Earth Mandella
Submitted by Robert Markey
The piece I am proposing is a freestanding sculpture consisting of four rings of laminated wood approximately four ft. in diameter on a base of Vermont marble. Inside these rings is a glass sphere, approximately one ft. in diameter in the colors of the planet Earth.
The idea of this piece is to show visually that sustainability is a process that can continue to cycle for the indefinite future. But, there are non-recyclable paths that lead away from the health of the planet and of the community into unknown territory. Each ring represents an aspect of sustainability on the planet: energy/ transportation, food/agriculture, political/economic system and human/social relations. On each ring will be words relating to the evolution of sustainability. There will also be wooden detours away from each ring representing non-sustainable paths. Below these paths on the ground will be images (toys, small sculptures) of the things which have lead away from sustainability.
For example, on the energy/ transportation ring the words walk, bicycle, wind power might appear. On the path out of the ring might also be the word oil written larger. Below this exit might be a small model of a Hummer, and an oil tanker. As the original ring continues there might be the words: bus, train, photo-voltaics. The idea is that the sustainable means of transportation and energy will complete the circle of the ring. Those that are unsustainable will exit out of the ring.
The piece represents the organic process of growth and decay that is present in all systems on our planet, from the cellular to the cultural levels. Elements are added, used, transformed, recycled and discarded. Some materials sustain life and some mutate to elements that are destructive and lead to decay. Those that create and sustain as well as those that destroy are seen on each ring of the sculpture.
It has always been my belief that art has the power to open people’s hearts and minds in a way that nothing else can. It is my hope that the beauty of this piece (the wooden rings, the hand-blown glass), the reference to innocence (the childhood toys), and the science of ecology (the cyclical embodiment of organic processes) will create in the viewer an understanding of the profound importance of sustainability.
The wood for the rings will be ash that was cut off of my property in Ashfield 25 years ago. The glass sphere will be made in collaboration with Ed Branson’s glass studio. Initially the small sculptural images will be gathered from the community (Craigslist, Freecycle, tag sales, E-mail lists, friends). Those that I cannot find from the community I will buy or create. When the piece is exhibited, community members will be invited to add their own pieces to the ‘unsustainables’ underneath the spheres. This is in some manner a way of recycling these unsustainables.
In terms of the Pioneer Valley, energy – heat and transportation – is a critical issue. Agriculture, historically a focus of the Pioneer Valley, is returning with the efforts at sustainability. Human relations – conflict, the end to war – is profoundly important to all of us. And the economy skewed toward overconsumption is what drives much of the unsustainable aspects of these issues.
This is a medium sized sculpture (approximately 8’ x 5’ x 5’) and could be placed outdoors or indoors in locations throughout the Pioneer Valley. Literature and other programs could be associated with it where it is shown.
See Robert Makey’s website with his past works.
Specific pages that show work that might be relevant to this proposal are:
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Veiw Robert’s Experience below
| Selected Exhibitions | |
| 2008 | Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood 2008, group show, Chesterwood – National Trust Site, Stockbridge MA |
| 2007 | Small Works North America, group exhibition, Greenwich CT Deep, collaborative dance performance, Northampton MA, Providednce RI Robert Markey – New Paintings, solo exhibition, NCA, Northampton MA Conceptual Portraiture, group show, Greentrees Gallery, Bernardston MA |
| 2006 | Sculpturefest, group show, Woodstock VT |
| 2005 |
Sculpturefest, group show, Woodstock VT |
| 2004 | The Power of Creation, two person show, Wings of Light, Shelburne Falls MA Evolution of the Sphere, solo exhibition, Thirty 9 Main, Brattleboro, VT |
| 2003 | Personal – Universal, two person exhibition, Soprafina Gallery, Somerville MA New Exhibitions, group exhibition, Battelle-Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA Robert Markey, Jozan Treston, two person exhibition, Gallery A3, Amherst, MA Robert Markey – Paintings, solo exhibition, Thirty 9 Main, Brattleboro, VT |
