sandy walker :
recent news
home paintings
news works on paper
resume wood block
bibliography silkscreen
contact sandy statements
Comments at Yale

I would like to make the statement that art is a revelation. It is a revelation of personal vision, of inner experience, of the partially seen (what we only glimpse), of the ineffable, of the spiritual. Art is the communication also of things we find difficult to express in other ways. It is a means to point (like figuratively to point with our finger) to what we find difficult into other parts of our cognitive processes.

So what does this mean about the environment? About Nature? It means that art is a means through which we address nature, our natural world. It is a means through which we inquire and communicate, a means through which we find meaning or the lack of it.

And so what do I think this would mean for you as Environmentalists? It means that preservation of nature is not only for its practical uses, but also just as importantly for its purely esthetic uses- for its continual source of inspiration to us as human beings.

In reflecting on nature, we reflect on ourselves, on the nature of our very being. And through nature, we find not only pleasure, but also wisdom, inspiration, and personal knowledge. And preserving nature, as I am sure you all know, is the same as preserving ourselves.

April 17, 2012