The power of water and how it influences the way people live is the inspiration behind a new exhibition at the Ontario Museum of History & Art.
Seven artists will present a variety of pieces that look at the collision of urban growth and the natural world in a free exhibition dubbed “Conduit,” which opens Saturday, Feb. 17 and runs through Sunday, May 19.
“It’s an exhibition that looks at the friction between nature and infrastructure in regards to water. It looks at how water shapes our lives,” said Debra Scacco, curator for the exhibition.
Made up of about 20 pieces, the exhibition includes drawings, installations and photographs to explore things like how water affects native and non-native species, fire, industry and cultural practices.
Artists in the exhibition include Christy Roberts Berkowitz, whose work has been exhibited at places such as MOCA and the Getty Museum. She will be exhibiting drawings depicting invasive plant species anchored in a frame of heavy charcoal, which is a material used to stop the spread of this plant life. She’s pairing that with drawings of native plants significant to the local indigenous Serrano culture.
“It’s really thinking about this relationship between native and invasive and protection and allowing native plants to flourish,” Scacco said.
Another piece by Gerald Clarke, a professor at the University of California Riverside where he teaches classes in Native American art, history and culture, looks at urban sprawl that’s made possible by the diversion of water. He created a model of homes on a suburban track.
“What you see underneath it is drawings of acorns and it’s basically indigenous history. It basically looks at how this modern suburban sprawl is built on the first peoples in California,” Scacco said of Clarke’s work.
The exhibition includes several public programs with artists talks, panels and workshops.
“Conduit”
When: 6-9 p.m. opening reception Feb. 17. Exhibition runs through May 19
Where: Ontario Museum of History & Art, 225 S. Euclid Avenue, Ontario
Tickets: Free admission. Find more information at ontariomuseum.org.
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