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April 10, 2019Clarkson University’s Beacon Institute to Host Art Exhibit by Environmental Activist John Sabraw
Clarkson’s Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries will launch the exhibit “Anthrotopographies” by artist John Sabraw with an opening event next weekend, April 13, 2019, from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Beacon Institute Gallery, 199 Main St., Beacon, NY 12508.
As an environmentalist and activist, Sabraw produces much of his work in a fully eco-conscious manner. He collaborates with scientists on many projects, including his latest that involves creating paint and paintings from iron oxide extracted in the process of remediating polluted streams. The exhibit takes viewers through what happens to the land when natural resources have been extracted and the resulting pollutants that are left behind.
The show is quite special to Sabraw. “Returning to the Hudson for this show drove me to combine my love of nature and landscape with my environmental art and science work to create a body of artworks that explore how we can restore and sustain the awe of our wilderness areas and waterways while actively addressing the underlying issues,” he said.
Sabraw has partnered with an engineering professor to extract toxic acid mine drainage from polluted streams in Ohio and turn it into paint pigment. Once the pigment is sold on a commercial scale, that revenue will be invested back into the streams’ remediation.
Visitors to the Beacon Gallery next weekend will see something special in the exhibit, “I have created new pieces for the exhibit using brick dust from actual bricks made long ago along the Hudson that indeed shaped its actual form, even as it polluted the river,” Sabraw said.
On June 27, Sabraw will give a talk at the Beacon Institute on his artistic and scientific process, and his vision for restoring waterways through art. The event will be open to the public.
Sabraw’s art is in numerous collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Honolulu, the Elmhurst Museum in Illinois, Emprise Bank, and Accenture Corp. Sabraw is represented in Chicago by Thomas McCormick.
Sabraw is a Professor of Art at Ohio University where he is Chair of the Painting + Drawing program, and Board Advisor at Scribble Art Workshop in New York. He has most recently been featured in TED, Smithsonian, New Scientist, and Great Big Story. He was born in Lakenheath, England.
As a private, national research university, Clarkson is a leader in technological education and sustainable economic development through teaching, scholarship, research and innovation. We ignite personal connections across academic fields and industries to create the entrepreneurial mindset, knowledge and intellectual curiosity needed to innovate world-relevant solutions and cultivate the leaders of tomorrow. With its main campus located in Potsdam, N.Y., and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region, Beacon, N.Y., and New York City, Clarkson educates 4,300 students across 95 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, the arts, education, sciences and health professions. Our alumni earn salaries that are among the top 2.5% in the nation and realize accelerated career growth. One in five already leads as a CEO, senior executive or owner of a company.
[A photograph for media use is available at https://www.clarkson.edu/sites/default/files/media/image/2019-04/sabraw-coal.JPG ]
[News directors and editors: For more information, contact Melissa Lindell, Director of Media Relations, at 315-268-6716 or mlindell@clarkson.edu.]
