​We will be taking Water Rising to California College of the Arts April 18th - 20th, but we are looking for other venues in the coming spring. If you are interested in setting up a book event or video installation in your community, please reach out to us. Our mission is not over yet!
 
- Leila & Garth

"Paintings are to teach man to see the glory of human visual existence[1]," said Henry Hensche, who was a Cape Cod painter and student of Charles Hawthorne, the founder of Cape Cod School of Art’s. Hensche and Hawthorne dominated the 20th century landscape painting of the South Coast region to Provincetown. Their reach, combined with the famed Hudson River School, has made America infamous for golden skies, pink waters, and purple mountain majesties. Is this only what Hensche meant when he called on New England artists to draw the “glory of human visual existence”?
 
This collection is inspired by the avant garde mid-twentieth century term psychogeography, which is described as “the study of the relationship between the places that [people] move through in [their] everyday life and the effects that those places have on [their] minds[2]." These contemporary artists are reimagining landscape in the 21st century, with each work in SCAPES investigating the human experience with the environment to reveal rich, colorful, and highly emotional internal worlds that are both strange yet familiar.

SCAPES: Placemaking in the 21st Century is an exhibit of contemporary painters, photographers, digital media artists, and sculptors who are still seeking said glory. Artists today are flipping the Modernist focus on the sublime in nature to a postmodern exploration of internal landscapes. Housed in the individual and cultivated, by not only what is seen en plein air, but also experienced socially, culturally, and emotionally.
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[1] “The Cape School.” Cape School of Art, capeschoolofart.org/history/.

[2] Ryan, Rosanna. “How Our Surroundings Affect the Way We Think and Feel.” Radio National, 10 Sept. 2015,www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/sundayextra/how-our-surroundings-affect-the-way-we-think-and-feel/6758818.

​We hope this finds everyone well. Since our last newsletter we’ve been busy doing events with Water Rising from the East Coast to the West Coast and abroad. Happy to share the news that through the sale of books and broad sheets we raised and donated over $5,000 to environmental groups like 1000 Friends of Oregon, CT Audubon, and Scenic Hudson!

​The highlight was taking Water Rising to Iceland. In early June, we showed the video installation at Nordic House, an inspiring culture and arts center in Reykjavik. Leila stayed on to give artist talks on the challenges of collaboration across media and ways to involve art in environmental activism. She also did an interview about Water Rising with Jorunn Sigurdardotti for Icelandic Public Radio.

Our other major trip this year was to Oregon with events in Portland, Eugene, Salem and more. The Oregon landscape has long been an inspiration for us. You can read an essay on Leila's travels in her Oregon Bio.

​As we look forward, these trips and the work we have been able to accomplish have inspired us to take Water Rising to more places around the world where artists and environmental stewards are working together. We are looking for venues in the coming fall and spring. If you are interested in setting up a book event or video installation in your community, please reach out to us. Our mission is not over yet!

- Leila & Garth

From June 1-5, the Environment, Memory, and Things was installed at the Nordic House in Rekjavik, Iceland. The event included artist talks on June 4th and 5th, and an Interview with Jorunn Sigurdardottir for Icelandic Public Radio. 

Water Rising was honored by a lovely excerpting and feature by the journal Terrain. The piece features three of the poems, three of the watercolors, and some information on the project, Garth Evans, and Leila Philip. Go and check it out here!

Kerri Gallery:
November 6, 3-5 PM
Installation on view from 10/31 - 11/6

​The Water Rising Installation video will be on view October 31st until November 6th at the Kerri Gallery in Willmantic, Connecticut.There will be an Artist Talk and Reception from 3-5 PM on the 6th. The proceeds will go to The Joshua's Trust, NE Connecticut's largest land trust.  

​There will be a performance of Water Rising with composer Shirish Korde, cellist Jan Müller-Szeraws & others in NYC on November 2nd. 
Visit website for further details: https://www.wavehill.org/events/