AGNES DENES

American Conceptual & Environmental Artist.

“My work ranges between individual creation and social consciousness. It addresses the challenges
of global survival and is often monumental in scale. I plant forests on abused land, and grow fields
of grain in the heart of megacities. These works are intended to help the environment and benefit
future generations with a meaningful legacy.

My environmental works include: Wheatfield -- A Confrontation, a 2-acre wheatfield planted and

harvested in Manhattan's financial district on land worth $4.5 billion, in order to make a statement
about misplaced priorities. North Waterfront Park Masterplan of a 97-acre landfill was the first conversion to propose
bioremediation programs and a 12-acre wildlife sanctuary (Berkeley, 1990).”

Born in Budapest before moving to Sweden, then the New York City, Denes rose to prominence as one of the first artists to
try to rekindle the relationship between science and art which began to separate during Leonardo DaVinci’s time. Her
explorations have spanned philosophy, the natural and physical sciences, mathematics, linguistics and psychology but she
is most famously called the Pioneer of Environmental Art. In order to communicate her concern for the environment and
her reflections on how humankind interferes with the natural world, Agnes Denes has used many media: drawing, writing,
sculpture, photography, poetry, music and direct interaction with the environment and land.
ANGIE LEWIN
British Printmaker.

Angie Lewin studied Fine Art at Central St Martin’s in the 1980’s and then did a
postgraduate certificate in Printmaking, focusing on horticulture and natural forms.
Inspired by the landscapes of Norfolk, Lewin has a dedicated and imaginative eye for
the natural and botanical. She has recently illustrated an anthology of garden writing,
designed fabrics for both Liberty and her own company, St.Jude’s, as well as doing
commissions for many book publishers. Detailed studies of seedpods, seedpods,
grasses, flints and dried seaweed are collected on walking and sketching trips, which
Lewin then translates into stylized patterns.

Artist website: http://www.angielewin.co.uk/index.htm

ANISH KAPOOR
British-Indian Sculptor

Anish Kapoor was born in Bombay in 1954 and raised by a Jewish-Indian family before
moving to London in the 70’s to study art in Hornsey and then Chelsea. He is
considered one of the most influential sculptors of his time, taking on monumental
projects of staggering proportions. Kapoor’s work is often natural, curved forms huge
in scale and brightly coloured with pigments inspired by Indian temples and markets.
Red wax holds significance in his work as a reference to blood and flesh. His sculptures
are often mirrored, reflecting and re-presenting the viewer’s surroundings to them in a
new way, highlighting supernatural or transcendental experiences. Often site-specific
(in other words, made specifically for the spot which the
artwork will be displayed), Kapoor’s sculptures engage in the landscape. An example of this is his
piece entitled, Earth Cinema, where 45m long, 3m wide and 7m deep opening was cut into the
landscape of a thermally active spa area in Italy. Made
from concrete and earth, people are allowed to enter
from both sides and walk along it until they reach a
small square from where they can see the landscape
from
within.
ANNE-LISE KOEHLER
French Sculptor and Filmmaker.

Anne-Lise Koehler makes delicate, small-scale scultpures that depict the natural world, particularly
animals, created from a variety of basic materials such as paper. Focusing in on details and texture,
using paint and collage, she constructs tableaux’s of insects, birds and reptiles as well as plant-forms
and sometimes uses them as sets and characters in her animations.
Artist website: http://anneliselk.blogspot.com/
DAIL BEHENNAH
British Artist & Craftsperson.

After studying geography at University, Behennah decided that her office jobs were not fulfilling and enrolled in
a basket-weaving course at City & Guilds. Since then she has developed a studio practice with its roots in
basketry, making all sorts of non-functional, sculptural forms that are fascinated with geometry and maths.

“I construct vessels and other forms. My chief concerns are form, shadows and light. I am also very interested in the
mathematics, geometry and engineering aspects of the structures that I make. I call myself a basketmaker because my
work is informed by my knowledge of baskets and basketry, and has evolved as a direct result of this study, but my pieces
do not necessarily serve any function and are usually made using techniques that I have devised myself. I draw inspiration
from architecture, boats, ceramics, jewellery and natural forms and the art of the Constructivist movement. I grew up in
the 60's when op art was new and have long been interested in the work of the Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely and the
illusion of 3 dimensions and movement in his paintings.”
EDWARD BURTYNSKY
Canadian Photographer.

