Environmental Art

Although unknown by most who are not immersed in the culture, environmental art has been a fast growing form of expression for more than four decades.

Artists from all over the world create art in their own unique style in an environmentally friendly way. Many artists are inspired by the beauty of nature and create their art by using natural materials such as rocks and trees, and New Zealand sculptor Chris Booth is no exception.

He always gets his inspiration from nature. “Well initially from nature, but then as my work developed, I got inspired by nature and the social history of people in that area,” says Booth. “Whichever culture I work with, I try to research their particular area where I’m living at the time or where they want me to do a work. I research their social history, I research the geomorphology of the land, how the land was formed, and I research the flora and the fauna.”

Booth has been travelling all over the world to create his sculptures in places such as France, Netherlands, Germany and Canada for more than 40 years. And he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.

“I’m only 63, and I feel as if I’m only just starting to do the work that I really want to do,” says Booth.

He has worked on some major land artwork such as the Wurrungwuri (which means this side of the water in Eora, a Sydney aboriginal language) from 2008-2011. The sculpture is at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia, and was a gift from Ronald Thomas Johnston who died in 2003 and left a substantial amount of money for the sculpture to be built.

“I was really given full respect, in other words I was given enough money, and enough time, and enough love if you like, to do a job better than I was normally able to do,” says Booth.

But not all of his projects are funded so graciously.

“It’s quite rare. I mean often, over the years I’ve had to partially fund my projects or be prepared to get practically no money at all. Sometimes I accept a project and find that it costs a lot more to make, so occasionally I lose a lot of money on my sculptures too. But it’s just the way of an artist, isn’t it? Sometimes the flow is dried up and sometimes the flow is bursting.”

Although funding can sometimes restrict his ability to create a project, Booth says, “it’s a bit like having children, I love them all.”

Booths artwork can be found on such sites as Greenmuseum.org, an online environmental art museum, which features artists from all over the world.

According to Greenmuseum, most environmental art is ephemeral, which is made to disappear or transform, or is designed for a particular place and can’t be moved. It can also be created to inform us of nature and its processes, educate us about environmental issues, and restore ecosystems in an artistic way.