The Green Artists League (GAL) is an interdisciplinary artists' collective
that creates public art addressing the
global environmental crisis. GAL is a forum of contemporary artists exploring
art and ethics in an era of ecological degradation. GAL engages
the public through interactive art experiences and hopes to raise awareness
and inspire environmentally healthy behaviors and attitudes. Find
out more ->
GAL is turning a desolate field of weeds into a visually compelling garden that will educate and engage the community for years to come. Located on a 160′ x 25′ site near the south entrance of Newburyport’s l Trail, the Alchemical Garden is a richly layered evolving art and horticulture experience that is accessible on many different levels to the public.
Alchemical Garden Plot plan
Alchemical Garden is designed to become a model for a sustainable, interactive public garden through the use of symbiotic, low maintenance plantings and recycled materials.
The ancient discipline of Alchemy marries art and science and is famously known for transforming a common material into gold. The Alchemical Garden will lead the community to transform on a number of levels :
Alchemical Garden with Spring Wheat "Crop Circles" June, 2011
BUILD COMMUNITY: The Garden creates a gathering space for individuals to form a more intimate relationship with their community. The space is designed with visual features and seating areas to compel passers-by to pause, reflect, and have a multi-sensory interactive experience ( sight, smell, touch, taste, smell) with the garden and the community.
In the spring of 2008, The Green Artists League became one of the first participants in The New Eden Collaborative – the central environmental mission of the First Parish Church of Newbury.
High Rise Nesting Co-op boxes and Radient City Hen House
First Parish’s goal of bring together individuals and environmental groups to develop sustainable community through organic community gardens, organic chicken co-op, and organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and community events was fertile ground for GAL’s first Articulture project.
The participatory art projects at New Eden is the first of GAL’s 3 ”Articulture” community art projects.
GAL inspired projects at the New Eden Collaborative from 2009-2011 include:
2009-2010 New Eden Organic Community Garden Plot created by GAL artist/architect Stephenie Strogney and myself. The garden was designed to break the utilitarian grid of traditional community gardens to cultivate the contemplative and relational aspects of gardening and community. Plots were clustered into “neighborhoods” and paths were configured as to require the walk to turn several times to get to the other side of the garden as a way to increase awareness of time and place.
Supported in part by a grant from the Newburyport Cultural Council, GAL collage artist Pamela Perkins will conduct five weekday workshops during April school vacation. Students will work in teams to create four large Art-Pots which will later be planted and installed in a shared community garden. This is the beginning of GAL’s “Articulture #3”—a series of ongoing projects.
Called “Flower Power,” the workshop utilizes drawing, painting, decoupage and collage techniques. Participants will visually explore the world of “plant guilds,” permaculture and edible flowers, and upon completion, each pot will represent the horticultural science of the plants growing in them–how they’re working together to create and sustain a healthy environment.
