AHVS121 WINTER 2020 Abbreviated Summary of Material for Week 12 Images provided under educational free use copyright provisions. Please do not repost. This week’s material will be a lot shorter than last week because it’s self-evident (you don’t need me to explain “the environment” to you) and one full class is always dedicated to a film which I hope you will all still get to see (I’ve provided some notes at the end of this PDF - please read them even if you’re not doing Assignment 9). And while I think this is one of the more important weeks of the term (I have a full course around this topic!), there aren’t specific examples I feel that you NEED to know except for the film. We’ve seen an image like this in class before, but instead of asking you what it is. I’d like you to consider: how does it make you feel? Different cultures conceptualize the world around them in a variety of different ways, but one of the marks of the European Renaissance was the preoccupation with the world humans inhabit as opposed to a concern with the space their souls will ultimately get to, but is not the “here and now” that they live in. late 13thC, has some landscape but the world is mostly gold ‘space’ mid 16thC, religious subject subsumed within the land There are artists who treat the land as a subject of (scientific) study & others for which it operates as a cultural or metaphorical marker Do you think this is a work of environmental art? Why or why not? Samuel Palmer The Magic Apple Tree (because we can all use some magic about now) It isn’t a work belonging to the social movement of the 1960’s, but it is the work of a man who found great spiritual solace in the countryside and who was deeply concerned with its preservation (19thC). There are many different kinds of environmental art, just know that some scholars apply the label to one particular 20thC movement. The late 19thC Impressionist movement was one which took innovations in materials (paint in resealable, packable tubes) into the landscape to capture the world around them at specific moments. Series like Monet’s Haystacks were designed to explore the visual effect of environmental conditions at different times of days/seasons/ weather. the physical devastation suffered by the land during the two world wars of the 20thC was subject of concern for many (visual artists included) Which do you find a stronger image? What are you responding to? Here are two images, a painting and a photo, documenting essentially the same WWI battlefield And the creation of the atomic and nuclear bombs, brought destructive power wrought by humans on a scale unprecedented in human history. With the space program of the 1950s and 60s bringing back photographs like this one - people became more aware of the fragility of life on this planet. Which led to artists of the 1960s exploring a var ...

1. AHVS121 WINTER 2020
Abbreviated Summary of Material for Week 12
Images provided under educational free use copyright
provisions.
Please do not repost.
This week’s material will be a lot shorter than last week
because it’s self-evident (you don’t need me to explain “the
environment” to you) and one full class is always dedicated
to a film which I hope you will all still get to see (I’ve
provided some notes at the end of this PDF - please read
them even if you’re not doing Assignment 9).
And while I think this is one of the more important weeks of
the term (I have a full course around this topic!), there aren’t
specific examples I feel that you NEED to know except for
the film.
We’ve seen an image like this in class before, but instead of
asking you what it is. I’d like you to consider:
how does it make you feel?

2. Different cultures conceptualize the world around them in a
variety
of different ways, but one of the marks of the European
Renaissance was the preoccupation with the world humans
inhabit
as opposed to a concern with the space their souls will
ultimately
get to, but is not the “here and now” that they live in.
late 13thC, has
some landscape
but the world is
mostly gold ‘space’
mid 16thC, religious subject
subsumed within the land
There are artists who treat the land as a subject of (scientific)
study
& others for which it operates as a cultural or metaphorical
marker
Do you think this is a work
of environmental art?

3. Why or why not?
Samuel Palmer
The Magic Apple Tree
(because we can all use
some magic about now)
It isn’t a work belonging
to the social movement of
the 1960’s, but it is the
work of a man who
found great spiritual
solace in the countryside
and who was deeply
concerned with its
preservation (19thC).
There are many different
kinds of environmental
art, just know that some
scholars apply the label
to one particular 20thC
movement.
The late 19thC Impressionist movement was one which took
innovations in materials (paint in resealable, packable tubes)

4. into the landscape to capture the world around them at specific
moments.
Series like Monet’s
Haystacks
were designed to
explore the visual
effect of
environmental
conditions at
different times of
days/seasons/
weather.
the physical
devastation suffered
by the land during
the two world wars
of the 20thC
was subject of
concern for many
(visual artists
included)

5. Which do you find a
stronger image?
What are you
responding to?
Here are two images, a
painting and a photo,
documenting
essentially the same
WWI battlefield
And the creation of the atomic and nuclear bombs,
brought destructive power wrought by humans on a
scale unprecedented in human history.
With the space program of the 1950s and 60s bringing
back photographs like this one - people became more
aware of the fragility of life on this planet.
Which led to artists of the 1960s exploring a variety of ways
in which art could be done:
using earth/natural materials

