Earthkeeper’s Handbook

Reviewers: Kim Abeles

Whitefeather Hunter

Introduction: Patricia Watts, Founder, ecoartspace

Design/Layout: Jane Crayton • iSTEMart.org

Front Cover Image: Susan Hoenig, “On Lenape Land,” 2022, black walnut on paper; awarded Indigenuity Prize by the Museum of Native American History, Bentonville, Arkansas, December 2022.

Back Cover Image: Mierle Laderman Ukeles Washing / Tracks / Maintenance: Outside, 1973 Part of Maintenance Art performance series, 1973-1974 Performance at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT © Mierle Laderman Ukeles

Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York

O Brother font designed by Graeme Walker. www.graemewalker.art/design

Reviewed by Kim Abeles and WhiteFeather Hunter

Introduction by Patricia Watts

An ecoartspace publication

Published in New Mexico, USA

Copyright ©2023 ecoartspace publications

All Rights Reserved. This book (or parts there of) may not be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher.

This handbook is dedicated to Mierle Laderman Ukeles whose early feminist work represents the kind of thoughtful actions that ecological artists can take to make the world a better place. Her “CARE“ manifesto published in 1969 and subsequent Maintenance Art performances are ephemeral monuments giving power to gestures for healing ourselves and the planet.

Mierle Laderman Ukeles

Washing / Tracks / Maintenance: Outside, 1973 Part of Maintenance Art performance series, 1973-1974 Performance at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT © Mierle Laderman Ukeles

Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York

Kim Abeles explores society, science literacy, feminism, and the environment, creating projects with science and natural history museums, health departments, air pollution control agencies, and National Park Service. NEA-funded projects involved a residency at the Institute of Forest Genetics; and Valises for Camp Ground in collaboration with Camp 13, a group of female prison inmates who fight wildfires. Permanent outdoor works include sculptural Citizen Seeds along the Park to Playa Trail in Los Angeles, and Walk a Mile in My Shoes, based on the shoes of the Civil Rights marchers and local activists. Abeles has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust Fund, and her process documents are archived at the Center for Art + Environment. Her work is in public collections including MOCA, LACMA, CAAM, Berkeley Art Museum, and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

“Kim Abeles: Smog Collectors, 1987-2020” is a survey exhibition of the environmental series, presented at CSU Fullerton (2022) and CSU Sacramento (2023). Recent publications about her projects include New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the book, Social Practice: Technologies for Change, Routledge Press (2022). kimabeles.com

WhiteFeather Hunter is a multiple award-winning Canadian artist and scholar, holding an MFA in Fibres and Material Practices from Concordia University. She is currently a PhD candidate in Biological Arts at the University of Western Australia, supported by a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, Australian Government International Scholarship and University of Western Australia International Postgraduate Scholarship. Before commencing her PhD, WhiteFeather was founding member and Principal Investigator of the Speculative Life BioLab at the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at Concordia University (Montreal) from 20162019. Her biotechnological art practice intersects technofeminism, witchcraft, micro and cellular biology with performance, new media and craft. Recent presentations include at Ars Electronica, Art Laboratory Berlin, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Royal College of Art London, Innovation Centre Iceland, and numerous North American institutions. WhiteFeather’s recent doctoral research into developing a novel menstrual serum for tissue engineering experiments was spotlighted by Merck/ SigmaAldrich for International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2021 as part of their #nextgreatimpossible campaign.

www.whitefeatherhunter.ca