| 2002 | God’s Greatest Gifts: Fruit and Sex II, solo show, Intimacies, Northampton MA before/after 911, group exhibition,Gallery A3, Amherst MA |
| 2000 | God’s Greatest Gifts: Fruit and Sex, solo exhibition, Intimacies, Northampton MA |
| 1999 | Robert Markey – Paintings and Sculpture, solo exhibition, The Hart Gallery, Northampton MA |
| 1997 | Witness to Violence and Related Projects, group exhibition, The Artists Foundation @ The Distillery, Boston MA Lines of Descent, group exhibition, Ward-Nasse Gallery, New York NY |
| 1994 | Reality Check, group exhibition, Ashuah-Irving Gallery, Boston MA Behind Closed Doors, group exhibition, Artspace Gallery, Greenfield MA and The Canal Gallery, Holyoke MA |
| 1993 | Berkshire Artists / Contrasts, group exhibition, Clark Whitney Gallery, Lenox MA Time of Opening, performance, Franklin County Artspace, Greenfield MA Children of the Earth, installation, Franklin County Artspace, Greenfield MA |
| 1992 | Views by Artists of the Columbus Quincentenial, group exhibition pARTS: an alternative artspace, Minneapolis MN |
| 1991 | The Gods are Among Us, solo exhibition, Ashuah-Irving Gallery, Boston MA Politics and Social Issues of Developing Countries, installation, Hartwick College, Oneonta NY |
| 1990 | Tears of Love and Rage, solo exhibition, Fauve Gallery, Amherst MA Winter Group Show, group exhibition, Ashuah-Irving Gallery, Boston MA Censorship and Provocation, group exhibition, Fauve Gallery, Amherst MA |
| 1989 | Preta, installation, Markem Corporation Gallery, Keene NH Please Fondle the Idols, solo exhibition, Skera Gallery, Northampton MA |
| 1988 | In the Third World, They’re Still Dying for our Sins, solo exhibition, Amherst Community Gallery, Amherst MA |
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Videos |
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| Corporate and NGO Collections AEC-TEA, Capim Grosso, Bahia, Brazil Belding Memorial Library, Ashfield MA Casa do Menor, Capim Grosso, Bahia, Brazil Data-Mail, Inc., Newington CT Double Edge Theater, Ashfield MA Harriet Tubman Center, Minneapolis MN Peace at Home, Jamaica Plain MA Schooner Capital LLC, Boston MA |
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| Public Art The Art of the Violin, public art exhibition and auction, Pioneer Valley, MA 2003 Cavalcade of Cod, public art exhibition and auction, Boston MA 2000 Cow Parade NYC, public art exhibition and auction, New York NY 2000 Witness to Violence, Collaborative Public Art/Performance presented in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Houston, 1995 Artists Need to be Paid Too, Billboard, Arts Festival of Atlanta, Atlanta GA 1994 Super Bowl Scoreboard, Public Art and Performance, Grand Central Station, New York NY 1993, 1994, 1996 Outdoor Sculpture 1993, Public Art Installation, Ward’s Island NY 1993 |
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| Selected Bibliography and Videography Lisa Lynch, “Robert Markey: New Paintings”, Art New England, June/July 2007 Thomas Craughwell, Cow Parade New York, Workman Publishing , Inc., 2000 McBride, James, War, Battering, and other Sports: the Gulf between American Men and Women, Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press International, Inc., 1995 Jack Becker, “And Other Words of Wisdom” Public Art Review Volume 6 Number 2 (Spring/Summer 1995): 19 Lisa Rafter, “Witness to Violence: Giving a Face to Women Who Have Survived Battering.” Labyrinth Volume 13 Number 5 (October 1995): 1,12 George McCollough and Maria Mongelli, “Criminal Justice Today: Witness to Violence” DUTV cable 54, Philadelphia, September 1995 Johnnie Braxton, “Visions”, WPVI TV 6, Philadelphia, November 1995 |
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| Awards/Grants Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant, 2000, 1998 Massachusetts Committee on Criminal Justice Project Grant, 1994, 1995 Boston Council on the Arts and Humanities Grant, 1994 Massachusetts Cultural Council Project Grant, 1994 Puffin Foundation Grant, 1993 Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant, 1993 Massachusetts Arts Lottery Council Grant, 1990 |
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| Education M.S., Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, 1982 B.S., Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1969 Represented by Elaine Beckwith Gallery, Jamaica VT Tappan Z Gallery, Tarytown NY Hanback Gallery, Lenox MA |
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