Barbara Lloyd McMichael

‘Critical Messages’
Western Washington University, Western Gallery — 81 pages — $24.95

‘Climate Savvy’
Lara J. Hansen and
Jennifer R. Hoffman
Island Press —
246 pages — $40

I’ve been perusing an intriguing exhibition catalog published in conjunction with a Northwest exhibit funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. “Critical Messages” focuses on eight environmental themes and features the work of 26 contemporary Northwest artists.

 

The catalog features essays by Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer William Dietrich and Sarah Clark-Langager, director of the Western Gallery at Western Washington University.

 

But the real emphasis is on the diverse response of the artists to current environmental conditions, as you’ll see by the scores of color illustrations from the exhibit.

 

I was particularly taken with “Village Green,” a collection of personal biospheres dreamed up by Seattle environmental artist Vaughn Bell. Visitors to the exhibition can stick their heads inside these Plexiglas terrariums for intimate engagement with the mosses and native ferns that grow inside.  

 

Taking a much different approach, Portland artist Roll Hardy and Evergreen State College adjunct faculty member Steve Davis both address industrial landscapes in effective ways — Hardy via oil on canvas and Davis through photographs.

 

Also potent is Mark Ruwedel’s photographic essay about the Hanford stretch of the Columbia River. He conceives of these stark vistas as post-atomic versions of Egypt’s Nile and Valley of the Kings.

 

Seattle photographer Chris Jordan’s work also is included in this exhibit. His “Running the Numbers” series, which depicts statistics via the use of repetitive imagery, is stunning when seen in person, but the wow factor is diminished when confined to the pages of a book.

 

“Critical Messages” — the exhibit — appeared at Western Washington University’s Western Gallery and Willamette University’s Hallie Ford Museum last year and now is being hosted by the Boise Art Museum through April 10. The catalog, however, is available for your enjoyment whenever you care to pick it up and leaf through it.

 

In a thematically similar vein, the new book “Climate Savvy” addresses how scientists and policymakers might respond to our changing environment. Authors Lara J. Hansen and Jennifer R. Hoffman are part of the founding team of Bainbridge Island-based EcoAdapt, a nonprofit that promotes innovative adaptations in the face of climate change.

 

The authors, both Ph.D.s, have written a densely detailed guide that considers the shifting circumstances that have manifested on our globe in an alarmingly short period of time — heightened weather systems, altered ecosystems, accelerated icepack melts and species die-offs.

 

While this book rejects the notion that we should panic about “climageddon,” it does argue that decision-makers and practitioners need to proceed apace in revising top-down, command-and-control styles of management in order to allow for more nimble (but still accountable) responses — whether to events such as hurricanes or floods, or to reintroduction of beneficial species such as wolves and beavers.

 

“Climate Savvy” draws examples from fascinating environmental studies and it is filled with pragmatic and holistic approaches to conservation, restoration, pollution and resource management. It was challenging for me, as a layperson, to read but I certainly would recommend it to any environmentalist, resource manager or conservation policy planner.

The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd McMichael, who writes this column focusing on the books, authors and publishers of the Pacific Northwest. Contact her at bkmonger@nwlink.com.