Climate Conversations at Easton’s PA Nurture Nature Center

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Susan Hoffman Fishman, In the Beginning There Was Only Water, 30 in. x 50 ft., acrylic, oil pigment stick and mixed media on paper, 2021, Installation view at Janice Charach Gallery, West Bloomfield, Michigan

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2020 through 2021, eight women artists from the Midwest and the East Coast of the United States came together via Zoom to read and discuss All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Ph.D. and Katharine K. Wilkinson, Ph.D. The book contains essays and poetry by a cadre of diverse women policy wonks, scientists, writers, journalists, lawyers, activists, and others who address the most critical existential issue of our time with the intention of offering different ways to effect change and mend the significant damage that we have caused to the Earth. The artists’ responses to the essays form the exhibition Climate Conversations: All We Can Save. The exhibition runs through June 30th, 2022.


Kate Dodd, Migrants, 24″ x 30″, 2020, repurposed envelopes and collage with graphite, photo courtesy of the artist
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Nancy Cohen, Blue Storm of our Anxieties, 2020, 78″x70″, paper pulp and handmade paper, photo courtesy of the artist

The idea of creating connections and community is not new to Nurture Nature Center, a non-profit that has become a leader in climate change education, action, and planning in the Lehigh Valley. NNC started an Annual Youth Climate Summit that is now on its 3rd year (to be held April 30th), has been hosting a Youth Climate Leadership and Arts Program, supported community engagement during the City of Bethlehem’s Climate Action Plan development, and is helping the City of Easton conduct greenhouse gas inventories, set emission reduction goals, and develop and implement its Climate Action Plan. In addition, NNC has been using science and art to educate and engage local communities around natural hazards and climate resiliency through its CREATE Resilience project, which is funded through a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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Leslie Sobel, Interwoven Ecologies, 31” x 47,” mixed media: stitched, glued monotypes and digital prints, 2021, photo courtesy of the artist

Climate Conversations: All We Can Save Featured artists: Elizabeth Barick Fall, Nancy Cohen, Kate Dodd, Laura Earle, Tracey Easthope, Susan Hoffman Fishman, Gina R Furnari, Leslie Sobel. Nurture Nature Center, 518 Northampton Street, Easton PA 18042

Opening Reception: Friday, April 8th (6-9pm), runs through June 30th. Panel Discussion is planned for Saturday, April 9th, 1-2:30pm and is free and open to the public. All eight artists will join NNC’s Directors Rachel Hogan Carr, Kate Semmens, and Keri Maxfield for an in-depth discussion about the exhibit.