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Emily Arthur: Endangered

Film documentary by Phillip Grove
 

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Nancy Marie Mithlo, Occidental College Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Arts and Chair, American Indian Studies, Autry Museum of the American West, curated the exhibit “Emily Arthur - Endangered” featuring the work of printmaker Emily Arthur, Assistant Professor of Art, (emily-arthur-artist.squarespace.com/what-we-do/) in Occidental College's Weingart Gallery, March 2-April 9, 2016. Arthur is known for her commentary on environmental degradation and her creative interventions with the archival record. She produces work in etchings, woodcut, screenprint, monoprint, drawings and mixed media.

A major component of this exhibit endeavor was Arthur’s inquiry into the diverse and unique collections of Occidental College's Moore Lab of Zoology (www.oxy.edu/moore-lab-zoology) and her research with Occidental Professors Gretchen North, Professor of Plant biology, Linda Lyke, Professor of Art History and Visual Arts and sound artist Jon Almaraz: soundcloud.com/jon-almaraz

During Arthur’s 2015 research trip to the Occidental campus, she was introduced to the controversy surrounding the California gnatcatcher, an endangered species bird that lives in the California Sage Scrub zone, one of the most threatened habitats in California. Efforts are underway to have this bird species removed from an endangered species classification, potentially opening up thousands of acres of California coastline for development. Arthur’s exhibit seeks to bring attention this critical environmental issue, educating students and the public about nature, culture and power.

The Los Angeles Times:
www.latimes.com/science/la-me-gnatcatcher-20140630-story.html

www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-gnatcatcher-threatened-species-list-20140729-story.html

The project received funding from the Center for Community-Based Learning, AHVA, Moore Zoology Lab, CSP programming, Remsen Bird funds and Dr. Loren G. Lipson.

"Arthur’s projects seek to interrogate systems of power. Her impulse is to the center of the tensions, to the very epicenter of the push and pull of human frailty. Our impossible foibles are chronicled in elegant and sparse vignettes that capture the moment at which we could either teeter forward or draw back. We are with her at the cliffside. Do we run or turn our faces to the wind?" —Mithlo

emily-arthur-endangered.tumblr.com

Invited sound artist Jon Almaraz -LINK to Soundcloud page