This show presents the work of 50 artists from across the United States whose art evokes the wonder of plants or questions preconceived notions about them. Enlisting photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed media, printmaking, video, and installation, these artists envision and observe the role of flora in raising awareness of planetary change, considering the human condition, and making a connection with the natural world. FLORA is juried by artist Mark Dion.

Utilizing the languages of queer theory and queer ecology, Brian Smith’s sculpture, Figgot Tree!, is situated within a tradition that seeks to identify ways to connect with the non-human world. Artist J.E. Paterak illuminates the delicacy within our ecological and geological timescale by observing and painting weeds, such as in Portrait of an Enduring Orange. In Reliquary For The American Pastime, Lee Kennedy’s sculpture features old baseballs collected from the outskirts of abandoned ball fields. Over time, these baseballs shed their leather skins, fused with the land, and offered themselves as a breeding ground for mosses and other small vegetation. In FLORA, the botanical world serves as both material and muse.

Featured Artists

Amanada Surveski, Barbara Rugg Diehl, Brian Smith, Brigitte Grover, Brooke Bailey, Danielle Pratt, Danielle Schlunegger-Warner, Dena Haden, Emily H. Phillips, Emily Ritter, Emmaline Payette, Heimir Björgúlfsson, J.E. Paterak, Jacqueline Foss, James Labeck, Jenny Casey, Jennifer Scheuer, Joel Moskowitz, John Slepian, Julia Dixon, Kally Malcom, Karly Anderson, Kathleen Kneeland, Katie Garth, Katrina Ellis, Kim Blodgett, Kimberly Largey, Kit Curry, Kristine Roan, Lee Kennedy, Lena McCarthy, Leslie Schomp, Madge Evers, Maeve Leslie, Mary Dondero, Mary Jameson, Mary O’Malley, Maxine Schoefer-Wulf, Megan Chiango, Mia Fabrizio, Morgan Tartakoff, Patty Hudak, Rebecca Schnopp, Rebecca McGee Tuck, Renee Robbins, Sally Chapman, Sasha Stiles, Sue Hammerland, Theresa Gooby, Whitney River

About the Juror: Mark Dion

Mark Dion was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1961. He received a BFA (1986) and an honorary doctorate (2003) from the University of Hartford, Hartford Art School, and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art  Independent Study Program. Dion’s work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. Appropriating archaeological, field ecology and other scientific methods of collecting, ordering, and exhibiting objects, Dion creates works that question the distinctions between ‘objective’ (‘rational’) scientific methods and ‘subjective’ (‘irrational’) influences. Dion also frequently collaborates with museums of natural history, aquariums, zoos and other institutions mandated to produce public knowledge on the topic of nature. By locating the roots of environmental politics and public policy in the construction of knowledge about nature, Mark Dion questions the objectivity and authoritative role of the scientific voice in contemporary society, tracking how pseudo-science, social agendas and ideology creep into public discourse and knowledge production. He is the co-director of Mildred’s Land, an innovative visual art education and residency program in Beach Lake. Dion lives with his wife and frequent collaborator Dana Sherwood in Copake, New York and works worldwide.