Wilderness
The Second Annual Environmental Art Fair
April 29 through August 14
In the Museum Annex

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"Wilderness" is the theme of the Erie Art Museum’s second annual Environmental Art Fair, which opens with an event-filled evening on April 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Annex. Twelve local professional artists were invited to exhibit artwork, along with students from City of Erie elementary schools, Mercyhurst Prep and Mercyhurst College. There will be a guest lecture by Pittsburgh artist Stephanie Flom, performances by Dafmark Dance Theater and Mercyhurst Percussion Ensemble, and Neighborhood Art House teens will read their poems. Beverages and refreshments will be provided.

Artists participating in the Environmental Art Fair exhibit include Kathy Umlauf, D.W. Martin, Kris Risto, Bob Banks, Jean Stull, Lisa Austin, David Nene, Suzanne Faris, Fran Schanz, Hillary Harp, Susie Silver and D.P. Warner.

Some artists approach the wilderness theme in an explicitly political way by creating "eco art"; others address the theme indirectly, creating reverential depictions of wild life, while others treat the theme conceptually or metaphorically.

Dafmark Dance Theater will perform "Fallen Trees", a work about how indigenous cultures are affected by increasing industrialization (this is part of a larger work that will be performed in the auditorium at Harding School on April 1 and 2). There will be a poetry reading by teenage girls from the Neighborhood Art House program "Girls Right in the Neighborhood", which pairs each girl with an adult writer/mentor. The Mercyhurst Percussion Ensemble performance will utilize instruments from found and recycled materials.

Stephanie Flom will lecture about the Persephone Project, an eco-art project that examines gardening as a contemporary art form by acknowledging gardeners as artists.

The exhibit is presented by the Erie Art Museum and the Lake Erie Region Conversancy, with proceeds to benefit the Lake Erie Region Conservancy.
Admission to the opening reception is $10.00, and includes a free membership to the Conservancy.