Evelyn R. Swett Photography
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My Green New Deal, Part 1

2/28/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
Trainwork USA, 1987 By Evelyn R. Swett
What happens
when you clean out your studio
and come upon a project that is more than 30 years old?
Picture
By the tracks, 1987 By Evelyn R. Swett
There are black and
​white prints in carefully labeled 
files,
Picture
Scrapbook images are so different from reality outside, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
two scrapbooks with detailed annotations,
Picture
32 year old slides in the artist's studio, 2019 by Evelyn R. Swett
and two binders full of color slides.
Picture
Lovers on a summer adventure, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
More importantly,
what happens when that project
contains raw material that relates directly to one
of the hottest topics in Washington DC?
Picture
Waiting in Kansas City, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
No, I'm not talking
about the impact or reality of an aging
​population or racism
​in our country.
Picture
Somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
I'm talking about
The Green New Deal and
all the controversy it is inspiring.
Picture
The map. Two months, 14 cities. Lots of photographs.
It turns out,
that in 1987, at the age of 21,
I traveled around  the United States
on Amtrak, stayed with alumni ​from my college in twelve
​different cities, and researched murals painted
during the Great Depression in Post
Offices ​and other public
​buildings.
Picture
Slides, Farmersville, TX, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
The highlight was
visiting the small town of Farmersville, Texas,
photographing the mural in the post office and then, a few days
later, meeting the artist, Jerry Bywaters,
​who created that work.
Picture
Scrapbook page. Jerry Bywaters & sketches from a New Deal Art Project, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
The New Deal
is about as good as it gets
when it comes to the convergence of
creativity and climate
action.

Picture
All Aboard Amtrak - Somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
FDR's programs 
were comprehensive, universal
and profoundly innovative. They impacted every
aspect of our country's infrastructure and re-inspired hope
for millions in the dream that once was
​once America.

Picture
Boyscouts, middle of the night in Kansas City, MO, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
Only by
getting out of the
world I knew, was I able to see the
great promise of FDR's vision. At the same time,
I witnessed the reality that fifty years
later, that promise remained
elusive for many,
Picture
Street corner murals, somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
So here I am.
It's 8:30 on a Saturday night.
Calvin, the dog, is asleep at my feet and I am in
heaven, remembering a very long
Saturday night in the
summer of
​1987.

Picture
The waiting room, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
I was changing
trains in Kansas City. The 
Southwest Chief
was six hours late.
There were no cell phones or laptop computers,
so we got to know each other in that pre-digital waiting-room
kind of way. We 
were more concerned for the
well-being of those involved in the
accident on the track, than
we were with being
​late.
Picture
Amtrak Stationmaster, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
Amtrak employees
provided  hats for the kids. I got
out my camera and made friends. 
These places,
people and works of public art I was so
inspired by thirty-two years ago
are why I care so
​much.
Picture
Gorgeous Compost, 8 Black & White, by Evelyn R. Swett
 When I say
that compost is like America,
I mean it. We are nothing without our diversity,
perseverance, and patience. We are also nothing without our audacity.
What the hell? Why not give it a try?
​A Green New Deal ​might
be just be what
we ​need.
Picture
Evelyn R. Swett, 1987
What happens
when I discover a project from
decades ago and my husband is out of town
​and I'm feeling reflective?
A lot, I guess.


To learn more, check out The Living New Deal Project, which documents and celebrates New Deal
Public Art projects and also provides a helpful ​connection to the Green New Deal.
2 Comments

Channeling Charles Sheeler

2/23/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Exterior, Dartmouth College Co-Generation Facility - - Fuel Storage Tanks, 2019
I love climbing tree limbs and ladders.
Picture
I love curves, lines and textures.
Picture
Detail, Dartmouth College Co-Generation Plant, 2019
There is something reassuring about light on metal...
Picture
Detail, Dartmouth Heating Tunnel, Beneath the Green, 2019
and the reality that even with three inches of insulation, some heat gets lost.
Picture
Detail, Home Heating System in Hanover, NH 2019
It's hard to believe
that there are imperfections
with these perfect symmetries and designs.
But there are. Energy can not be created nor destroyed,
but it can be transferred between objects,
creating inefficiencies
​along the way.
Picture
That is
​just the reality of
how things work and why, even
with a relatively upgraded heating system, this vent
on the north side of our living room
doesn't provide much
​heat.

Picture
Detail, Insulated Hot Water Pipe, Hanover, NH 2019.
Isn't it beautiful
to see the unseen, to honor
what is functional and elegant? That's
what climate action at home
is all about for me.
​What about
​you?
0 Comments

Re-imaging Adams - - So Cool

2/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
"Ansel Adams in Our Time" at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts 2019 - Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography

​Last week I saw
"Ansel Adams in Our Time,"
an exhibit at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts.​
​It was totally cool.

