Emotions Visible for Others to See
The Future of Water opens, and an Interview with artist James Keul
Last Friday, The Future of Water: a speculative art show had its opening reception, and oh my goodness, folks, what a beautiful gathering it was. My sister Krista and I had been meeting with the artists in monthly zoom calls for the past few months, and I had seen glimpses of pieces they were working on, but when we walked into the gallery on Friday evening it was the first time we’d seen the show ourselves, or really any of the completed works by the three artists, Patrizia Ferreira, Lucas Brown, and James Keul.
The space feels blessed. In addition to their individual pieces, the three artists collaborated on a sculptural piece made of bamboo stalks and hung with ethereal, lacy textiles. When people entered the space, they were invited to write a water memory that is significant to them on a slip of paper and to tie it to this sculpture, co-creating an altar to our collective relationship with the spirit of water.
If you live in the Triangle area and missed the opening reception, I hope you’ll make a visit to the exhibition this month, which will be on display until May 28. This Friday, as part of the Third Friday Artwalk, the three artists will be giving a guided walkthrough of the exhibition at 7:30pm.
To celebrate the show’s opening, I wanted to share more with you about the third of the Future of Water artists, James Keul. Read on for my conversation with James about his art, the impact of time spent in Samoa, and his involvement with The Future of Water.
There is a grandeur to James Keul’s painting that I find arresting. A largeness of vision coupled with a spirit “attuned to beauty,” to borrow a phrase from novelist Marilynne Robinson. I was first introduced to James and his work late last summer by the Executive Director of the Durham Art Guild, Liz Gage, who thought we should know each other. We met at a local cafe for breakfast one muggy morning in early September, and immediately hit it off–talking about our sons who are close in age, life in Durham, and the intersections of art and climate work.
James has since become a personal friend, as well as a friend of The School for Living Futures. He gave a beautiful presentation of his work for the March installment of Living Futures Saturdays this spring alongside poet Kristi Maxwell, and was also a perfect fit for The Future of Water exhibition. I find again and again that James and I are wanting to pursue similar pathways in our work, our conversations, our collaborations–pathways mapped by questions about the role and power of art in these troubled times.
SRN: James, because I know you, I know that you have a special relationship with the country of Samoa. Can you begin by talking a little about that relationship and how it’s showing up in your current life and art?
JSK: First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me! This is a big question but I’ll try to answer as succinctly as I can. I was actually abducted in the middle of the night by “teen transport specialists” who were hired by my parents, and brought to a youth rehabilitation program in Samoa at the age of 16. I spent nine months there immersed in the Samoan culture, learning Samoan songs and dances (which I still know!), sleeping on the floor, on mats, doing community service in the village, and endless therapy sessions… These things started to have a profound effect on me, and by the time I came back to the U.S. I was a very different person from the boy who left California. Although I drew and painted a lot while I was there, as I always do to get through tough experiences, it took me years before I was able to start exploring it in my studio practice. An oil painting titled “Fish in Troubled Waters” was the first major painting I did explicitly with Samoa in mind. It is 6’ x 9 and is about the effects of global sea level rise on island nations. It was included in the 5th National Climate Assessment, the US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses, which is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States. I was thrilled my piece was selected to represent the chapter on Hawaii and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands. Twenty-seven years after I returned from the island as a seventeen-year-old, I was able to go back to Samoa, and was shocked to witness the coastal erosion and decimated coral reefs first hand. I left with a renewed passion and sense of responsibility to use my art to give back in some way, helping share the plight of this small Pacific nation with a larger, western audience. I am primarily doing this through my painting, but I’m also exploring some exciting new ideas that are more in the realm of sculpture/installation art.
SRN: That’s quite a story, James, and such an honor to have the painting included in the National Climate Assessment. Do you know much about the decision to include art in the NCA? Has art always been part of that report, or is that something new? Whose influence do you think caused it to be included, and what is the rationale or desired outcome?
JSK: I do feel extremely honored to have my piece included! This is actually the first time that a call for art was issued for the report. According to Allyza Lustig, senior staff manager on the NCA team and program lead for Art x Climate, the idea began when Allison Crimmins, the Director of the 5th National Climate Assessment, joined the U.S. Global Change Research Program and mentioned that she wanted to include more visual art in the NCA. Together, they convened a group from across the federal government, including the National Science Foundation, The Smithsonian Natural History Museum, FEMA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Portrait Gallery and they put out a call for submissions, which I was fortunate enough to come across and apply for. The decision to feature an art gallery within the NCA was made “with the understanding that, together, art and science move people to greater understanding and action.” This is very much in line with my own feelings on the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and joint action. Allyza recently announced that the Art x Climate gallery is the 2nd most viewed page on the entire website, following the NCA report overview. Hopefully, it will continue to build momentum and lead to more opportunities to connect with people at the nexus of art, climate science, and the environment.
