A new temporary art exhibition, Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet, is now on display at Santa Monica’s Airport Park. Each of the three globes portrays a different theme about what each of us can do to combat global warming.
The globes were created in Chicago in the summer of 2007 as a community arts project. The participating artists were asked to paint and decorate a fiberglass globe that was five feet in diameter and seven feet tall and weighed more than a ton. The globes then went on the road to Washington D.C., San Francisco and San Diego. New globes have been added in each of the host cities.
More than 50 of the Cool Globes are now on display in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. Santa Monica resident Lindsay Guetshow, project manager for Cool Globes, Los Angeles, told the Mirror she suggested Santa Monica display the globes. It was important to her “to have some of the globes for the residents to enjoy and become engaged.” Santa Monica is one of several satellite locations for the exhibition to help drum up interest for people to go to the larger exhibit. Hundreds of thousands of people have already seen the Exposition Park exhibit because of the large number of events held there. Guetshow also explained that another component of Cool Globes is engaging each exhibition city’s school system with an educational curriculum on global warming.
Santa Monica Public Art Coordinator, Malina Moore, in an interview with the Mirror, explained the exhibition is part of the City’s Public Art program. The expenses to bring the exhibit to Airport Park were paid for by Cool Globes which is a non-profit.
Each of the globes on display in Santa Monica proposes its own solution to global warming. The one by Bob Anderson is called “Walk, Run, Rollerblade, and Bike More” and it depicts figures around the globe who are using their own muscle power as a means of transportation.
Artist Nancy L. Steinmeyer’s solution is to have people get involved. Her globe is titled “We Scream, Then We Act.” She uses imagery from Edward Munch’s famous painting “The Scream” along with a representation of Uncle Sam to signify the planet’s call for help and to ask the world’s inhabitants to act against global warming.
Lastly, Angelina Villanueva’s globe proposes solving global warming by buying green e-products. Her globe depicts environmentally friendly energy options through symbols and words.
The exhibition in Santa Monica will end on July 31. More information can be found at www.coolglobes.com. Santa Monica’s Airport Park can be contacted at 310.458.8300 and it is located at the corner of Bundy and Airport Drive.