Picture
Ansel Adams "Mexican Boy, 1948" Detail, Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
​
​It is clear
that Adams witnessed
and understood a whole lot more
about the human condition than his reverent
landscapes had ever revealed to
​me on their own. 
Picture
Ansel Adams "Ferns" Detail, Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
Check out
this intimate portrait
of a Mexican boy, this stunning
close-up of a fern, and this panoramic
​view of human development. 
Picture
Ansel Adams, "Freeway Interchange, LA, 1967" Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography

It gave me
the chills. Adams
understood our reciprocal
relationship with the natural world and
the fragility of our co-
​dependence.


Picture
Alberto Morell, "Tent-Camera Image on Ground, View of Mount Moran" 2011, Detail © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography

There I was,
reflected in the glass,
paying attention to these imaginative
re-imagings of Ansel Adams's world. In Abelardo
Morell's exploration of the microcosmos and the macrocosmos
I saw the tenuous balance between individual
rights and collective  responsibility
necessary in any
​democracy.
​
Picture
Mitch Epstein, "Altamont Pass Wind Farm, CA" 2007, Detail Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography

And I laughed
when I saw myself in Mitch
Epstein's "Altamont Pass Wind Farm."
So funny how we play games with
each other, with nature and
with ourselves.

​
Picture
Lucas Foglia, "Beach Restoration after El Nino Waves, 2016" Detail Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography

And,
I loved Luis
Faglio's reflection about beach
restoration, how it celebrates the "hope
and the irony that we are able
​to move sand."

​
Picture
Laura McPhee "Midsummer, 2008" Detail, Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography

​Strange,
to feel at home
in a large, meandering
exhibit in an even larger museum,
but the message of these works was close
to home. Yes, we can move sand. Yes,
lupine does grow after a fire.Yes,
we have the power to renew
not just ourselves, but the
planet as well. 
Yes.
0 Comments

By Degrees - An Artist's Origin Story

2/3/2019

0 Comments

 
How did I get here?
​Why does it matter?
Picture
Sunrise reflected in Maine. Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
If you read my
post, "Why By Degrees"
you have some idea. But what's the
real story behind this blog and this site?
If you've known me for any length
of time, you've witnessed
an evolution...


Picture
Garden View. Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
2013:
A blog called
"Ataraxia Gardens"?
It sounded exotic. Ataraxy stands
for "serene calmness." I needed that. For
a bunch of ancient Greeks, Ataraxia was a lucid
state of ​robust equanimity. Heaven.
That's me. In the garden.
I wanted to ​share.
​
Picture
Blight on the landscape, or work of modern art? 2013. Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
2014:
Then I found
Rufus and George.
Why not let them speak for me?
Our global problems are all about consumption
and our need for objects of all kinds. What insights could
a ruffled 50-year-old Steif Chimpanzee and a broken
china pug share about our relationship to all
our belongings, big and small?
So I briefly had a blog
called "Rufus &
​George
."


Picture
Rufus & George, Maine 2014. Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
2015:
There was
a problem, though.
I had more to  say than Rufus &
George understood, about how stuck we seemed,
caught between 20th century expectations and 21st century
realities. It hit me when I forgot to pull up instead of push down when
I peed. It's so confusing, changing a habit I'd had my entire life.
Flush the toilet. Push down. Until now, when everything
was a hybrid. So I created a blog, a business,
and a book, all called "Our
​Hybrid Lives.
"
​
Picture
Connecticut River from a hot air balloon, 2005. Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
2016:
But I was stuck.
Why would anyone care?
Who was I behind the blog, book
and business? What was I trying to prove, and to
whom? So I got help. When my new business coach asked
me those same questions, I knew, in my heart, that I
was a photographer. When she asked me what I
loved, I knew -- compost and being outside
and noticing light and texture and
beauty. So I ignored all I had
been doing, got my
camera and
explored.

Picture
The first 'compost composition,' 2014. Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
2017:
I kept exploring,
while taking small steps
forward. A web site. A business card.
A trip to New York City to photograph compost
& a few months later, have a 'pop-up' show where
I stood by my work and told people I was a
photographer and that I was into
compost, which kept inviting
me to go deeper, beyond
the soil, and into
​myself. 

Picture
Don's flowers, 2017. Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
2018:
I kept diving.
Saboteurs yacked on 
my shoulder, but I kept going.  
A visit to my sister in Idaho gave me time
to process. 
Compost, it seems, has the answers for me.
Pay attention. Be patient. Honor micro- dramas.
Allow for the mess and complexity
contained in any story, even
my own. Change "by
degrees
."

Picture
2 Degrees, 5, 2018. Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
2019:
Clarity emerges.
My work inspires joy and
new ways of being by celebrating this
​magical convergence of creativity and climate action
that I experience every day. Who knew?
Welcome. This is going to be fun.
Maybe we'll meet in person
some day and you can
share your story
with me.


Picture
Sunset, near Mount Washington, NH. Copyright © 2019, Evelyn R Swett Photography
So that's how I got here.
It matters because you matter and your
story matters. Even if, like mine, your journey includes
false starts and stops and takes you this way 
and that, it's relevant and of value.
Because, in  a democracy,
we all matter.


0 Comments
    Picture
    Evelyn R. Swett
    reframing the narrative in community and with myself, finding transformation and joy in the mess of it all
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    compost re-imagined
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**Let's ReFrame is a weekly viewsletter about this and that.
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  • Welcome
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