Beth Shadur

Artist Statement

My newest body of work, The National Park Project, has resulted as a continuation of my works in the Fragility of the Sacred series, comprising paintings and individual handmade artists' books integrating idea, text and visual images, with the theme of fragility
I am looking at fragility of not only the wider environment, but the fragility of our own lives, both in terms of physical fragility but in terms of emotional fragility so common in our current world situation. As I age, I understand more significantly how fragile our plans are for our futures, and I often use symbolism to explore and portray these ideas.
My most recent series aspires to explore the National Parks as pristine environments that need to be considered as sacred to protect the land and environment which serves as our nation’s natural legacy. The exhibition and research were funded, in part, from an Artist Grant through the Illinois Arts Council Agency; the support allowed me to visit and photograph the five national parks that are in Utah and do continuous research for my artwork. Most importantly, I am reflecting on the impact of climate change, tourism, and man’s use of natural resources on each park; the paintings will reflect these concerns by representing the natural beauty, plants and animals impacted and threatened, and using text to address the fragility of the natural environment there.
This work is a continuation of the work I have undertaken as an Artist in Residences in various exceptional natural environments. I took three weeks as an Artist in Residence at the Leighton Artist Colony, Banff Centre for the Arts. During my time there, the series on “fragility” transformed to Fragility of the Sacred, as I embraced the sacred ground on which I worked. I began to think of what we hold sacred, and how we often devalue that, and how to resolve that issue in my own life. The sacred quality of the landscape and earth is embraced by First Nation people who live in the Banff National Park area; I found their idea of Vision Quest within the land appealing as I worked there, and found passionate inspiration in my research and direct work in the


land. That residency informed my ideas of the sacred, and will continue in the years to come.
Several years ago, I undertook a residency at the Harfnarborg Art Museum in Hafnarjordur, Iceland. My previous ideas about the impact of our human footprint on the environment were emphasized by the sensational ecosystems of Iceland, which has a wide-ranging geology of fire and ice, magnificent in its breathtaking beauty, but which is highly threatened by global warming. Glacial melt threatens to destroy all glaciers there within 100 years. Volcanic eruptions are increasing and threaten not only the natural but built environment. Our stewardship of the earth proves increasingly important. For many years, my work has addressed the fragility of nature, and reflected my vast love for nature. I want my current work on the National Parks to address this alarming circumstance by expressing the wondrous beauty of the natural environment, while reminding us of its fragility. It is only with strong attention to our human impact that we can reverse what are dangerous trends; we must take action now before it is too late.