November 14 – 21, 2010 Art Lab: Border Biosphere Exploration brought together seven leading artist educators with scientists and researchers to explore the Sonoran Desert Bioregion and be inspired by the unique environment that surrounds them at the Biosphere 2 and Tumamoc Hill Research Station in Tucson, Arizona, and Cuenca los Ojos’ El Coronado Ranch in Pearce, Arizona. Artist participants learned about how climate change is impacting the environment along the international border region of Southern Arizona, and they will create artwork in response. Their work will then be presented on this website and in related exhibits and presentations.
Art Lab 2011 Artists
Seven very exciting artists from Uruguay to Boston will participate in the Border Biosphere Art Lab October 16-23.
Heather Green (Tucson) is an artist and educator whose projects and installations examine the communal and ecological narratives of the Northern Sea of Cortez. She is a recipient of the 2011 Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist Project Grant, the 2010 Community Foundation of Southern Arizona/Buffalo Exchange Arts Award and the Oregon College of Art & Craft Emerging Artist Residency. She is currently an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. 
Jane D. Marsching (Boston) is a digital media artist who explores our past, present and future human impact on the environment through interdisciplinary and collaborative practices, including video installations, virtual landscapes, dynamic websites, and data visualizations. Her current work mines Thoreau’s many observations of seasonal plant and animal life at Walden Pond to consider the impact of climate shifts on this landscape at the heart of our American imagination of all that is nature. Recent exhibitions include: Galerie Lucy Mackintosh, Lausanne, Switzerland; the ICA Boston; MassMoCA; and the San Jose Museum of Art, CA. She has received grants from Creative Capital, LEF Foundation, Artadia and Artists Resource Trust. She is a cofounder and member of Platform2: Art and Activism, an experimental forum series about creative practices at the intersection of social issues. (www.platform2.info) With Andrea Polli, she is editing and writing a publication of collected essays entitled: Far Field: Digital Culture, Climate Change, and the Poles (Intellect Books 2011).
Bently Spang (Montana) is an internationally recognized multi-disciplinary artist, curator, educator and writer working in mixed media sculpture, video, performance, and installation. An enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation in Montana, Spang’s work reveals the complexity of his daily traverse of multiple cultural terrains with pragmatism, humor and deep introspection. He squarely confronts issues of race and place, exploring the inevitable concerns— personal, communal, environmental and cultural—that emerge when they converge.
Eduardo “Pincho” Casanova Arosteguy (Montevideo, Uruguay)
Artist, photographer, film & videomaker. He has recently exhibited his work such as “Restituciones” and the video-instalation “Automotora” at the Museum of Memory (MUME) in 2009 in Montevideo and Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires in 2010; “Neojuguetes de motor a pila” at the Centro Cultural de España (CCE) in 2009 and in 2011, “El solitario obrero del tiempo” at the IX Biennale of Salto in Uruguay. Founder and director of Centro de Medios Audiovisuales (CEMA) (Uruguay, 1982). Director ofpozodeagua televisión. In 1994, he created the TV programme El Monitor Plástico(Morosoli Prize 2009). Producer of national & international art festivals and exhibitions in the region, including b/n by Hermenegildo Sábat (2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010). www.elmonitorplastico.com
Melo Dominguez (Tucson) is an artist, muralist from Los Angeles who has lived in Tucson since 2007. Her community outreach began at Self Help Graphics & Art in East Los Angeles where she was a Getty intern. She was the Summer Youth Coordinator that headed the community mural project with the youth from the neighborhood. She is currently a member of Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop which is Tucson’s only Latino based contemporary nonprofit cooperative art gallery and workshop. Her artwork is a direct expression of her Chicana culture, political issues, social issues and most recent environmental issues. She enjoys using her creativity and activism to create a difference throughout the Tucson community.
Macarena Montañez (Montevideo, Uruguay).
BA in Psychology and MS in Anthropology. Producer of TV programme El Monitor Plástico(Morosoli Prize 2009) and documentaries such as 52 Salón Nacional Mariá Freire‚ V Bienal de Arquitectura y Urbanismo Intendencia Municipal de Montevideo (Montevideo City Hall) Pablo Atchugarry, escultor de luz‚ Hugo Nantes, ERA 07; Muestras Rodantes (Ministry of Education and Culture); Apuntes para la historia cultural de Salto‚ (Salto City Hall and Ministry of Education and Culture); Cinco años del museogurvich‚ (Museum Gurvich, Uruguay). Curator and organizer of art exhibitions and cultural events in Argentina and Uruguay, including ‚ Llegar volando: Satélites de Amor‚ by Renate Anger (Germany) & Thomas Wörgötter (Austria), REGIONES, Museum of Pre-Columbian and Indigenous Art (MAPI), Montevideo 2009-2010 and, El Informe Orletti-Conexió Internacional‚ (Buenos Aires 2010 and Montevideo 2011). Editor and co-writer of several books and catalogues on art and culture in Uruguay such asDiccionario de la Cultura Uruguaya (2007) and Más allá del estado de las cosas (2006-2007): di logos sobre la situaci ón de la cultura en Uruguay, tv y radio (2010). She has won a number of prizes and grants. www.elmonitorplastico.com
Fritz Buehner (NY-BOSTON) practices sculpture, photography and installation work. He has been shown extensively in the US and abroad. His most recent One-Person exhibitions include The Saint Gaudens National Historic site in Cornish, New Hampshire; Whitebox Gallery in New York, and Philadelphia; and the St. Botolph Arts Club in Boston. He’s been awarded residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Art Omi and Thapong in Botswana, Africa and has lectured and presented papers at Hampshire College, The University of Connecticut, Massachusetts College of Art, Virginia Poly Tech and at The Suny Graduate Center in Albany NY to name a few. He is an Alumnus of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston where he is currently the Dean of Faculty.
Art Lab 2010
November 14 – 21, 2010Art Lab: Border Biosphere Exploration brought together seven leading artist educators with scientists and researchers to explore the Sonoran Desert Bioregion and be inspired by the unique environment that surrounds them at the Biosphere 2 and Tumamoc Hill Research Station in Tucson, Arizona, and Cuenca los Ojos’ El Coronado Ranch in Pearce, Arizona. Artist participants learned about how climate change is impacting the environment along the international border region of Southern Arizona, and they will create artwork in response. Their work will then be presented on this website and in related exhibits and presentations.
Donate
If you would like to help Rillito River Project create artwork to increase awareness to the serious issue of vanishing rivers of the Southwest, we welcome your participation by way of a donation. We thank you for your generousity.
The Rillito River Project is funded entirely by private donations which are tax deductible and may be made through Paypal:
Or Donate by Check payable to Rillito River Project and mailed to Rillito River Project, 7080 N. Cathedral Rock Place, Tucson, AZ 85718.
For more information, we can be contacted by phone at (520) 955-3429
