Steven and His Thousand Trucks

Cynthia Ryan Kelly, American

Steven and His Thousand Trucks, 2008

The man featured in this painting is the former governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear. Cynthia Ryan Kelly lives in Kentucky and was disappointed with the support that mountaintop mining companies received from the governor. Governor Beshear established $300,000 of funds to use for coal education and to support the idea of mountaintop removal mining. The numerous trucks depicted in the work are coal trucks that are used to transport coal away from the mines. The money coming from the governor’s hands is the money that was used to promote positive coal education. This ties into one of the aspects of our readings of how the coal industry has such a large influence on politics. Label by Olivia Falb

Chroma S6 1

John Sabraw, American

Chroma S6 1, 2019

This is one of the pieces in the collection of “Unearthed Topographies,” dedicated to the hidden network of underground coal miners. Sabraw uses the acid mine drainage (AMD) extracted from the polluted streams in Ohio as the paint pigment of his artworks. This piece, along with others in the collection, is meant to symbolize the paradox of the coal mining industry, in which they are both the marvelous outcome of human intelligence and engineering and the symbol of our consumption and desire. Potentially a model for the future clean-up solution, this artwork collection is hoping to provide a closed-loop solution by extracting the pollutant out of the environment while providing eco jobs to the local communities. Label by Yifei He

Shuttle Car

David "Blue" Lamm, American, born 1958

Shuttle Car, 1977

David Lamm is a self-taught American painter from West Virginia who seeks to use art as way to demonstrate the concerns for the people working in coal mining. In Shuttle Car, Lamm paints a coal miner shuttling coal in a box labeled as “joy” against a deep, ominous black background. The box is covered in coal dust and contrasts the qualities and sentiment that would typically be assigned to a box filled of “joy.” It seems as if Lamm is commenting on the commonly inaccurate presentation of the coal mining industry to the public—although disguised as a great source of energy and jobs, the coal industry wreaks havoc on the environment and creates health problems for the people who live in these areas. Label by Maeve Marsh

Untitled

Justin Renteria, American

Untitled, 2018

While this piece is not a direct photograph of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, it certainly resembles one. Images of the impact of mountaintop removal share striking similarities to this artistic interpretation of a mining area, devoid of color, splattered with thick oil, seemingly encroaching on the lush surrounding forests. The impact of coal mining in Appalachia is not dissimilar to this physical landscape. As increased environmental degradation has occurred, these energy industries not only strip natural environments of their resources, they strip the land of its color, both figuratively and literally. Not only are mountain tops and forests turned into dreary wastelands, the surrounding communities are stripped of their cultural connections to the lands that they have inhabited for generations, and non-human animal habitats and ecosystems are decimated. The beauty of the nature of the landscapes and the beauty of the human and non-human animals that reside within them are quickly being destroyed by the expansion of these industries. The priority of the industry is exclusively economic growth and development. All other considerations are rendered irrelevant to the progress of the American economy, regardless of the amount of “color” that is stripped from these regions in the process.  Label by Gwyneth McCrae