by Carlene Phillips ·
Friday, November 8, 2024
For a third consecutive year, the Harvard Conservation Trust and Fivesparks have partnered on Destination: Nature, a juried art show that hopes to reach new audiences and inspire them, through the eyes of regional artists, to get out and experience the broader area’s diverse environments. This year, the theme, Wild and Scenic, invited artists to explore the Nashua River Watershed, encompassing 32 towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and to reflect on the balance between society and nature in its varied landscapes.
The exhibition opens Nov. 16, with public hours noon to 4 p.m. An artists reception and awarding of prizes will take place the same day, 5 to 7 p.m. A free, public reception will be held Nov. 23, from 3 to 6 p.m. The show will remain up until Jan. 4, 2025, and during that time visitors are invited to vote for the People’s Choice award, the winner of which will be announced at the close of the exhibit. All the art pieces are for sale, and proceeds will support HCT’s work to protect and steward land as well as Fivesparks’ commitment to advancing culture and the arts.
“Milltown Resident,” oil by Emily Harris. (Courtesy photos)
The exhibit calls attention to how integral both the trust and the arts collaborative are to the unique character of Harvard. Perhaps the best way to appreciate the Conservation Trust’s efforts is to imagine the town without its 4,000 acres of protected lands. Since 1973 the volunteer-based, nonprofit land trust has been acquiring land and expanding connectivity, protecting resources, and maintaining trails for the education and enjoyment of town residents and visitors alike.
For its part, Fivesparks, the nonprofit community arts collaborative located in the historical public library building on the Common, provides opportunities for diverse cultural and social experiences for the regional community. Since 2017 it has brought vitality to town center through classes, art exhibits, musical events, storytelling, and talks by local authors.
According to AnaMaria Nanra, Fivesparks’ executive director, the broadening of the theme and geographical area to encompass the entire watershed had the desired effect of a significant increase in artists represented. In contrast to last year’s 65 pieces of art by 56 artists, this year there are 114 individual artworks by 67 artists. Thirty-eight communities are represented, with 14 artists from Harvard.
Gina Ashe, president of the Harvard Conservation Trust, wrote in an email that in choosing the theme Wild and Scenic, “We have challenged artists to wrestle with the delicate equilibrium that must be maintained between human activity and the natural environment. Man and nature must coexist in a harmonious balance, where human actions respect the integrity of ecosystems and their intricate processes, so that the watershed can thrive.”
The juror for the exhibit is Jane Winchell, Sarah Fraser Robbins director of Peabody Essex Museum’s Dotty Brown Art & Nature Center and curator of the museum’s natural history collection. Since 2021 she has been spearheading the institution’s climate and environment initiative. She wrote in an email: “I was so impressed by the quality of the entries submitted for this year’s exhibition! I also loved the many different portals the artists opened to experiencing the Nashua River Watershed with new eyes. I hope lots of people in the region will get to see these wonderful artworks!”
All artists applying for inclusion in the show wrote an artist statement to accompany the image of the artwork they were hoping to have accepted by the juror. The text named the medium they work in and gave a brief description of their intention in the art piece. Several of the Harvard artists who were accepted gave a specific response to the exhibit’s theme—the equilibrium between humans and nature in the wild and scenic environments of the Nashua River Watershed—in their artist statement.
“Gone Fishin’,” acrylic by Jordan Manning.
Faith Cross wrote that she moved to Harvard decades ago because the open spaces, woods, rivers, and wild creatures reminded her of her childhood home in Connecticut. “These days,” she said, “both my home town and this natural part of Massachusetts are environmentally stressed. So, I keep my eyes out for discarded man-made objects, some pristine, but I prefer the damaged, disintegrating, deformed, rusted, large, and small, those whose original use might be unclear. I combine them in sculptures … expecting that observers will consider that my pairing of reused refuse and natural objects conveys a message to those of us on Earth. Be careful. Think of the future.”
Photographer Maureen Hooper wrote that she enjoys exploring “the beauty within the built environment and capturing details found in nature.” The prospectus of this exhibit “provided opportunities for me to discover new areas to photograph that I had not yet explored!”
Jordan Manning’s dog, Bauer, has enjoyed fishing in the river since he was a puppy, though, she noted, he has yet to catch anything. She said, “In Harvard, there is no choice but to respect nature and to surrender to it.” Her acrylic “Gone Fishin’” is a nod to Bauer, “an ode to the surrender that residents and dogs make every day and to showcase the beauty that lies beneath the swampy marsh that many don’t dare to touch.”
Judith Schutzman’s submission features the Nashua River Watershed in watercolor, Asian brush with ink, and a combination of Asian brush, ink, and watercolor. “Embedded in the work is a pairing of society (or the impact of society) and local flora,” she wrote.
Emily Harris, who works in oil, said, in speaking of the Nashua River Watershed, “I think a magical evolution occurs in every corner of every town affected by the river and its inhabitants from moment to moment, with the quicksilver motion of light on the water.”
Again this year an immersive looping video by Bearwalk Cinema will be showing on large screens set up in the Cove, the lower level of Fivesparks. It moves beyond conservation lands in Harvard to include other areas in the Nashua River Watershed. Daniela Goncalves and Brian Tortora, Bearwalk Cinema founders, live in town with their two children.
Upstairs in the loft at Fivesparks, members of the Nashua River Watershed Association will have an educational exhibit appealing to all ages that will depict the ways humans and wildlife use the watershed. In an email, NRWA member Lucy Wallace described the history of the river: “In the 1960s the Nashua River was an open sewer whose colors changed daily as it flowed beneath Fitchburg’s mills.” She described how Marion Stoddard, living in Groton up the hill from the river, made cleaning up the river her life’s project. The exhibit will describe those efforts and how their success resulted in a river now enjoyed by paddlers and fishers alike and home to wildlife like eagles and ospreys. “But,” said Wallace, “as Marion says, ‘Our work is never done.’ And so we all should continue to work to protect our rivers and streams for all who depend upon and enjoy them.”
For more information see fivesparks.org.
“The Longest Day,” photograph by Maureen Hooper.