Gaia#17, by Jean Ann Pollard.Gaia#17, by Jean Ann Pollard.

Sculptor Laurie Sproul and painter Jean Ann Pollard create beautiful artifacts that stir the senses, but the pair want to do more than just please the eye. The Maine natives are using their art to raise awareness about climate change and promote novel solutions to the planet’s most pressing problems.

Colored Sunflower, by Laurie Sproul.Colored Sunflower, by Laurie Sproul.Earth: Love it or Lose it, the traveling art show that Sproul and Pollard have put together, focuses on the magic, irreplaceable beauty of the planet and invites viewers to embrace “an all-hands-on-deck challenge at finding solutions to problems,” Sproul says.

The show travels this fall to College of the Atlantic’s Ethel H. Blum Gallery, where it will be on display for three weeks. An opening reception on Nov. 5, from 4-7:30 p.m. will include inspiring words from members of COA climate justice group Earth in Brackets who are gearing up for the 21st United Nations Conference of the Parties environmental talks in Paris this winter.

“Our wish for the exhibit at the Blum Gallery is that Jean Ann and Laurie’s beautiful work inspires creative engagement with this critical issue, inspires grief, hope, understanding, fear, love, and responsibility,” says [Earth]’s Matthew Kennedy ’18. 

Sproul’s elegant sculpting in a variety of Maine woods and Pollard’s Gaia Series of acrylic paintings, with bas relief, focus on supreme importance of our planet. Turning our attention to the beauty of the earth is a meaningful action that grows in importance with each passing day, Sproul says.

“This is a global movement, and we must join in,” she says.

Gaia #4, Mother & Child, by Jean Ann Pollard.Gaia #4, Mother & Child, by Jean Ann Pollard.

[Earth]’s Morgan Heckerd ’18 says that while she is somewhat skeptical of the international climate talks she and others will take part in this winter, she is buoyed by local actions such as the Love it or Lose it show.

“I am so excited about this exhibit and sharing this story with the community of MDI,” Heckerd says. “The moment you understand what is happening at the UN level and register that they are not saving us can be extremely empowering. We need to realize thatLadyslipper, by Laurie Sproul.Ladyslipper, by Laurie Sproul. when international negotiations cannot bring change, we must.”

All are invited to the opening of this important show. View art, drink wine, listen to live music, and join Jean Ann Pollard, Laurie Sproul and student voices for this important global conversation.

“Before the group of us voyages to Paris to witness UN negotiators haggle over the future of the planet, we dream that people may come, congregate, marvel, ponder, talk, and then decide to join the global movement for climate justice, for a transition away from fossil fuels, for the creation of a fair and sustainable world,” Kennedy says.

Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The show runs through Nov. 27.