What world are you dreaming of?
We are a species motivated by love. Roots/Anchors exhibiting artist Katie Holten has created a Wildflower Alphabet for New York City, with drawings of 26 native wildflowers, one for each letter of the Latin alphabet. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to take seeds of the four wildflowers that spell LOVE to plant around the city. This could be the beginning of seeding stories, planting secret messages with native wildflowers.
WHERE: Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art | Main Hall Gallery
WHEN: November 7 | 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
ADMISSION: $5 (gallery admission included) | BUY TICKETS HERE
Katie Holten invites participants to write Letters to the Earth that could take the form of personal stories, poems, words, or planted messages to the future. Together, we will create a vision of a better world to share with political leaders as they meet at COP26.
What people have to say right now matters. What people have to say right now might just help us get to the new world that we need. What message would you plant?
Please note: Proof of COVID-19 vaccine is now required for all visitors ages 12 and above entering all indoor spaces, as mandated by the City of New York. Face coverings for visitors ages 2 and up are required in all indoor spaces and the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden, as well as in outdoor areas when social distancing is not possible, even if vaccinated.
About the Artist
Katie Holten (b. 1975, Dublin) is a visual artist and environmental activist based in New York City and Ardee. For over twenty years Katie Holten has made unconventional works, pushing the boundaries of ecological art. At the root of her practice is a commitment to study the inextricable relationship between Humans and Nature, between organic systems and human-made systems. Drawing is her primary research tool. In 2003, Holten represented Ireland at the 50th Venice Biennale with a solo pavilion presentation entitled Laboratorio della Vigna. She has had solo museum exhibitions at the New Orleans Museum of Art in New Orleans (2012), Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane in Dublin (2010), The Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York (2009); Villa Merkel in Esslingen (2008), Nevada Museum of Art in Reno (2008) and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2007). She has conceived major public commissions including TREE MUSEUM (2009-2010) for New York City’s Grand Concourse commissioned by the NYC Parks Department, the Bronx Museum and Wave Hill. Several years ago, recognizing a looming crisis of representation as our species adapts to life in the Anthropocene, Holten created a Tree Alphabet and published the book ABOUT TREES, offering readers a language beyond the Human. During lockdown, Holten made a new Irish Tree Alphabet (2020) to explore language ecosystems and the importance of our words and the stories that we share.
Roots/Anchors is made possible through generous support from the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Roots/Anchors is supported in part by the Dedalus Foundation, the Francis J. Greenburger Foundation, and the Jocelyn Kress Family Charitable Foundation, with additional support provided by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation COVID-19 Relief Effort.
