Client: Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, and Maine Maritime Museum

Overview

With inspiration from Red Grooms’s “Ruckus Manhattan” and a Codfish funeral put on by 350 Maine, Anna Dibble chose a collaborative, consensus decision making approach for her own effort to address the climate crisis with art action. As a painter, she works alone; for this, she “curated” (her own word) a diverse and complementary group of artists, now called Gulf of Maine EcoArts. Their initial project, entitled “Majestic Fragility”, was installed in 2021 in the 2-story atrium of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. For the 15 months it was there, it received enthusiastic reviews, but too few visitors from outside the research facility’s regular traffic. In January of 2023, it reopened, in an updated and expanded version, as “SeaChange, Darkness and Light in the Gulf of Maine”, at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. What visitors see there is shown in the pictures here, but the process by which it was made is the good part. More than a dozen schools, sixteen teachers and over two hundred students participated in the making of these installations, despite Covid interruptions. Art is the lever to move people, because, as Anna said, “Even the scientists say it, “We’re boring!””

Goals

This work is frankly activist, intended to stir things up. The goal is to preserve Cashes Ledge from harm, permanently. Anna’s description of the exhibit follows:

The Past:
Entrance: The exhibit begins in the pre-colonial Gulf of Maine when the water and land supported an abundance of wild animals and plant life.

The Present: Dark:
Alienation from the natural world, forgetful of the past and heedless of the future, where greed served by technology has outpaced our ideals.

The Art: North Atlantic Right whale skeleton sculpture; black and white panels illustrating the climate crisis.

The Present: Light:
Cashes Ledge contains the largest and deepest continuous kelp forest in waters of the eastern US. The topography and currents around the ledge create a unique environment where nutrient- and oxygen-rich waters mix while being exposed to sunlight. This creates a healthy biodiversity system.

Immersive Projections: Behind Ammen Rock – A fabric sculpture visitors enter to experience actual footage from Conservation Law Foundation: National Geographic photographer, Brian Skerry’s videographers during the last dives in Cashes Ledge.

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Process

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Permanently Preserve Cashes Ledge: Area by Herring wall where visitors can sign a petition supporting the Conservation Law Foundation effort to preserve Cashes Ledge – as part of the international 30 by 30 initiative.

The Art: Soundscape – actual sonophone sounds of Gulf of Maine Marine life digitally mixed with music of environmentally-based Halcyon String Quartet. Our symbol of Cashes Ledge is a kelp forest, made by a team of Bigelow Lab donors; a replica of Ammen Rock, the highest peak in the Cashes’ mountain range – painted by a young art student; 3D ceramic raku-fired marine life; Herring wall.


The Future:
Hall of Heroes: The Protectors: 18 individuals from all over the planet who are working toward Mitigation, Solution, and Adaptation. They represent millions more, and act as inspiration for young environmental pioneers.

The Art: Portrait painting, hand-lettered quotations, sculptural paneled ‘screen’ with Ammen Rock painting continued on kelp forest side. Cut out, painted plywood sculpture.

The EcoLab:
A ‘makers table’ where people can create sea creatures to hang from above, a microscope where microscopic animals and plants can be viewed, and information about Cashes Ledge, Bigelow Lab, plankton, and other elements of the exhibit.

Additional Information

All of the work here was volunteer, except the college intern artists, who were paid. All artistic, financial and practical decisions were made by consensus. Covid impacted the project severely, as much of the group's work involves school children. This is a community project in which the community made the art, and the art made the community.