Into the Open: A Breath of Fresh Air
by ecodesignlife
February 8, 2009
"The earth belongs to each...generation during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of debts and encumbrances of the first, the third of second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not the living generation." -Thomas Jefferson
Emily Piccirillo's "Into the Open" exhibit, currently showcasing at the newly located Gallery Neptune in Bethesda, MD, is a refreshing juxtaposition of our natural environment and the urban surroundings created by man. After living in both rural and urban settings, Piccirillo convinces us to maintain a meaningful relationship with the natural world, notwithstanding continued industrial progress in a modern information age. Piccirillo's vision contemplates how the environments we create fit into our natural surroundings; each piece emphasizing the importance of the natural world by making the air we breathe a focal point, reminding us not to lose sight of what is imperative to our future survival.
Piccirillo's portraits are vivid variations of our mental and physical atmospheric quality. She divides the final composition into as many as 48 elements, each element stretched, and then tied together with sheets of medium gage steel wire remesh, a construction material exploited to reinforce concrete structures. One piece, titled "Promise to Keep", depicts a gray or muted-silver sky divided into five elements, each chagrined by an unwelcome arrival of storm clouds; a foreshadowing of the environmental crisis to come and a reminder of our unspoken promise to the planet.
Another piece, titled "The Flesh We Breathe", pays homage to Piccirillo's social artistic thought. While maintaining a similar construction in five elements, The Flesh We Breathe contemplates a more social kind of environmental crisis, reminding us of the racial divide still evident throughout America. Using various shades of brown to portray the social atmosphere in which we live, the artist was able to create a spectrum of human skin tones. Interestingly, the clouds painted in this piece do not appear stormy, but rather at ease in a more peaceful and changing sky, possibly to reflect a dissipating racial divide (a timely message given the recent inauguration of our new President and his promise of change).
Emily Piccirillo's "Into the Open" exhibit (February 4-28, 2009) is a must see for art lovers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Gallery Neptune, owned by Elyse Harrison, is located at 5001 Wilson Lane in Bethesda, MD and is housed on the second floor of the newly constructed Peripoint building. Gallery Neptune presents monthly exhibitions featuring new work by local mid-atlantic artists. The eco-friendly gallery features recycled glass and plastic countertops, rapidly renewable wheatboard and bamboo materials, compact florescent bulbs, a tankless water heater and tinted windows for energy efficiency.
Originally a one story structure, the newly sustainable Peripoint construction, designed by Bethesda, MD-based Michael Belisle, AIA, rises three stories high with a partial extensive modular green roof. The Peripoint is applying for Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council for sustainable design. Among other unique and sustainable elements, the building includes pavers and perimeters on the sidewalk terrace to reduce storm water run-off, bike racks and showers to encourage walking and biking to work, maximum daylight lighting with operable windows, lowered solar screens designed to block sunlight in the summer, renewable building materials, including recycled material content, recycled demolished building parts, and highly efficient energy recovery ventilators for exhausting stale air from the building and drawing fresh air in to replace it.
Environmentally responsible design is an emerging but essential concept in the future of human progress. It is necessary to enhance the health and well-being of both the current and future generations, as well as the planet in which we live, work and propser. The Peripoint building and the eco-friendly Gallery Neptune that houses Piccirillo's socially and environmentally responsible "Into the Open" exhibit have set new standards in Bethesda for sustainable design. Moving into the future, we must match and exceed these standards to cultivate sustainable lifestyles that function from cradle to cradle.