Art naturally, is no savior, but the structures that art rests on, including painting, architecture, design can help. A lot. What I mean, is, the imagination with all it’s inventive power can make the world a better place. And, not with the decorations you find in every city, so called “public art”, but in the creation of art linked with living systems. Here’s an example in the Gowanas Canal in Brooklyn, where the exemplary use of oysters has cleaned the water of a gross-out spot, that’s now on its way to recovery. There are artists like architect Kate Orff who seek to offer the sad planet a solution using the grace and gift of biological processes to palliate the woe. Oysters filter pollution, returning clean water to an ecosystem, and when well-established loose their absorbed toxicity and become delicious food. A viable and saving thought process is emerging as the way we live on Planet Earth. Here is Kate Orff giving you the lowdown.

Art is so often a node of wonder for the human race and most often depicted are images of the beauty of the Natural World. These days its usual to see nature washed over by the ravages of industrialization a la Edward Burtynsky:

Images like this are fine and so beautiful in their own way thanks to Burtynsky’s avid eye. An artist of that power and dedication who opens our eyes to the unlikeliest confluence of horror and beauty. Necessary.

Peggy Rathman, an award-winning children’s book artist, and her husband John Wick, an architect and builder have used their visionary skills to create The Marin Carbon project. They bought 600 acres in Nicasio seeking to return it to its natural state as a gift to the world. Peggy is the scion of the Genentech fortune who wanted to return her good fortune to humanity by restoring their land to its original state. Turns out, once intensive grazing has been implemented the land is ruined for a scheme like John and Peggy’s. Hooves compact the soil and the invasive shallow-rooted oat grass make a hard pan just inches below ground. Deep-rooted native grasses don’t stand a chance. With the introduction of just 1/2 inch of compost and a carefully monitored grazing program, the land is well on its way to productivity and planet saving. The supreme bonus of this restoration is that the carbon breathed by the grasses stays in the soil creating a natural carbon sequestration. Two creative souls at work. Like I said, art will save us.

Art is maybe not that thing on your wall, in the corporate board room, taking up space on the mall plaza, art is, as we’ve said it before, where creative thinking is born like The New Alchemy Institute in Woods Hole, MA. I first visited this project in 1974 and got a first-hand look at The Ark. Here is a picture from our visit in 2016, much the same as I remembered, thriving and bustling with ideas. The Ark is a living space that integrates design, beauty and the thrill of seeing something brand new even if it is 50 years old. In the harsh New England climate the new alchemists have created a living house that is not only beautiful and refreshing to inhabit, but the house itself produces food! Here’s picture of the interior showing fish tanks growing tilapia, the water from which will nourish the interior garden.

Finally on our tour of living-systems inspired art work, we come to The Last Resort, the brain child of David Hoffman. His 2.5 acre property is devoted to the idea of finding meaning in living systems. For 45 years Hoffman has been building relentlessly, basing his design ideas on his ten-year journey through Asia. The place is a wonder to visit, and plans are afoot to turn the place into public workshops on design, sustainability and the wonder of life. Don’t let anyone tell you that art has no practical value. David was the first friend I made when I moved to San Geronimo Valley.

David has been under siege by the Marin County building department for 40 years and plans are being hatched to turn his property over to a non-profit entity that will become the care taker of his legacy and his vision for the future. A board has been formed to accomplish this. Yours trulies are on that board.

So we see the creative mind at work with the prime goal: make it beautiful first.