This class will examine the interrelationship between ecology, aesthetics, politics and ethics as they have been and are being reflected in historic, modern, and contemporary art (painting, sculpture, poetry, video, installation, mixed-media). It will take a global perspective on issues that are inevitably global in scope by looking at how artists from across cultures have been addressing environmental crises since the Industrial Revolution. We will focus on major themes such as the relationship between art and capitalism, art and material resources, environmental justice, and artist activism. We will discuss and explore these themes through both creative and analytic acts of writing and making. 

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• identify major works of art that have spoken to ecological and environmental issues from 1800-Present;
• summarize complex relationships between political ethics and environmental aesthetics;
• distinguish the various kinds of responses that artists can take to impact environmental change and political crisis;
• analyze works of art across media as they relate to contemporary political, ethical, and environmental issues and crises;
• integrate multiple readings, media, and resources working with a partner to ideate an act of art activism.