CLIMATE CHANGE

CLIMATE CHANGE

Welcome to the 2024 webpage of “How Art Can Help Save the Planet”. Our mission is to create expansive awareness of climate change and global warming through the power of art.

We believe diverse audiences spark meaningful conversations and inspire innovative solutions to pressing environmental challenges.

Join us as we explore the intersection of art and environmentalism, showcasing projects that highlight the urgency of climate action and promote sustainable practices.

Together, we can harness the imagination and creativity of artists to foster a more sustainable future for our planet.

THIS YEAR’S THEME 2024:

FEELING BLUE 

Fishing For Disaster

ARTISTS STATEMENT

Human activities might be economically profitable -- but at what environmental cost?

This piece utilizes oil paints and recycled bottles to depict the harm humans do to themselves and natural ecosystems. The mermaid is both human and fish, embodying the widespread impacts of the fishing industry and pollution. As the mermaid holds a hook that punctures her own tail, an essential question comes into the picture: Is anyone really profiting?

An art project titled 'Fishing For Disaster' by Ava and Stephanie features a mermaid with a world map as her face, surrounded by recycled materials, including bottle caps, and a watercolor background depicting water and land.

AVA ALBERTS & STEPHANIE VAZQUEZ

The Tragic Tale

of Nature’s End

ARTISTS STATEMENT:

In a world of vibrant imaginations and boundless creativity, children's films often carry profound messages of hope, resilience, and connection.

Our collection of art reimagines iconic movie posters—symbols of joy and innocence—as canvases to portray our real life gut wrenching reality of environmental degradation.

This collection is both a cautionary tale and a call to action—a reminder that the world we leave behind should be as vibrant and full of life as the stories that shape our childhoods.

ALANA FIRSTY & SOPHIA BECK

Cover of the animated movie 'Inside Out' showing colorful bubbles and five cartoon characters representing emotions.
A promotional poster for Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' with a mermaid sitting on a rock in the ocean, surrounded by trash. The poster is marked with red handwritten text saying 'SUFFICATED' and the original release date 'May 26' is crossed out and replaced with 'UNOFFICIAL'.
Promotional poster for Disney's Frozen, featuring a woman in an elegant, icy blue gown with a long train, standing on a frigid landscape with icy waters and glacier formations. In the distance, an icy castle is visible. The title reads 'Frozen' with a tagline 'A World Without Winter.'
The image features the title 'Toy Destroy Story' with animated characters and a landscape of trash and discarded toys, including two characters from Toy Story and a toy with glasses and a mustache in a colorful, surreal scene.

Painting Perspectives

Two abstract paintings on display on a table in a room with red chairs and a digital screen in the background.

ARTISTS STATEMENT

As artists, our mission is to use the canvas as a powerful medium for exploring the urgent and multifaceted issue of climate change.

By changing perspectives, the thought of art is morphed into that of the world of media.

TORI NGUYEN & KARLA ALDERETE

A pile of men's underwear and casual shorts on a wooden floor, with a vacuum cleaner nearby.
A dress stands upright on a hanger with various clothing items hanging and surrounding it in a room with tables, chairs, and scattered clothes on the floor.

Dressed in Excess:

The Weight of Wear

ARTISTS STATEMENT

The clothing industry is a major contributor to environmental degradation, from its production process to the vast amount of textile waste it generates. Despite efforts to extend the lifecycle of clothing, textile waste continues to rise. The materials for this piece were sourced from Full Circle, a local thrift store in Orange, CA. These clothes, which were collected during the span of a week, were deemed unsellable by the store and destined for the landfill.

This project challenges how we perceive, use, and discard clothing. Viewers are invited to go beyond the fleeting satisfaction of new purchases and explore the lasting environmental and social consequences hidden out of sight.

CHANTELLE CHAN & MIA LEVINE

A Cry from the Ocean

A table with a large, spotted paper mache fish in the center, surrounded by trash such as empty candy wrappers, crumpled napkins, plastic bottles, cans, and scattered debris.
Cardboard shark sculpture on a painted blue background.

ARTISTS STATEMENT

With this art project, our goal is to capture the audience's attention by bringing more awareness to endangered species in our oceans due to climate change. We’ve painted the ocean with some polluted areas showcased in green spots of what is meant to be a pure blue and clean ocean. Out of cardboard, we’ve built a whale shark, one of the most endangered ocean species, and incorporated it into the painted ocean with plastic surrounding its home. This is also used to highlight the vast amounts of trash discarded recklessly day to day.

We aim to emphasize the harm caused by humanity's disregard for proper recycling and the general lack of concern for environmental responsibility. Unfortunately, this showcases our sad reality. By showing trash surrounding a living species, we hope to open people’s eyes and remind them to be mindful of disposing their waste properly. We hope to create an emotional impact that will lead to change, even if it is small.

CHELSEA OLIVAREZ & STEPHANIE MARTINEZ

Person giving a thumbs-up while working on a cardboard project, with scissors, torn pieces of cardboard, and a glue bottle on a green carpeted floor.
A painting in progress of an abstract water scene with various shades of blue, green, and purple, on a wooden table with painting supplies nearby.
Group of people working on a whiteboard with scattered art supplies, snacks, and drinks around them.
A cluttered table covered with used food packaging, crumpled paper, paper towels, and torn cardboard, with evidence of food and snack wrappers, cartons, and miscellaneous trash.

ARTISTS STATEMENT

Take a walk around the gallery, pick up a piece of trash, and come stick it on our canvas! It is a simple act!

Picking up a recyclable to place it on a canvas to create art is not much different than grabbing a piece of trash found on the street and throwing it in the nearest trashcan. It takes the same -if not less- time and effort, and it helps clean up the environment and our streets. Every person makes a difference in it, just like they do in the environment.

Each recyclable material is placed by a different individual, affecting the placement of the next piece. One less piece or different placement of it and it would have led to a completely different result.  

But how many people do that? Why do you do it in the name of art but not for the sake of the environment?

LEAH JACOBSON & PAOLA MARTINI

Various crumpled papers, snack packaging, and a glue stick scattered on a white surface.
Messy table with crumpled paper, plastic wraps, empty containers, and miscellaneous trash.

pARTicipate in

Saving the World


Earths Mediations

ARTISTS STATEMENT

Breath in. Breath out. Let the meditation wash over you. Follow the Audio story of the Earth through the present and future. Let our calming visuals guide you through the story. The story will take you through a range of emotions from calm to anger, peace to chaos, happy to sad, and so many more. At the end of this story you will be left with a feeling of hopefulness for our future.

Audio: Bobbi Rockett

Animation: Samantha Hall (@smelting_smores)

BOBBI ROCKET & ELIZE ITKIS

THANK YOU