Environmental Art
Inciting curiosity. Sparking awareness.
The Schuylkill Center’s Environmental Art Program provides opportunities to investigate, innovate, and interpret the nature of place. Through art installations in our gallery and on our trails, we incite curiosity and spark awareness of the natural environment. We aim to build spaces for artists and the public to creatively explore and engage with environmental issues of our time and our surrounding ecosystem.
Founded in 2000, the Environmental Art Program has recognized and been shaped by hundreds of artists, community members, and individuals. Driven by the belief that the creative process is uniquely suited to address environmental topics of our time, our program offers new pathways to connect people and nature. The Schuylkill Center’s Art Program is an alternative to traditional contemporary art venues, providing a living laboratory for creatives on our land. Our interpretive Environmental Art Program blends the Schuylkill Center’s core areas: Environmental Education, Land Stewardship, and Wildlife Rehabilitation.
Program Areas
The Schuylkill Center’s Environmental Art Program is one of the first art programs in the country that exclusively focuses on environmental art in a nature setting. Our program consists of three main programming areas: exhibitions and installations, artist-in-residencies and public programming.
• The Art Program presents temporary exhibitions in the Schuylkill Center’s gallery and outdoors on its trails. Artists create and install artworks onsite that are directly informed by and related to the Schuylkill Center’s ecology and critically explore today’s environmental themes. Go to Art on View for our ongoing exhibitions, and visit our Environmental Art Website for detailed information on our projects.
The Schuylkill Center holds a small collection of permanent installations on its trails and in the building. These special installations are a result of our ongoing exhibitions and art projects. An overview of our permanent installations is available for download HERE
• LandLab is the Schuylkill Center’s immersive artist-in-residence program. Blending artistic creation with scientific investigation and public engagement, LandLab gives creatives the opportunity to explore our 365-acre wooded property and to engage audiences in the process of ecological stewardship. Launched in 2014, residents realized projects in collaboration with staff and experts in the field that remediate environmental damage and raise public awareness about our local ecology. Visit LandLab – Artist-in-Residence to learn more about the program.
• Our Public Art Programming ranges from lectures to walks, concerts, workshops, performances and art-making. As special events in conjunction with our art program, they give audiences of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to engage in environmental art as researchers and explorers. Aspects of our ongoing art programs are also integrated into the Schuylkill Center’s Field Studies for Students, an educational program offering opportunities for local schools to creatively gain understanding of the natural world.
Funders
The Schuylkill Center’s Environmental Art Program is supported by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Philadelphia COVID-19 Arts Aid Fund, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the William Penn Foundation, the Knight Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Joseph Robert Foundation, the Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation, and the Velocity Fund.
Support
Support the creative investigations in future ecologies at the Schuylkill Center and make a gift to the Schuylkill Center’s Environmental Art Program. Help us share creative exploration in nature and connect communities to the wonders of their surroundings. Thank you.
Donate to the Environmental Art Program
Connect
Connect with us on our social media platforms and stay up to date with our programming.
Environmental Art Events, in conjunction with our exhibitions and special programming, are listed on the Schuylkill Center’s event page.
The generous support by volunteers is welcomed in the Art Department. Volunteers may give a helping hand in areas such as exhibition install, event programming and maintenance of our permanent artwork outdoors. If you’re interested in supporting our program, please visit our volunteer page.
