The beauty of power: Artwork inspired by wind energy

“Electrical Storm” © Daniel Trbovic

“Spirits of the Valley” © Anne Subercaseaux

By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian

posted June 16, 2006

As long as there has been art and nature, wind has been a muse.

From popular folk songs to the Seattle Symphony’s recent premier of a tuba concerto inspired by a wind tunnel; from pinwheels to chimes, artists are fascinated by wind’s power and mystery.

That was the way for David Gautier. The Rutland artist was traveling through Scotland several years ago when he came across a field of turbines. “It sort of surprised me. I came out to the countryside and saw areas of this big flat farmland that had a handful of those huge wind turbines, and I thought they were beautiful,” said Gauthier. “They fit the feeling of independence out there.”

“I think some artists agree that they are kind of kinetic sculptures on the hilltops,” he added.

Gauthier was so inspired by the sight that he returned home to his Rutland graphics design shop and created a limited edition of about 30 screened prints featuring a row of tall, white turbines on a brilliant, spring-green hillside.

It is one of 15 pieces, including three by Vermont artists, featured earlier this month in an exhibit at the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) national conference in Pittsburgh, PA. The show was coordinated in part by REimaginations, a Vermont company “dedicated to the celebration of renewable energy through art.”

Vermonters Gauthier, Sabra Field, and Barbara Ekedahl contributed work to the exhibit, which featured original paintings, prints, digital images, and mixed-media pieces by artists in the United States and Europe.

“Wind turbines have both aesthetic and symbolic power that translates well into artistic expression,” said Andrew Perchlik, founder of REimaginations, in a statement. “The issue of aesthetics is discussed more here in Vermont and the Northeast than in other parts of the country. We want to show people that this is a technology that relates well to working landscapes — here and around the world.”

“It’s no accident that there is a long tradition of wind energy in artworks,” said Sakura Emerine of AWEA. “Wind energy is an elegant blend of form and function, and artists have worked to capture the power of this combination for hundreds of years in everything from sketches to paintings to photographs to sculptures.”

The collected works reflect that diversity in medium, color, and form. Ekedahl’s somber-toned woodcut of turbines against a topographical map stands in start contrast to the riotous pink-and-green swirl by Croatian artist Martina Komericki.

In Daniel Trbovic’s “Freedom of the Wind,” the futuristic graphics are reminiscent of a Star Wars marsh where Yoda would feel at home. Field, meanwhile, in a piece commissioned by NRG Systems of Hinesburg, created a utopian row of white turbines along a picture-perfect ridgeline under puffy, sunset-tinged clouds.

Serbian artist Aleksandar Rodic invokes Tolkien-like fantasy with his computer-enhanced photograph, “Energy Plant,” featuring small white turbines atop green stalks against a cloud-studded blue sky. “I was aiming to show the beauty of clean energy,” said Rodic on the website www.subdevine.com.

“As demand for energy is rapidly overgrowing energy production on earth, we are falling behind with environmental issues,” he continued. “We should be also greatly concerned about future issues, like fossil fuel consumption which lead to global shortage, and eventually disappearance.”

Not all artists are so overtly political. Ekedahl, who lives in Lincoln, described herself as an “advocate of alternative energy sources” who is “up in the air about large windfarms.”

“I feel like smaller projects and personal wind turbines are a great idea,” she noted.

Like Gautier, Ekedahl said she was surprised and awed when she came across a windfarm unexpectedly. “In driving back from Massachusetts one day, I took an alternate route and wasn’t aware of the small windfarm project in Searsburg until I happened upon it. I was just struck by how beautiful they looked in that setting.”

Asked if her artwork was a political statement, Ekedahl said, “Since I do support alternative energy development I would say that my putting it out there in the marketplace is a bit of a statement.”

Of her medium, a woodblock print in black Sumi ink on a map, she said, ”I sometimes like to chose what map I’m using as a statement.” She did one print on a map of downtown Washington DC, placing the turbine almost on top of the White House.

“A lot of maps are chosen because there are already existing windfarms, such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Iowa,” she said. “Other times I just choose beautiful topographical maps because I like their lines.”

Gauthier characterizes his art’s message as personal, not political. “Some of the artists said something about trying to be careful about ownership and profits. … I think those are important questions to answer as far as siting wind turbines here in Vermont. It’s one issue to have them be a symbol of our independence … but if an out-of-state developer puts them up, or an out-of-country developer, and keeps the profits and the electricity goes to some other state, what have we really gained?”

Unsolicited, Gauthier said he sent prints to both wind energy advocates and critics, along with an artist’s statement explaining his work. “I only got one response from one of the organizations opposed to wind,” he said “I had a nice conversation with one of the guys from one of those organizations. We respected each others’ views. I didn’t really sway him.”

Another recipient, Gov. Jim Douglas, did not respond, but Gauthier said he didn’t really expect a response. “The governor doesn’t particularly say anything black and white” about this issue, the artist commented.

Like the Australian aboriginals, who used to create ephemeral paintings in the sand that lasted only until the next wind, the Pittsburgh exhibit is gone now. But the wind-inspired artwork still can be seen online, at the REimaginations website, www.reimaginations.com.