Environmental Art Installation by Roy Staab

May 30, 6:30pm

Free and open to the public. No reservations required, but we ask that you RSVP so we can anticipate attendance. For more information or to RSVP, select RSVP NOW to the right of this page, call 845.424.4800 or email info@garrisoninstitute.org.

The evening will also include Journey of the Universe: Film Screening with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim at 7:15pm. Click here for more information. All are welcome to attend both events.

The Garrison Institute is proud to present a site-specific bamboo sculpture to be created by Roy Staab on its riverfront lawn. Roy Staab is a leading practitioner in the field of environmental art. At its essence, Staab's work is simple to describe: he makes artworks in nature from nature, using only the materials that the natural world provides. Incorporating Buddhist principles of transience and immateriality directly into his work, Staab creates ephemeral pieces at specific points in a given landscape which, while formally intricate and geometrically inspired, leave little to no impact on that landscape and last only as long as the materials themselves. His materials often include reeds, grasses, twine, hand-woven ropes of hemp, stone, snow, and the earth itself; in this case, the primary material will be bamboo from the Garrison Institute's grounds.

In a career spanning three decades, Roy Staab has made works around the globe, from his native Milwaukee to cities such as New York, Tokyo, Borgo Valsugana, and most recently, New Orleans. Staab's works are large in scale, often 60 feet or more in size. When he designs and constructs a piece, he sketches it out, assembles the materials, builds it, films it or photographs it, and leaves it there to fall apart or rot. His creations are born of the materials and the local cultures of the places he visits. The delicate nature of the materials and the relentless tug of gravity, which inevitably destroys them, serve as reminders of the fragile and transitory nature of life.

Roy Staab is being presented in conjunction with ecoartspace, an organization dedicated to raising environmental awareness through the arts. http://ecoartspace.blogspot.com