Burtynsky was born in Ontario, Canada in 1955 and has since become well-known for his
large-format, detailed photographs of industrial and natural landscapes. His pictures are
often taken from above – using helicopters, scaffolding, or elevated platforms to give us a
‘birds-eye view’ of how humans have altered the natural world through the way we produce
goods, dispose of waste, and search for resources.

“Nature transformed through industry is a predominant theme in my work. I set course to intersect
with a contemporary view of the great ages of man; from stone, to minerals, oil, transportation,
silicon, and so on. To make these ideas visible I search for subjects that are rich in detail and scale yet open in their
meaning. Recycling yards, mine tailings, quarries and refineries are all places that are outside of our normal experience,
yet we partake of their output on a daily basis.

These images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence; they search for a dialogue between
attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear. We are drawn by desire - a chance at good living, yet we are consciously or
unconsciously aware that the world is suffering for our success. Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our
consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction. For me, these images
function as reflecting pools of our times.”

Artist website: www.edwardburtynksky.com

NICOLA HICKS
British Sculptor.

Hicks was born in London (1960) into a family of artists. She studied art at the Royal
College and at Chelsea, establishing a relationship with Angela Flowers which would give
her a place to show her animal-based sculptures in the midst of a punk culture Britain.
Through drawing and sculpture, she made figures of both animals (dead and alive) and -
after the birth of her son - human forms from plaster, hessian, straw, bronze and other
materials. Hicks is interested in the similarities between humans and animals.

‘'…the qualities we are deeply in touch with subconsciously and may be totally out of touch within our
conscious state.’ – Nicola Hicks.

http://www.flowersgalleries.com/artists/118-artists/3848-nicola-hicks/#/section-work/
OLAFUR ELIASSON
Danish – Icelandic Artist.

Born to Icelandic parents in Copenhagen in 1967, Eliasson grew up in Denmark. He has

now established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin which he calls a centre for spatial research.
He has been involved in mostly public projects which interfere or alter the
environment/surroundings of the viewer. He often uses geometry and architecture as way
of thinking about space and how we react to it. He famously made a fake ‘sun’ inside the
Tate Modern, which involved placing a mirror on the entire ceiling of Turbine Hall, and filling
the air with artificial mist made from sugar and water. Eliasson thinks that the weather –
sky, rain, wind - is one of the only true encounters with nature we can have as city dwellers.

‘As inhabitants, we have grown accustomed to the weather as mediated by the city. This takes place in numerous ways,
on various collective levels ranging from hyper-mediated (or representational) experiences, such as the television weather
forecast, to more direct and tangible experiences, like simply getting wet while walking down the street on a rainy day. A
level between the two extremes would be sitting inside, looking out of a window onto a sunny or rainy street. The window,
as the boundary of one’s tactile engagement with the outside, mediates one’s experience of the exterior weather
accordingly.’ – Olafur Eliasson

veehttp://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/eliasson/default.htm
PETER RANDALL-PAGE
British Sculptor.

Born in the UK (1954), Randall-Page has spent the last 25 years gaining international
recognition for his sculptures, drawings and prints. Inspired by organic forms and how they
impact our emotions, his work is often outdoors and made from concrete, rock, wood, bronze.

“…geometry is the theme on which nature plays her infinite variations, fundamental mathematical
principle become a kind of pattern book from which nature constructs the most complex and sophisticated structures.”

Randall-Page is part of the design team at The Eden Project in Corwall, having significant influence on the permanent
sculpture ‘Seed.’ He has also been awarded Honorary Doctorates from a number of universities in England.

Artist website: http://www.peterrandall-page.com/

RICHARD LONG
British Land Artist.

Long was born in Bristol in 1945 and went to art college both at the University of West
England and St Martin’s in London. He rose to prominence during the 60’s, associated
with Arte Povera and Land Art movements. He made monumental sculptures as a
result of long walks through remote parts of Britain and other large land masses like
Canada and Bolivia. He usually uses natural materials and, because of his great
respect for the land, tries to leave simples traces of his existence or interaction with the
natural world. Circles and spirals are a reoccurring form in Long’s work, which some people relate to ancient
monuments and rituals.

‘'…'I think circles have belonged in some way or other to all people at all times. They are universal and timeless, like the
image of a human hand. For me, that is part of their emotional power, although there is nothing symbolic or mystical in my
work.’ - Richard Long.

http://www.richardlong.org/