Guest Opinion: Green Light

LAM’s “Art & Nature” Festival Defines Laguna

Nothing defines Laguna for me more than the Greenbelt, the Bluebelt, and the artists who have worked here for more than a century. In 2012 former Laguna Art Museum director Malcolm Warner and others ingeniously packaged our town’s iconic environmental sites and artistic renderings of those sites into an annual “Art & Nature” program. This year’s November 3-6 program, marking its tenth anniversary, was arguably the best so far.  

Laguna artist Robert M. Young’s colossal wall-sized painting “The Big One” figuratively framed the entire program, speaking to our sense of wonder and awe elicited by Laguna’s undersea world. In the context of the challenges facing our local waters, which prominent speakers addressed, Young’s painting reminded all in attendance of the sublime beauty and scale of all that is at stake, given the existential threats of climate change and ocean pollution. This theme and the bonding of art and nature were amplified creatively by Los Angeles artist Kelly Berg, whose seven creative and strategically placed “Pyramidion” structures dotted sites from Main Beach northward into Heisler Park. A young effervescent Berg, who talked with viewers at the seven outdoor sites, explained that her mobile, light-weight pyramids left no trace behind on the physical environment, reflected the geological structure of Laguna’s sandstone cliffs and their erosion due to climate change-induced sea-level rise, and suggested the centrality of pyramids in mythological thinking.  

Dr. Sylvia Earle, an internationally acclaimed oceanographer, delivered the keynote address to a packed gallery. She warned that the oceans are in decline due to pollution, climate change, and overfishing. “No ocean, no life.” She emphasized that oceans provide a large amount of oxygen, making life on Earth possible. “We live because of nature—air and water. . . .Half of the world’s reefs will be gone in our lifetime. . . . We need poets, musicians, and artists” to take environmental knowledge and transmit it to the public in ways that will make people care enough to act. Knowledge, caring, and action, she reiterated, are essential links to saving both our marine and terrestrial environments. Programmatically, we need to get from protecting three percent of our global ocean commons to thirty percent. Each of us has a role in making this happen. “What we do or fail to do now will determine the next 10,000 years.”

Rebecca Mendez, a U.C.L.A-affiliated artist, was the next featured speaker. Her talk and revelatory video (showing in an adjacent gallery) was titled “The Sea Around Us.”  Both were redolent of marine biologist Rachel Carson’s 1962 blockbuster book by that title, warning of the toxicity of the insecticide DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane). The title was spot-on because of the dumping of thousands of barrels of DDT and other industrial contaminants in the channel between San Pedro and Santa Catalina Island by the Montrose Chemical Corporation and others, mainly in the post-WWII decades. Mendez’ personal and affecting presentation emphasized that we need to accept what was done and live with the pain while embracing the sublimity of the ocean. “Rage with love,” she said, if we are serious about preventing more harm to our marine areas.

The last day of the festival featured a panel of Mendez and four leading scientists being insightfully interviewed by Los Angeles Times journalist Rosanna Xia. The focus was on the environmental and health impacts of the DDT barrels just mentioned. More research would be needed to determine how long-lasting the perils would be. Veterinarian Dr. Alissa Deming said that cancer-plagued marine mammals were “screaming at us” to stop poisoning their habitat.

This sampling of the 2022 “Art & Nature” highlights is a reminder to our residents and visitors of the vision and sensibilities of the artists who founded LAM a century ago and in doing so defined and identified this town with a seascape and landscape singular even in a state known for its natural beauty. The festival artfully called us to act now on behalf of Laguna’s imperiled creatures and their habitats.  

Tom Osborne is writing a book on California’s environmental leadership. He and his wife, Ginger, co-lead the Laguna chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. He can be reached at [email protected].