6. Smithson, Framed Earthwork
within the landscape
Mendieta, Silueta Series
reshaping the landscape
Smithson, Spiral Getty
It is this specific movement that is usually what is
referred to as “Land Art” or “Environmental Art”.
Art that uses a natural setting.
But not all of it is environmentalist by 21st century
standards.
Some of it could be highly interventionist:
For example, Heizer, Double Negative
which required
bulldozing 240,000
tons of landscape to
make the cut in the
ground
human for scale

7. Other examples rest on the earth more lightly, and can be
astonishingly beautiful.
Holt, Sun Tunnels
One artist who picked up on this practice of working within
the landscape was Goldsworthy, who works on a variety of
scales, sometimes making permanent works and sometimes
more temporary pieces (e.g. Cracked Pebbles).
It is the more ephemeral works, that have influenced
the next generation of artists in the 21st C (for
example Silveyn Meyer)
Although all kinds of artists turn to messages about what is
most concerning for the land we inhabit, because the power
of the image makes the message clear (as this one by Banksy)
Some of the most loved art works in the world are ones that
explore our relationship with the land; personal, emotional
responses that resonate across cultures and generations.

8. End of the “lecture” part.
Please read through the next two pages even if you
are not doing Assignment 9 (on page 3)
A COUPLE OF NOTES ABOUT ASSIGNMENTS - MARCH 23,
2020
With the choice of assignments over the term, the idea is that
everyone can pick when works best for them, with
a variety of topics and styles. Leaving them to the end always
runs the risk that something will come up to
overturn one’s individual plans (things go wrong personally,
you hate photography, the world is in turmoil, etc).
So for a student adjusting to those circumstances sometimes that
means adapting an assignment in a way that
will work for you that might not fulfill all the requirements of
the assignment – but will still get you most of the
way there. You do what you can.
Some examples:
Assignment #7: You are asked to take a photo, because the act
of doing so has a way of exposing the issues of
time and place to you, making the analytical part of the paper
easier. But the first option is entirely possible to
do using images from the internet. No breaking isolation
necessary. You still need to make/employ a
photographic combination, however.
Assignment #3: Asked for a balance between a general
consideration of architectural issues and comments on
specific buildings in downtown Victoria. You can write an

9. assignment that more heavily weights the
architectural issues and/or uses on-line images (e.g. Google
Street View) if you can’t currently get downtown.
You do what you can and it will probably get you most of the
way there if you do a thorough job.
Assignment #6 was like #3: so again, you could write something
more heavily weighted to the idea of
disciplinary silos and visual culture instead of reacting to the
specific art. A lot will depend on how previously
aware you’ve been to art on campus in general. Some of you
will be able to ‘recreate’ the experiences more
vividly than others. But again, you do what you can and it will
probably get you most of the way there. I hope
this example also explains why I can’t just rewrite all the
previous assignments for current circumstances – it
would then negate all of the previously submitted work.
Assignments are designed to be broad so that you can
focus on the parts that resonate most strongly with you while
still meeting the criteria.
One of the things we are dealing with here is not just getting
you through the course credit, but making sure that
you all have a course (and ultimately a degree) that is the
equivalent to each other across the class and the
equivalent of this course of previous years. No-one wants to
have their work questioned because the course was
deemed inconsistent by the administrative bodies who decide if
you actually get your grades. That’s why any
major class adjustments to such wide-spread circumstances have
to happen at the university/admin level and not
the course/instructor level.
So do the best you can and also, don’t worry too much about
your individual marks. Honestly, any situation that
requires them (like a grad school application) will also give you

10. an opportunity to contextualize them. That’s
where you say something like “No, my grade in AHVS121
doesn’t reflect my best work; the entire world was in
turmoil in the Spring of 2020 and this was what I managed to do
within those circumstances” (this is what a
cover letter is for!) And tbh, if you can get a passing grade in
anything this term, you are doing great.
And if you would like, I will back you up as a reference, as I
can do this in a very granular way i.e. speaking to
how work improved over the course and/or how specific
assignments had an impact because of the situation.
This is true at any time. Though of course you can do this
yourself as well (e.g.: “No, my grade in AHVS121
doesn’t reflect my best work; the entire world was in turmoil in
the Spring of 2020 and this was what I managed
to do within those circumstances. I had high marks on the first
four, but due to the circumstances I just couldn’t
fulfil all the requirements for my last two assignments, which is
why I ended up with a D/C/B-/A” (whatever it
is that you feel needs explaining or that isn’t representative of
you; it differs for everyone).
This is stuff I tell students every year as their individual
circumstances require; this year I thought it might be
useful more broadly. Hope that helps explain what your options
are as we wrap up the term.
Please also read the notes on Assignment 9 on the next page
even if you are not doing this assignment, as the
film is usually a core part of the class material for this week.
Notes on Assignment 9
This assignment is strongly based on the film Rivers and Tides:

