Athens, Ga. – Patricia Johanson, an internationally recognized artist and environmental designer, will deliver a lecture titled “Ecological Infrastructure: Framing the World as a Work of Art” Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. in room 123 of the University of Georgia College of Environment and Design’s Jackson Street Building.
Johanson’s lecture is the third in a series of discussions on the theme of “art + infrastructure,” which the college is sponsoring during the 2012-2013 academic year. A reception will follow the program. The event is free and open to the public.
For more than three decades, Johanson has designed functioning works of art, creating infrastructures that reclaim impacted ecosystems and connect borders. Her projects involve the design of unusual trails and landscaping features, reintroducing endangered plant and animal species, and creating natural oxidation ponds and polishing pools for improving water quality.
“The college looks forward to hosting a discussion about the challenges of designing artful infrastructures with Patricia Johanson, an artist whose work creates beauty, community pride, and restored ecological function,” said Daniel Nadenicek, dean of the College of Environment and Design.
Johanson’s major projects include Fair Park Lagoon in Dallas, Tex., a municipal flood basin, and “Endangered Garden” in San Francisco, Calif., a transport-storage sewer that is part of Candlestick Point State Recreation Area. Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility in Petaluma, Calif., utilizes sequential wetlands to process sewage into recycled water, while providing three miles of trails through varying wildlife habitats. “The Draw at Sugar House” in Salt Lake City, Utah incorporates a registered dam, floodwalls and spillway into a major highway crossing, while reconnecting Parley’s Creek, which was disrupted during the construction of Interstate 80. “Mary’s Garden” in Scranton, Penn., restores surface flow and purifies water on a site devastated by coal mining. During her lecture, Johanson will highlight these projects, along with her current work.
Johanson’s designs and artworks have been shown in more than 150 exhibitions worldwide, and her writings have been translated into nine languages. She is the author of Creative Solutions to Environmental Problems (1992), Preserving Biocultural Diversity in Public Parks (1996), and The City as an Ecological Art Form (1998).
Paid public parking will be available in the North Campus Parking Deck on south Jackson Street, which is adjacent to the lecture site.
For more information about the college, see www.ced.uga.edu. For more information regarding Johanson’s lecture, call 706/542-1816.
##
