It’s time for people who venerate Nature to start going to CHRCH on Sundays. Beginning on May 15, the CHRCH Project Space located at 167 Cottekill Road in the Rosendale hamlet of Cottekill will welcome participants to a hands-on collaborative art project called Grandmother Earth.
According to eco-artist, Linda Weintraub, “Mother Earth, the age-old metaphor for our planet, is woefully out of date. It casts humans as perpetually dependent children who rely upon the Earth as their loving provider and protector…. [and] excuses humans from assuming responsibility for maintaining the Earth’s well-being. Shifting metaphors to Grandmother Earth evokes the planet’s current fragility. It is only if we become her caregivers and caretakers that the vastness of her practical knowledge and ancient wisdom will be preserved.” Those of us who have experienced the demands of caring for aging parents, or who expect to at some future date, should be able to relate to that.
At present, the Grandmother Earth sculpture that Weintraub is creating from found natural materials – seeds, mushrooms, acorns, bark, twigs, bones, shells, moss, clay, lichens – stands ten feet by ten feet, dominating one end of the Project Space. Over the course of the exhibition, artists and non-artists, students and adults will have the opportunity to enlarge the artwork by contributing their own arrangements of forest offerings. By the closing date, it is hoped that the sculpture will occupy the entire building.
Want to forage and contribute your bit? Just show up any Sunday between 2 to 5 p.m., or by making an appointment with Weintraub at linda@artnowpublications.com or (845) 758-9289. A closing reception from 3 to 6 p.m. on June 26 will celebrate the completion (by accretion) of the sculpture.
For more information about the CHRCH Project Space, visit www.chrchprojectspace.org or contact director Michael Asbill at michaelasbill@yahoo.com.
Join the family! 