SRN: Has your art practice always been deeply interwoven with social consciousness, or did that arise for you later at some point. And if so, did something in particular spark that transformation?
JSK: I started my artistic journey painting landscapes, studying nature, and observing the mostly urban world around me. The relationship and interaction between humans and nature has always interested me and around the time I got back from Samoa I started exploring the juxtaposition of human elements and natural ones within my work. When I went to Savannah (SCAD) for college, paper mills set against the Savannah Wildlife Refuge became a favorite motif and there was definitely an intentional moralistic undertone to the works. However, I would say that the real pivot towards environmental/socially-conscious art happened when I was living in NYC, just a short walk from Zuccotti Park, where Occupy Wall Street protesters were gathering against a whole range of injustices. I did my first large-scale environmental painting, a 20’ long triptych, about corporate greed and pollution, depicted as a sort of life-sized, reversed “Progress of Mankind” image where instead of apes turning into humans, humans are evolving back to nature. Interestingly, it was for this wide diversity of issues being protested that the movement was most aggressively criticized but in many ways it perfectly illustrated the breadth of inequality and the interconnectedness of our many social justice woes, which have only grown stronger since then. Using art to connect dots is a good way to get people to see things from a different perspective, or at the very least, allows space for a conversation to begin.
I don’t know that art will ever be able to answer the many questions that arise when considering how best to respond to climate change, but art can ask questions and demonstrate that no effort is too small, even if it’s just rendering one’s emotions visible for others to see.
SRN: What attracted you to the call for artists for the Future of Water show, and what is your relationship with water as an artist and a person?
JSK: When I saw the call for submissions, I got really excited because, coincidentally, I had already been tooling around with some ideas and doing sketches depicting humanity’s effect on water, having, for years, focused extensively on power plants as a visual means of representing carbon dioxide and Climate Change. I have also been looking for opportunities to connect/collaborate with other artists and to branch out in terms of what materials I use, challenging myself to think outside the box. This seemed like such a perfect opportunity, especially given the fact that it was speculative and there was a research element to it, which offered some guidance and jumping off points for creating something out of the ordinary. Another thing that I found appealing was the focus on positive, Solar Punk messaging, which is another natural fit with the trajectory I am heading in with my work.
SRN: Given your desire to branch out with materials and approach, has anything surprised you during your composition process for this show? Did experiments come to fruition?
JSK: I’m not sure about surprises but I am really happy with the results of some of my experiments. For example, I did a series of monotypes for the Future of Water project where I would do a print and then try to replicate it using the first as a guide. I then took a sheet of tracing paper and traced and cut out some of the elements from the print. These were then glued to the face of each monotype, like a reverse chine collé, using an archival, heat applied glue, with the positive image on one and the negative on the other. The paper slightly obscures the images below, which I hope will get people thinking! Another piece I created for the show is made using tissue paper, which I am applying to a bamboo armature to form a giant wave that will become like a lantern when lit from above. I have found the process of applying the paper to be a lot of fun, if slightly labor intensive!
SRN: Do you have any imaginings for the experience of the viewers of Future of Water? What do you hope they might feel or think or understand as a result of visiting the show?
JSK: That’s a good question. I suppose my initial hope is that people will respond to the artwork as art, first and foremost, because that is what it is, regardless of one’s own personal beliefs about climate change or humanity’s role in it. After being enticed by the art, I hope viewers will be encouraged to reflect on their own connection to this issue and what steps they themselves can take to help mitigate climate change. On a more local level, I hope that the artwork from all three of us, Patrizia, Lucas, and my own, is able to show a broad range of issues that perhaps are less commonly associated with climate change, such as runoff from development, water use prioritization, and urban density. I have learned a lot during the course of this project and becoming more knowledgeable about water issues, from many different perspectives—including that of developers, which can seem at odds with climate change mitigation strategies—has been empowering. I hope that people who come to see our show will leave thinking of water’s role in sustaining life, how important it is to balance growth and sustainability, and where they might fit into that larger conservation picture. At the very least, I’d like people to sense the effect that this project had on us, artistically, as we channeled this research into our work. I don’t know that art will ever be able to answer the many questions that arise when considering how best to respond to climate change, but art can ask questions and demonstrate that no effort is too small, even if it’s just rendering one’s emotions visible for others to see.
The Future of Water: a speculative art show is on display at Durham Art Guild’s Golden Belt Gallery, May 11-28, and features new works from Patrizia Ferreira, Lucas Brown, and James Keul. We are grateful for the partnership of Durham Art Guild, and for the support of the Durham Arts Council and NC Arts Council in bringing this show into being.
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To learn more about James Keul and his work, visit his website here.