CHERAYA ESTERS / JEREMY TIDD
21ST CENTURY GHOSTS
December 16, 2009 – January 8, 2010
ARTIST TALK – FRIDAY, JANUARY 8TH AT 8PM.
21ST CENTURY GHOSTS is an homage and memorial to the Tsuga Canadensis, the largest natural evergreen conifer in the eastern United States. According to the artists, “they generally stand full grown at a height of about 100 ft, but exceptional trees have been found up to 173 feet. The oldest recorded specimen was at least 554 years old.
In the early 1920’s a sap-sucking bug from East Asia was introduced to the American landscape. The Hemlock Wooly Adelgid remained confined and posed relatively little threat until the 1980’s when they began to spread, having catastrophic effects on the range of the Tsuga Canadensis, the most severe of which have been in the southern Appalachians. To see these Hemlock Wooly Adelgids a person can go to Shenandoah National Park where there are hundreds of hectares of effected trees. What used to be giants in the landscape can be seen now only as white ghosts towering among the green.
Unlike deciduous trees that lose their leaves these trees suck carbon out of the air year round. The effects of this change in the carbon cycle are not yet known; what is obvious is that eastern American ecosystems are changing dramatically. This is a memorial to the Tsuga Canadensis and America’s eastern landscape.”
NEXT EXHIBITION – GEORGE JENNE’s “Don’t Look Now!”
January 15 – February 13, 2010 / Opening reception: January 15, 7pm
“Don’t Look Now” references movies and an abject nostalgia toward the artist’s own childhood to create a mixed media installation that is compellingly cinematic. A gifted sculptor and draftsman, Jenne creates an environment similar to a movie set complete with a spectral pirate, exploding heads and a beastial Boy Scout.
More information coming soon.
Hours: Civilian will be open by appointment only until “Don’t Look Now!” opens on January 15th.
Civilian Art Projects
1019 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-607-3804
www.civilianartprojects.com
