Installation view of Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change at Main Line Art Center, 2022 © Amie Potsic
September 21, 2022
Amie Potsic interviews Cynthia Haveson Veloric, Ph.D., about the current group exhibition she curated, Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change now on view at Main Line Art Center through October 28, 2022.
“Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change showcases artwork in different media that draws in viewers with its sensual beauty and drama, while stimulating awareness and changing perceptions about climate outcomes. This exhibition challenges viewers to consider how their aesthetic experience of nature has changed in light of the scientific consensus about the validity of the climate crisis, the known societal forces that hasten environmental degradation, and the impact of climate change in their personal environments. Can the autonomist perspective of nature, which separates the inherent beauty and pleasure of nature from moral considerations, continue to have relevance in a disfigured and toxic world? The selected artwork frames landscape within the breakdown of ecosystems, over-developed land, loss of biodiversity, and extreme weather events. Each work reminds us of the precious quality and fragility of nature and how its existence (and ours) is threatened by human induced actions. ”
Installation view of Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change with artwork by Amie Potsic at Main Line Art Center, 2022. © Amie Potsic
Dr. Cynthia Haveson Veloric is an independent curator, adjunct professor at University of the Arts, and environmentalist. She has worked in the curatorial departments of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She recently combined her passion for art and environmental advocacy by pursuing a PhD focused on international artists’ responses to the climate crisis. In 2018 she curated the exhibition Repairing Our Earth, Diane Burko Artist/Environmental Activist. She was enthused to serve on the art committee for the inaugural Pennsylvania Climate Convergence in Harrisburg in June 2022.
About the Exhibition
As the risks associated with climate change grow globally and locally, artists are exploring diverse methods to widen climate communications beyond the written word of scientists and journalists. Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change, curated by Dr. Cynthia Haveson Veloric, will showcase artwork in different media that draws in viewers with its sensual beauty, while stimulating awareness and changing perceptions. The exhibition will challenge viewers to consider how their aesthetic experience of nature might change in light of the scientific consensus about the validity of the climate crisis, the known societal forces that hasten environmental degradation, and the impact of climate change in their personal environments.
Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change is currently on view at Main Line Art Center through October 28, 2022.
Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change
Presenting: Diane Burko, Stacy Levy, Deirdre Murphy,
Tim Portlock, Amie Potsic, and Hiro Sakaguchi
Exhibition dates:
September 6 – October 28, 2022 at Main Line Art Center
Installation view of Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change with artwork by Diane Burko and Amie Potsic at Main Line Art Center, 2022. © Amie Potsic
Installation view of Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change with artwork by Diane Burko and Amie Potsic at Main Line Art Center, 2022. © Amie Potsic
Click here to learn more about Risky Beauty: Aesthetics and Climate Change.
For more information on Main Line Art Center, visit: https://mainlineart.org/
or follow them on Instagram @MainLineArtCenter.