The Green Artists League (GAL) is an interdisciplinary collective of artists who have come together to create public art that addresses the global environmental crisis. The Green Artists League is both an art-making collaborative and a forum for contemporary artists to explore the relationship of art and ethics in an era of ecological degradation. GAL strives to be a model of community, collaboration, and service. Viewing art as an agent for transformation, GAL engages the public through interactive art experiences. It is GAL’s hope that by engaging the public as co-creators in our work we will raise environmental awareness and empower people to adopt environmentally sustainable behaviors and attitudes.
If you would like to contact the Green Artists League, send an email to greenartistsleague@gmail.com
Members
Erin Stack (www.erinstack.net), Co-Director, holds a MFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a MA in Counseling Psychology from Leslie University. After many years of teaching at the University of Iowa and exhibiting as an abstract painter, Erin left the art world. She pursued her psychology degree and worked in addictions counseling, and creativity training. Moved by her spiritual practice in Zen and Christian communities, Erin became increasingly involved in environmental activism and cultivating ethical and creative community. In 2006, Erin founded the Green Artists League.
Jeannie Dunnigan, (www.jeanniedunnigan.com), Co-Director, received a BFA from Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA. She is one of the founding members of GAL. Jeannie has a passion for making art for building awareness of our environment in the community. She developed a youth art program at the Lower Merrimack Valley Boys & Girls Club. Her work includes large scale portraits made from shredded junk mail, as well as paintings, and works in other media. Jeannie is currently Creative Project Manager for The Journeyman Press, an FSC certified commercial printer.
Deb Cinamon Whalen (www.debcinamonwhalen.com), Co-Director, is an environmental artist from the New Hampshire seacoast. She holds a BFA degree from The New Hampshire Institute of Art, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Deb works primarily with fibers and photography in an effort to raise awareness about social and political issues. Her work has been exhibited in juried shows and art galleries across the country. It is Deb’s hope that her work is enjoyed for its aesthetic qualities and also challenges viewers to consider their day to day behaviors that may be adversely impacting our environment.
Tim Gaudreau (www.timgaudreau.com and www.wake-up.ws), Co-Director, explores the role of artist as cultural instigator, asking questions that raise issues and challenge assumptions about our relationship to nature. His work combines humor and irony as artistic tools, with photography, video, new media, graphics and sculpture, to provoke public consciousness and advocate awareness of eco-issues. Awards including the Artist Advancement Fellowship from the NH Charitable Foundation, Fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and NH State Council on the Arts, and commissions from the city of Portsmouth, have given Gaudreau the opportunity to create public art projects that have stimulated collaboration, interaction, and have challenged conventional thinking.
Stephenie Strogney, Co-Director, studied architecture and art history at Barnard College and received her Master of Architecture degree from the Ohio State University. She is a LEED accredited professional and is currently completing her architectural internship at Signer Harris Architects in Boston. Although her schedule permits her only a dilettantish art practice, Stephenie loves to be an often antithetical voice at the GAL discussion table.
Pamela Perkins, Co-Director, holds a B.A. in Theatre with a minor in Art from Southern Connecticut State University and an M.A. in Media Studies from the New School University. She also holds certification as an Artist-in the Hospitals from the Creative Center in New York City. Through the years she has served as Director of Community Arts at the University of Maine At Augusta, Executive Administrator of the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at Salem State College in Massachusetts and, most recently as Director of Marketing and Membership of the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport, Massachusetts and is a founding member of the Salem Arts Association. Pamela is also a recycled glass collage artist and has shown extensively in Massachusetts. For samples of her work: SpiritGlass: The Movie
Ruth Rosebury Trussell, (http://twitter.com/artnnature) Contributor, holds a MFA degree in painting from the Yale School of Art and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. She has extensive college-level teaching background in fine arts and graphic design and has been the Principal of Trussell Associates, a small design studio, with clients including Houghton-Mifflin, the Center for Collaborative Education, Middlesex Community College, and others. Ruth has also been a beta tester for graphics software, a computer trainer, and worked for over five years at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston as a Macintosh Studios Curriculum Support Manager. Her passions for the environment, green living, and art, have spanned many years.
Tina Wasserman, Consultant, is a faculty member in the Visual and Critical Studies Department at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Tufts University. Her publications include “Constructing the Image of Postmemory,” in The Image and the Witness (Wallflower Press, 2007), “Intersecting Traumas: the Holocaust, the Palestinian Occupation and the Work of Israeli Journalist Amira Hass” in Culture and Conflict: Contemporary Perspectives on War (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007), as well as several articles on film and visual culture in Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, Screen, C Magazine, New Art Examiner, Dialogue, and others. Tina has been awarded fellowships and residencies at the Whitney Museum Independent Studio Program, Ragdale Foundation, Ucross Foundation, and Banff Center for the Arts. She has received grants from The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and The National Endowment for the Arts Regional Media Fellowship, among others. She has a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University and also works in film, digital media, and the visual arts.
Cathy Stephens (cstephens@montserrat.edu), Intern, working on earning her BFA at Monsterrat College of Art in Massachusetts. She works in a variety of art mediums and styles, with a focus on sculpting and painting. With a great love of animals and a desire to put her imagination onto paper, it is her hope to one day to realize her dream of becoming a talented illustrator.