How to Move a Landscape: Blane De St. Croix with Patrick Megonigal and Martha Schwendener

Inspired by the long history of artists addressing the landscape, artist Blane De St. Croix begins with in-depth research on the science, geopolitics, and culture of a place. Through aesthetically seductive works in various media and recycled materials, De St. Croix tells stories that facilitate a greater understanding of the shared social, political, and environmental changes we face on both a local and global level. He is a 2019 recipient of the Lee Krasner Award from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation in recognition of a lifetime of artistic achievement, The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, among many other awards and fellowships. His exhibition How to Move a Landscape is on view at MASSMoCA through September 6, 2021.

Senior Scientist and Director of Research at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Pat Megonigal is an ecosystem ecologist with expertise in biogeochemistry, wetland ecology, greenhouse gas emissions, sea level rise, carbon and greenhouse gas cycling in wetlands and forests, particularly as they relate to global change. He is also the Lead Investigator of the Global Change Research Wetland, Founding Director of the Coastal Carbon Network, and Chief Scientist of COMPASS, a DOE-funded coastal science program. Megonigal was principal advisor to Blane De St. Croix during his time as a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow.

Art historian Martha Schwendener, PhD, is an art critic for the New York Times and a visiting professor at New York University. Her criticism and essays have been published in Artforum, Afterimage, Bookforum, October, Art in America, The New Yorker, the Village Voice, the Brooklyn Rail, Art Papers, New Art Examiner, Paper Monument, and other publications. She is working on a manuscript that examines Flusser’s philosophy in relation to art. Schwendener recently conducted a studio interview with Blane De St. Croix which is included in the extensive publication for How to Move a Landscape at MASS MoCA.