Bringing Down Marble from the Quarries to Carrara,

John Singer Sargent, American, American, 1856-1925

Bringing Down Marble from the Quarries to Carrara, 1911

Carrara Marble has long been thought of a precious material in art, architecture, and more, but the labor and environmental destruction that occurs to acquire this resource is completely opposite from the beauty of the finished product. In Sargent’s painting, he depicts the harsh labor and conditions the workers endure to retrieve the marble from the quarries. In addition, he also displays the environmental harm these processes cause. The landscape is broken apart and continually worn down as more of this rich material is torn from the quarry. Sargent depicts how massive these affects are by utilizing depth in the painting, showing the quarry and its broken pieces going far into the distance. All in all, this piece shows the unseen side of Carrara Marble, where he combines the effects of marble quarrying on workers, as well as on the land in which the quarry is located. Label by Maeve Marsh

View from Inspiration Point, Yosemite

Carleton E. Watkins, American, 1829-1916
View from Inspiration Point, Yosemite, 1879

Carleton E. Watkins had depicted the natural beauty of Yosemite National Park in a photograph a decade before the area was named a national park. His photographs were useful in showing the area as pristine and deserving of recognition as a national park. However, at the time of the photo being taken, many chemicals were necessary to produce photographs. The camera has captured the natural beauty of Yosemite at the price of bringing potential pollutants into the area. The complex process of photography likely contaminated many areas of the park while it hypocritically honored its supposed untouched beauty. Understanding the historical and environmental context of art can change the viewpoint one can have of it. Label by Jonathan Yoder

Revival Field plant and field Study (aka Carulescens Cross)

Mel Chin, American, born 1951

Revival Field plant and field Study (aka Carulescens Cross), 2015

In his ongoing project of Revival Field, Mel Chin made a holistic approach to create an environmental solution to transform industrial waste into sustainable artwork, by utilizing specific plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soil. Before the project started in 1991, the soil at a Superfund site in Saint Paul, Minnesota was loaded with cadmium and other toxins. With two years of what he calls “a green remedy,” Chin was able to absorb most of the heavy metals into the plant’s stems and leaves, with an economically feasible and environmentally sustainable methods. Label by Yifei He