Artists & Artworks
Maya Lin (b. 1959) Listening Cone
Maya Lin began her career at the age of twenty-one
by designing the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in
Washington, DC. Thus began her practice of engaging
viewers interactively with her artworks. Her recent
works, Silver River and Listening Cone from the What
Is Missing? series, explore environmental issues like
conservation, biodiversity, habitat loss, extinction,
and the impact of global society.
Silver River, an 87' representation
of the Colorado River cast from
reclaimed silver, speaks to the
environmental vitality of the
American Southwest. Viewers
can physically enter Listening
Cone, cast from bronze and lined
with reclaimed redwood. Inside,
viewers can watch a continuous
projection of endangered species and listen to the sounds
they make in the wild. The reel repeats itself every
twenty minutes, representing the many species lost on a
daily basis.
The habitats are assembled from recycled telephone
poles, branches, and cross beams and are erected across
the landscape, thus encouraging the survival of birds.
Hull is currently working on two works entitled,
Stones for the Arroyo and Water Songs, Bird Songs. The
works are intended to help create arroyo pools that will
reduce erosion and hold water long enough for wildlife.
As the water flows through, it will produce different
“songs” at different points, and
will encourage “duets” between
the water and the local birds.
“My focus is on trans-species
art, sculptures and installations
to provide shelter, food, water
or space for wildlife, as eco-
atonement for their loss of
habitat to human encroachment.”
—Lynne Hull
Lynne Hull Raptor Roost L- 2 with Ferruginous Hawk
Lynne Hull counteracts human transgressions against
the earth and its creatures by making habitat sculptures
that she calls “eco-atonements.” Hull’s sculptures and
installations provide shelter, food, and water for threatened wildlife. On the high plains of Wyoming and Utah,
sculptures like Raptor Roost provide perching and nesting areas for hawks and eagles threatened by a lack of
native trees and facing injury or death from utility poles.
Courtesy the artist.
Skip Schuckmann
Turkey Nest Kiva
Skip Schuckmann has dedicated
his life and art to reworking the
earth, restoring health to the
planet, and bonding people to
their environment. By excavating land, carving heaped
dirt, sorting through brush, burning fires, and stacking
stones, Schuckmann creates non-permanent, site-specific
earthen dwellings. He establishes close personal relation-
ships with clients who share his vision and interacts with
the earth based on these visions.
When sculpting the land for Turkey Nest Kiva, Schuckmann was able to heal damage sustained from a previous
excavation, and transform disheveled materials into a
guesthouse and a gathering place for family and friends.
Over a two-year residence on the pasture, Schuckmann
constructed two complete rooms containing fire pits, a
lined cavity for collecting bathing water, earthen ledges
for sleeping, seating areas, and a sixty-seat amphitheater.
Schuckmann’s dedication to his work has made living
with nature part of the human experience.
Vaughn Bell Biosphere Built for Two
Vaughn Bell weaves human lives and nature together
as she invites viewers to experience nature in unusual
ways. Her sculptural installations present viewers
with ways to interpret how we are connected to the
natural world. In Personal Biospheres, gallery-goers
slip their heads inside acrylic forms that contain miniature landscapes. Once inside Bell’s sphere of lush
vegetation, viewers sense an intimate relationship
with this piece of land. With the change in scale, we
no longer stand back in awe or assume a position of
power over the landscape. In becoming one with it,
our responsibility to care for the land becomes clear.
To further inspire her audience and encourage
interdependence with nature, Bell creates Pocket
Biospheres, which allow everyday people to become
involved by taking a hand-held living environment
home with them. The adoption papers that accompany the mini-terrarium ensure proper care for the
greenery and assert valuable eco-principles. Bell’s art
presents viewers with important learning about our
responsibility to the planet.
