Like a seed planted in fertile soil, the LAND/ART project in New Mexico has been germinating in isolation, waiting for the right moment to burst upon the scene in a variety of colors. From June through December, the fruits of labor will come to bear. More than 60 artists and 25 organizations take part in one of the most extensive collaborative and creative efforts ever to occur in the state. Site installations, exhibitions, lectures, performances, special tours, and films will focus exclusively on the interconnectedness between art, the environment, and community in New Mexico.

"The LAND/ART project has been brewing for several years," said Suzanne Sbarge, project coordinator and executive director of 516 ARTS in Albuquerque. "516 ARTS, the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, the Contemporary Art Society [of New Mexico], The University of New Mexico Art Museum, and THE LAND/an art site [an environmental-art venue in Mountainair, New Mexico] were the founding organizations that launched the project, and many more organizations have joined in since this all started. There is a very strong interest in this type of artwork right now, as concerns about the environment are so much at the forefront of people's minds. And artists bring different perspectives to thinking about our relationships with nature and the environment," she said.

Rebecca Solnit, the author of Wanderlust: A History of Walking and a participant in the project, states in her essay "Elements of a New Landscape" for the 1994 book Visions of America: Landscape as Metaphor in the Late Twentieth Century: "In landscape art, contemporary artists recognize landscape not as scenery but as the spaces and systems we inhabit, systems that our lives depend upon ... which includes politics and economics, the microcosmic as well as the macrocosmic, the cultural as an extension of the natural, our bodies as natural systems that pattern our thought ... as structured around metaphors drawn from nature." In so many ways, these are the issues considered by the LAND/ART project.

This extraordinary event was first discussed in 2006, when talks began between the Albuquerque Museum and Kathleen Shields, independent arts writer, curator, and administrative director of the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation in Albuquerque. Shields also administers The Lightning Field — a site-specific land-art piece created by sculptor Walter De Maria in 1977 in Catron County for the Dia Art Foundation. Initially, the project called for an exhibition chronicling the history of environmental art, with a panel discussion and three to four site-specific pieces within Bernalillo County. The concept was tabled due to lack of funds, lack of people power, and scheduling conflicts.

One year later, the idea was reenergized by Shields and Sbarge when the representatives of the core group of organizations were invited to a round-table discussion about expanding the original concept. In subsequent meetings, details were hammered out as far as who, what, where, and when, while budget concerns were delicately avoided, for fear of crushing the project yet again.

Simply put, what this project intends to do is "fundamentally [take] people out of the gallery and into the environment," said Bill Gilbert, a member of the LAND/ART steering committee, participating artist, and director of the Land Arts of the American West program at UNM. A solo exhibition of Gilbert's work from 2004 to 2007 will be featured at the UNM Art Museum. Physiocartographies is billed as an investigation into "the disjunction between our abstract conceptions of the landscape and the physical experience of topography and climate." For the LAND/ART project, Gilbert has created Walk to Work, a piece using global-positioning devices and video documentation to map an as-the-crow-flies route from his home in Cerrillos to his office on the UNM campus, bringing to mind the varied terrain between point A and point B.

On a cosmic scale, Charles Ross' Star Axis —a mammoth earth sculpture located near the southern end of Chupinas Mesa outside of Las Vegas, New Mexico — will be showcased in a series of photographs by Edward Ranney at the Albuquerque Museum. First conceived in 1971, Star Axis has yet to be completed, but it will consist of five components, including the Star Tunnel and the Solar Pyramid, which marks the daily and seasonal movements of the sun across the Shadow Field. From inside the Hour Chamber, one can observe a one-hour time lapse of earth's rotation, while from inside the Equatorial Chamber, visitors can see the stars that travel directly above the equator. Star Axis is configured in alignment with the earth's axis and will be 11 stories high and a quarter of a mile across. Ranney's photos document the progress of the project since 1979.

Historically — for better or worse — the Southwest has been at ground zero in many senses. During the 1960s and '70s, the region was home to the first generation of so-called "earthworks." In addition to The Lightning Field and Star Axis, there are the seminal Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels, both executed during the 1970s in Utah, as well as James Turrell's Roden Crater — begun in the late 1970s in Arizona and scheduled to open to the public in 2011. "Open space, affordability, and the strong sense of community make New Mexico particularly appealing for artists to live and work here. And [the LAND/ART project] is all about collaboration — between artists, across disciplines, and among organizations," said Sbarge.

In celebration of the project's Symposium Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, June 27 and 28, a series of events has been planned, including a reading by Native American poets at 516 ARTS and a bus tour of select "compelling and dramatic built landscapes of New Mexico" hosted by the Center for Land Use Interpretation on Saturday. On Sunday, the exhibition Experimental Geography opens at the Albuquerque Museum, presenting work by a group of nationally and internationally recognized land-based artists. In conjunction with the opening of the exhibit, a panel discussion on land art (slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday at the museum) features Matthew Coolidge, director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation; Irish artist Katie Holten; artist and cartographer Lize Mogel; and Lea Rekow, director of the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe. Bill Gilbert moderates the discussion.

Only a smattering of exhibits and events being produced in connection with the project are covered here. For information about other special programs, speakers, and artists participating in the LAND/ART project, visit landartnm.org.

"Working with over 25 organizations has been both exciting and challenging," Sbarge said. "In the arts, everyone talks about 'herding cats,' which is true, being one of the cats myself. The biggest challenge with managing so much information and so many people has mostly been around meeting deadlines. With this particular project, I have encountered the differences between the worlds of academia, contemporary art, and community organizing. But ultimately, I think our common goal of building audiences for art by working together has been successful for everyone involved."

The LAND/ART project culminates in a book — LAND/ART New Mexico — to be published by Radius Books of Santa Fe in December. But plan out the next few months now or you may miss what is certain to become another historic event in New Mexico's artistic heritage.

LAND/ART NEW MEXICO
Symposium Weekend events

Saturday, June 27
9 a.m.-6 p.m. Center for Land Use Interpretation bus tour, leaves from the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History,
2000 Mountain Road N.W., Albuquerque, 505-243-7255;
$35, $25 students, call 505-242-1445 to register

8 p.m. WORDS Poetry Reading with Native poets George
Ann Gregory, Orlando White, and Nora Yazzie, 516 ARTS,
516 Central Ave. S.W., Albuquerque, 505-242-1445; no charge

Sunday, June 28
11 a.m. "Environmental Art from Lascaux to Last Week," artist talk with Lynne Hull, Albuquerque Museum; no charge

1 p.m. LAND/ART panel discussion with Matthew Coolidge, Katie Holten, Lize M& Lea Rekow, moderated by Bill Gilbert, Albuquerque Museum; no charge

2-4 p.m. Opening reception for Experimental Geography and The Shape of Time: Photographs of Star Axis by Edward Ranney 1979-2009, Albuquerque Museum; no charge, exhibits through Sept. 20

4 p.m. Film screening, artist talk & river excursion with Basia Irland, starts at the Albuquerque Museum; no charge

Related events taking place in Santa Fe include the opening of BADLAND: Rebecca Belmore, Lori Blondeau, Bonnie Devine, and Erica Lord at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (108 Cathedral Place, 983-1777; public reception 5-7 p.m. Friday, June, 26) and Ana MacArthur: Where Light Meets Water; Mumuru on the Equator — T12a at the Santa Fe Art Institute (1600 St. Michael's Drive, 424-5050; reception 3-5 p.m. Saturday, June 27). For complete details on LAND/ART New Mexico events, see landartnm.org.