How Much Do You Know About Environmental Sculpture?

Environmental Sculpture: A Summary

• Environmental sculpture creates or alters the environment for the viewer, rather than presenting itself monumentally before the viewer.
• Larger environmental sculptures are designed to generate shadows, reflections, or to color the light in the surrounding area.
• Environmental sculptures are never made to work at exactly human scale, but are larger or smaller to avoid confusion with the human image in the eyes of the viewer.
• Sculptors such as Louise Nevelson, Jane Frank, Tony Smith, and David Smith are placed in the category of environmental sculpture.
• Figurative works of George Segal qualify as environmental sculpture as they occupy and perturb the setting in which they are placed.
• Athena Tacha's 2-acre park Connections in downtown Philadelphia is an example of a landscape art environment that was sculpted by an artist.
• Environmental sculpture created for a particular set of surroundings is different from a Nevelson sculpture, which can usually be moved from place to place without losing its meaning and effectiveness.
• Environmental sculpture entails the idea that the piece also functions to alter or permeate the existing environment or even to create a new environment in which the viewer is invited to participate.
• Richard Serra's large, site-specific, minimalist sculptures also qualify as environmental sculpture.
• "Land art" or "earth art" could also be termed environmental sculpture.
• Site-specific art and environmental art are sometimes used interchangeably.
• Much of site-specific and environmental art was created from 1970 on for public spaces all over the United States, sponsored by federal or state and city Percent for Art competitions.