Art and Science Explore the

World Beneath Our Feet

B ack in the ’80s, artist and
songwriter Thomas Dolby was
lyrically “blinded with science.” His
song lingered on the woes and fears of
one person’s misunderstanding of
most things scientific. This common
thread stretches throughout society
and it is therefore refreshing when
science is clarified in a simple and
visually pleasing manner.

This is exactly what artists
Barbara Zeigler and Joan Smith
have accomplished with their
Earthmakers installation. Through
their dynamic perspective, art and
science come together to teach a
valuable lesson about our intricate and
delicate ecosystem.

Joan Smith, a member of the Art
Institute at Capilano College and
Barbara Zeilger, a member of the Fine
Arts faculty at the University of
British Columbia, have collaborated
on a project which they hope will
increase the awareness of the essential
part soil fauna play in the delicate life-
cycle of the forest and the earth’s
ecosystem.

With their ceiling high installation,
all the tiny microcosms found in the
soil beneath our feet are magnified to
overwhelm viewers with the sheer
abundance of life contained within
one square meter of earth. It is at once

A multitude of picturesque organisms live beneath our feet in the earth’s floor.

too large for us to conceive
of and too small for us to
see. It takes the viewer on a
journey where the capacity
to simply marvel at nature
vaults us over the wall
between art and science.
Unlike Dolby’s experience,
it is not blinding, but eye-
opening.

Earthmakers focuses on
the implications of human
intervention in the natural
cycles of a system we cannot see;
and more specifically, on how we
treat our forests. It clearly
demonstrates how the world which
lies beneath our feet deserves our
respect and utmost attention. For
here lives an unnoticed presence --
the infinitesimally tiny organisms
that prepare the earth for future
forests. Swedish researchers now
suspect that replanting may not be
good enough in the long run -- that
the land may not be able to sustain
more than three plantings before the
soil is stripped of its valuable
nutrients altogether.

The installation itself is comprised
of a floor piece signifying one square
metre of forest floor; 216 sheets of
delicate oriental Kozo paper bearing
etched images of soil fauna; and a 12

Artists Joan Smith and Barbara Zeigler.

3/4 foot square densely colored,
highly textured collage piece made
from disposable items that originated
in the forest. Newspapers, flyers and
junk mail are reduced to pulp and
pressed into sheets along with peat,
soil, straw and other materials from
what the artists refer to as an
“organic palette.” This is all
accompanied by a sound tape which
alternately plays the soft sounds of a
forest rainfall with those of human
footsteps hurrying though Grand
Central Station in New York City. In
all, there are approximately 4,320
bugs coming at you from ankle level
to ceiling height.

The installation recently appeared
at the Edmonton Art Gallery, where
an entire gallery space became a
floor to ceiling display of prints. A
portion of the Earthmaker’s
installation along with a
retrospective of the work of Joan
Smith will be shown at the Studio
Art Gallery in Capilano College in
the first two weeks of October. It
will then carry on to the Art Gallery
of London, Ontario in January 1996.
Other shows in Canada and the
United States are currently being
planned. i

@nformer