Why “Art and the Environment?’ Why not just “The art of Kathleen Giddens?” Because I want to do something more with my website than show my artwork. I am using my website as a “soapbox”. A pedestal if you will to spread the word about the importance of changing our lifestyles to save the planet. I am a painter and I hope to show my accomplishment as an artist and sell some paintings. But more important than that is to teach as many people as possible to change their lives to help preserve the planet.

I studied art the formal way by going to college and getting a solid background in painting. In 1967 I was first introduced to abstract art and was fascinated with the art elements, drawing, composition, perspective, color theory, light and shading. I came to believe in “art for art’s sake” as in total abstraction. I still defend that premise. Art can be done with no subject and still be art. But as I matured as a painter the abstraction began to be like a math exercise or a puzzle to be solved. It was fascinating but needed something else. What my painting needed was meaning. My husband and I were serious campers and both enjoyed hiking outdoors. I took many pictures as we hiked. Naturally I began to want to paint some of the photos. They expressed what I felt. I began to paint landscapes realistically with my formal training in art. My next step was to do some Surrealism using landscapes as my background to express environmental problems. This is rather like illustration. Beginning with an idea and trying to find a realistic way of putting your idea across. My plan is to continue with this goal because the environment is more important than one artist’s paintings. Over time my painting will disintegrate but nature will continue on.

Will people still be on earth? Can we save Homo sapiens from their own destruction? The answer to that is only if we begin changing the way we treat Mother Nature. Protect the precious lands we have left. Reuse and protect our water resources for the future of mankind. Recycle all materials we no longer use, saving our existing resources. Reduce pollution in the future by eliminating our polluting lifestyle habits. Rebuild destroyed lands by planting trees and crops and stop cutting down rain forests. Preserve existing animals by protecting them and their habitats.

The idea of protecting the environment has been around a long time. But I was unaware these problems existed until I was a freshman in college and had a Biology teacher that made us aware of the problem. Wow, that really bowled me over. I was so young and selfish and unaware of problems outside myself. The entire earth, the foundation of everything, what a concept! I remember seeing Jaques Cousteu programs on TV about saving the oceans. I was extremely moved by them and he is one of my heroes. Then President Jimmy Carter told us we had a “moral responsibility” to preserve resources for the future. Why didn’t we listen, Jimmy? Ralph Nader kept harping about the “evil” automobile and who listened? Now, Al Gore, Ed Begley Jr., Bill Nye and many countless others are taking up the mantle and explaining ways to improve how we can live to preserve Mother Nature. Sometimes I read people blaming environmentalists for their problems. Please, don’t shoot the messenger. The problems exist and now they are telling us we made a mistake and we need to change our habits.

I am a steadfast environmentalist which has been misinterpreted by many to be a “left wing radical”. That is a good example of flagrant misinformation. My concerns with the way we treat the environment is genuine and I desire to help the earth and the people on it. Teach your children to reuse, recycle, prevent waste, buy solar powered cars to leave clean air for the future. This will mean many new changes in how we eat, shop, use electricity, drive cars, get jobs, raise our families. Think of it as a new era in the world. A century of world wide cooperation changing our materialistic habits and creating new jobs and industries for people in the future.