'Nature Loves Courage' brings emerging NYC artists' works to campus

Contact: Cara Barnes
Image of artwork included in the Nature Loves Courage exhibit.

Shadeeka Stutter 1, Photograph/vinyl on wall, by Lisa Fairstein, 2012

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—A group of emerging New York City artists, brought together by curator The Wassaic Project, will exhibit their work "Nature Loves Courage" at Western Michigan University's Monroe-Brown Gallery in the Richmond Center for Visual Arts Thursday, Jan. 15, through Friday, March 6. The exhibit is in conjunction with the New York Professional Outreach Program’s Emerging Curators Series.

'Nature Loves Courage'

In many U.S. cities, an engineered web of built environments has almost completely replaced natural terrain. Artificiality has become an unavoidable theme for contemporary artists, who typically approach nature with nostalgia, mythology or cynicism, mourning the loss of untouched lands and criticizing those who have participated in the destruction.

"Nature Loves Courage" interprets nature through the lens of New York City and examines the untamed natural world, constructed landscapes and human interventions. Taking psychedelics proselytizer Terence McKenna's famous adage as its title, the exhibition features artists who investigate the processes through which nature is manipulated and mediated—living in it, changing it, improving it, and fighting it.

The Artists

  • Jeff Barnett-Winsby
  • Holdon Brown
  • Lisa Fairstein
  • The Friendly Falcons
  • Jeila Gueramian
  • Guillaume Legare
  • Michelle Leftheris
  • Dana Levy
  • Clement Valla
  • Francisco Vizzini

The Wassaic Project

The Wassaic Project is a non-profit organization that provides an intimate context for art making and strengthening local community by increasing social and cultural capital through inspiration, promotion and creation of contemporary visual and performing art. An incubator for emerging artists, The Wassaic Project is located in Wassaic, New York.

Gallery hours

RCVA galleries are open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, and noon to 6 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, contact Don Desmett at donald.desmett@wmich.edu or (269) 387-2455.

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.