Dan's Papers - March 14, 2008 - Jan Culbertson's Quest

Since 1970, artist/environmentalist Jan Culberston has been exhibiting her thought provoking and imaginative work across the United States and abroad. Now, with a grant from the Pollock-Krasner foundation, Culberston is showing her work at La Galeria Nacional Centero Costarricense in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The exhibit, "The Sacred Earth, Past, Present, Future" depicts vivid scenes of a world on the brink of a toxic meltdown. The show includes work from her Industrial Park and Billboard series. Rather than paint the ideal landscape as she did so many years ago, these are painted landscapes of the future - of what the world is rapidly becoming. Culbertson is on the pulse of the environmental industry's George Orwellian Doublespeak, calling its clear-cutting "making open space," its killing "harvesting," its sites "parks," and its lies "misinformation." Her work in essence is a direct response to the failing health of planet Earth.

Culbertson, who lives and works on Shelter Island, is a frequent traveler to destinations such as the Galapagos and Alaska. She remembers the first time she saw the ocean. "I was five and my parents rented a house in Sag Harbor. I was imprinted by the sand, sunburn and the vastness of the East End," she said. When she's not painting, Culbertson loves to walk around the Morton Sanctuary for birding and boating and anywhere that still has "wildness" to it. "I was a passionate environmentalist before I ever knew the meaning of the word," she said. "I used to go canoeing with my father and brother in western Pennsylvania - we watched the river turn from clear to a murky sulfuric orange with cinder floating by. THIS was coal country and nothing else mattered." But for Culbertson, other things did matter - and art was one of them.

In this exhibit, Culbertson incorporates iridescent pigments that sparkle as they coat the toxic landscapes and it's this contrast that gives her work its edge. "It's like seeing the colorful rainbow in a gas or chemical spill," she added. As a whole, her work explores many media including the wood panels called "Overview" that are composed of dimensional objects, glass chips and small creatures like birds, fish and insects, which were found dead on the beach. In a way these works are gorgeous memorials for the creatures - lacquered with oil, silver paint and an iridescent glow that is just as sacred as the life these fossilized creatures once lived.

Other pieces in the exhibit are titled, "2084," "Occupant," and "The Warming." The most interesting are "Before" and "After." In "Before," multi-media on rag paper, a scenic pathway is created by overarching trees and the entire piece glows yellow with deep purple and black shadows. In "After," oil, collage and silver paint on canvas, many of the same colors are used - but the image evokes a completely different response. It is a crater or pit and the day glow yellow is contrasted with the white and heavy gray of the ashes pouring down from the sky. It is this dramatic effect that Culbertson uses so effectively in her work These pieces together illustrate the vulnerability of the natural world, yet stand on their own.

On the topic of the East End's environmental issues, Culbertston said, "We are at a crucial point in our efforts to save wetlands and woodlands. The Peconic Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy are doing a great job but more needs to be done. Why are monster houses with their pools and non-native vegetation and pesticides so necessary?" In Costa Rica, Culbertson is drawing many connections with the East End - Costa Rica's number one business is tourism and its streets are jammed with cars and leaded gas fumes. And just like in the Hamptons, many of the businesses are dependent on their tourists and seasonal visitors to boost the local economy and make "open space."

The Pollock-Krasner Foundation's mission is to aid those who have worked as professional artists over a significant period of time. Since its inception in 1985, the Foundation has awarded 3,080 grants, totaling over $46 million, to artists in 69 countries. Culbertson is very grateful for their help with the exhibit and the catalogue they have set up for her. Her work, whether it is the beautiful or lethal, is fueled by the everyday events that many of us have steeled ourselves against.