Chris Drury: MushroomsClouds

by Ann M. Wolfe

Overview

British conceptual and landscape artist Chris Drury has been lauded for his many installations and site-specific works that investigate themes related to the environment and emphasize cycles of destruction and regeneration in nature and the ways that humans affect these processes.  In Mushrooms|Clouds, a series of artworks commissioned by the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Drury brought an international perspective to topics ranging from land and water appropriation to nuclear testing in the American West. In many of these works, Drury utilizes materials collected from such places as Pyramid Lake, Donner State Park, and the Nevada Test Site to engage viewers in the many connections between art and the environment.

This companion volume to the exhibition documents Drury’s installations and captures his ephemeral work for further viewing and extended study.  In addition, the bookincludes an introduction by art historian Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe and an essay by Colin Robertson, the Nevada Museum of Art Curator of Education, which expound upon the themes and significance of Drury’s art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935195023
Publisher:	Columbia College Chicago Press
Publication date:	02/15/2010
Series:	Center for American Places-Center Books on American Places Series
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Ann M. Wolfe is curator of Exhibitions and Collections at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. She previously served as an assistant curator at the San Jose Museum of Art, where she curated Sandow Birk’s Divine Comedy and coauthored with Lindsey M. Wylie Selections: The San Jose Museum of Art Permanent Collection. She is also the author of Suburban Escape: The Art of California Sprawl, published by the Center for American Places.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements

David B. Walker

Life, Death, and Transformation

Chris Drury

Mushrooms|Clouds

Ann M. Wolfe

Stone Mother

Told by Ralph Burns

Chris Drury: Toward an Ecological Conscience in Environmental Art

Colin M. Robertson

The Coyote and the Stars

Told by Ralph Burns

From Finger Paint to Frenchman Flat: A Scientist Reflects

Lynn F. Fenstermaker

Shelters of Exposure: Giving Form to Interdisciplinary Exchange

Jamie Kruse and Elizabeth Ellsworth

Notes on the Text

 

Artist’s Biography

Compiled by Miriam Stanton

Works in the Exhibition

 

Additional Reading

Compiled by Miriam Stanton

About the Editor and Contributing Authors