum is at Elm Street at Bedford Terrace. For information, 413-585-2760 or www.smith.edu/artmuseum.