11. working with time, a 2001 documentary on the
work of artist Andy Goldsworthy. Usually I show a long section
of this in class (was originally scheduled for
March 19th this year). Obviously that can’t happen. And there
aren’t good ways for me to post it (file size,
copyright, etc).
So I thought for a long time about what to do with this
assignment. Should I rewrite it to be something else?
But: this is not only one of my favourite things to do in this
course, it is also consistently (like 90%) the
favourite thing of most students, so I’ve hesitated to NOT try to
point you towards it.
And while I could just write a different assignment and simply
suggest you check out this documentary, I
honestly can’t think of an easily accessible example that
wouldn’t require extensive reading or a different film,
that does as much as this does to link together so many different
course concepts in an accessible way.
If you decide this is something you can’t do, all the previous
assignments are still available to you in some
capacity as per the comments on the previous page (with the
exception of assignment #5 as the AGGV is now
closed).
The film is available on iTunes for $9.99 (it’s in HD which is
better than the in-class version AND you’ll own it
– it’s worth multiple viewings). And while I hesitated to give
something that has a cost, this is less than the
original assignment 9 which also had a required cost (the
museum visit) as stated in the course outline. In
previous years also, students who missed class the day of the

12. showing were responsible for tracking it down
themselves. So I know it’s within possibility.
There are also a few segments posted to YouTube – but be
advised that not only are they minimal, but the
quality varies which will affect your experience. I haven’t been
able to find another streaming service that has
it, free or otherwise.
In any case I would still like all of you to watch the film if you
can as part of the course materials for this week.
I usually schedule the film for somewhere around this part of
the term - as respite in the stress of winding up the
academic year. And in such a tumultuous time as we’re
experiencing in 2020, I think the film has even more
value. I hope all of you will be able to track it down somewhere
and spend an hour immersed in the art. It
restores my soul and I hope you will all find it revitalizing too.
In previous years I try to get us as far as the pool of dandelions
by the waterfall (one of my favourite artworks
ever). Just so you know if your time is limited, that is enough
material to get you through the assignment
comfortably.
If you find the film interesting, you might consider my May
course AHVS 310D Art and the Environment.
We’ll see more Goldsworthy there.
I’m currently adapting the course to work on-line, if we’re still
in suspended animation in May.
Anyways, hope you enjoy the film!

13. AHVS121
Winter 2020
Assignment 9
This assignment is based on the documentary film Rivers and
Tides: working with time (2001).
The section at Goldsworthy’s home shows him doing
independent work, exploring the
possibilities of materials at hand. But the Nova Scotia cone, and
much of the other artwork
shown in the film, was done on commission. In those cases,
Goldsworthy is working in the
centuries-old tradition of fulfilling a contract, to produce a
specific kind of work using specific
materials. One of the distinctions is often between ephemeral
and permanent materials; most of
the time natural materials are used in his processes.
The goals of the assignment are to:�
1) to consider art making as a physical practice that requires
practice and problem solving�
2) to contemplate the balance of factors in negotiating personal
creativity and the expectations
of patrons & society in general�
3) to reflect on the importance of materials as tangible
substances that have impact on art
making practices and that also carry psychological meaning.
4) to evaluate the importance of art-making as reflective of, and
an influence on, cultural beliefs
and attitudes towards the earth in general and their specific
relationships with the environment.

14. Did the film disclose information about any of these aspects in
Andy Goldsworthy’s art or
process?�
What are some of the other concerns and aspects that link
Goldsworthy’s work to that of the
other artists/works/concerns we’ve been looking at over the
term?
Analyze some of the interesting aspects of the film; did it help
you understand/appreciate
Goldsworthy’s art?�
Discuss the implications of creating art to specification
(including use of specific materials).
Are restrictions always detrimental to art making?
How do the different forms of land art resonate with you?
Why?
We looked at the work Carbon Sink in an earlier class. Do you
see any connections between
that work and Goldsworthy’s? What are they?
Imagine you are commissioned to prepare a work of land art.
What would you create? Why?
Develop your answers.
Think about past course discussions about materials, process,
spirituality, and cultures.
Write a brief analysis, minimum 750 words, due to me by email
[email protected]
Before Monday April 6, 2020 at 3:30PM.
Please see course outline for important details on how to format
& submit assignments.