Featured on Channel 39 KIAH-TV, Houston TX - November 24, 2009

Going Green with Yolanda Green
“Natural Recyclers” and “Wasted Resolve” Art Exhibitions
Featuring two installations by Divya Murthy and Nicola Parente

Houston, Texas – Art League Houston announced the opening of "Natural Recyclers," which features an earth media installation by Divya Murthy and Nicola Parente, created for the Art League patio, and its accompanying installation. "Wasted Resolve," takes place in the ALH project gallery, Nov. 13 through Dec. 3. "Natural Recyclers" is a long-term project, and the first installation to take place in the Art League Patio since it opened to the public in 2008.

"Natural Recyclers" opened in conjunction with "Obsession of the Essential," which features the mixed media works of Brent Kollock, in Art League Houston's Main Gallery.

Using mainly recyclable and renewable resources, Parente and Murthy have created a site specific installation for the Art League Patio, consisting of three giant mushrooms, whose bases are fabricated from rebar, soil and moss. The mushroom caps and stems are planted with Texas native and non-native, edible and herb plants. The use of the mushroom reflects the important role the fungi play in the ecosystem through its use of decomposing materials as its source of nourishment. Parente and Murthy feel that the mushroom and its symbiotic relationship with the root structures of plants is the ideal symbolic gesture to promote environmental consciousness within our community.

"Wasted Resolve," an installation created by Parente and Murthy for the front gallery, is inspired by a 2008 New York Times article that ranked Houston as the worst recycler among the nation's 30 largest cities. "Wasted Resolve" is a visual categorized summary of un-recycled waste created from debris collected during a week-long period from an eight-block area surrounding Art League Houston. The intent of "Wasted Resolve" is to make the viewer more aware of our city's waste consumption and to create a dialogue with the audience that focuses attention on the importance of reducing waste.

About the Artists
In 2000, Divya Murthy graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.F.A. in Photography and Digital Media from the University of Houston, with a Minor in Art History. In 2006 she received an M.F.A. in Studio Art from the School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University in Boston. Her photographs, videos, and installations have been exhibited throughout the United States at venues that include the Galveston Arts Center, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Baltimore Contemporary Museum, and the Blaffer Museum at the University of Houston. Her awards include a 2006 Yousuf Karsh Prize in Photography, First Place from the School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a Carol Crow Memorial Fellowship from the Houston Center for Photography, and a 2005 AIGA World Studio Foundation Grant.

Born in Mola di Bari, Italy in 1966, Nicola Parente currently lives and works in Houston. He has a B.A. from Kings College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Earlier this year, Parente's work was exhibited in Transparent/Translucent, curated by Wade Wilson at the Museum Gallery, University of Texas, San Antonio. In 2008 he collaborated with the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater in designing and creating the set for the world premier production of Terminus, a dance inspired by Parente's paintings. The artist's work is represented by Gremillion & Co., Fine Art, and can be found in public and private collections in the United States, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Ethiopia.

About Art League Houston
Art League Houston is one of Houston's longest operating non-profit visual arts organizations and was the first alternative art space in Texas. Founded in 1948 and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1953, Art League Houston (ALH) was created to promote the public appreciation of and interest in the visual arts. During the past 61 years, ALH has provided over 760 exhibitions to the Houston community, showcased the work of nearly 22,200 artists, and instructed over 35,000 students through the Art League School and Outreach Program.


Photo: Mushrooms Installation, Photograph from Art League Houston
Copyright © 2009, KIAH-TV

Houston artists go green in a big way - 2009-Nov-19 - CultureMap Houston

Houston artists go green in a big way
News-Nancy Wozny-columnist
By Nancy Wozny
November 19, 2009

Making art out of plants holds a certain excitement for any green-leaning girl, so I just had to pop over to the Art League of Houston to see what Divya Murthy and Nicola Parente were up to with their living sculptures.

Parente and Murthy were off getting supplies, so I visited with Linda Phenix, former choreographer and now Art League's development director. During her dance-making years, Phenix, and her dance partner, Chris Lidvall, investigated Germany's deep ecology movement to create Green Pieces way back in 1991. Vintage dance fans remember that quirky Coke can dress and the bubble wrap bride.

“That Coke can dress was fabulous, but dangerous,” recalls Phenix, who looks pleased to see Parente and Murthy taking up the cause.

I finally found Murthy and Parente unloading their art supplies for Natural Recyclers and Wasted Resolve, which in this case consisted of a 20 bags of dirt. The eco art team was finishing a set of giant mushroom sculptures that will soon be covered with native, non-native and edible plants. The stems will be covered with a moss milkshake (beer, sugar and moss in a blender).

“I like working with living media,” says Murthy. Both hark from farming families, Parente in Mola di Bari, Italy and Murthy in Bangalore, India.

Natural Recyclers will be up for eight months, possibly longer, and will go through its own evolution.

“If the plants die, they die,” Murthy insists. “That's the life cycle. ”

For Wasted Resolve, the gallery part of the show, they collected trash from an eight block radius around the Art League. “We are going to clean it up before we put it on the walls,” Parente promises.

Motivated by a New York Times article citing Houston as the one of the worst recycling cities in the United States, the trash transforms into a graph on the gallery's walls. “It's concept and craft,” says Murthy.

Both hope visitors leave the exhibit armed with more facts and become motivated to improve Houston's sorry recycling reputation.

Parente and Murthy have been on an eco art streak for a while, but after attending the Systems of Sustainability: Art, Innovation, Action (SOS) conference held at University of Houston, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts last spring, their ideas began to solidify.

“SOS pushed us to take our ideas seriously,” says Murthy.

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center director Karen Farber is pleased that local artists are running with the SOS ball. “We managed to inspire a dialogue, which has gone on long after the event and exceeded my expectations,” she says. “When we started talking about sustainability, we were making a commitment. We opened up the conversation, and it would be irresponsible of us as an institute to abandon the cause. ”

Farber also sees Karyn Olivier's Inbound, featuring billboards showing what we would see if they weren't there, as tied to her mission. Olivier's work invites questions of what we accept in our visual environment.

Farber continues on the green mission with the recent launch of "Live is Living" at Discovery Green. It entails a two-year residency of spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, culminating in a performance work, red, black and GREEN, a blues.

Discovery Green's programming director Susanne Theis has been championing green art since Dan Phillips created the Recycled Gazebo with found objects, giving new life to materials the rest of us discard. And did you know the park's panels generate between nine and 25% of the power consumed and the remainder is from 100% renewable sources?

“We recycle, and provide the public with opportunities to bring their recycling here on Saturdays,” Theis says.

Houston's greenest choreographer, Travesty director Karen Stokes, chose the sustainable park last season to show off her own designed for the great outdoors dance, Green. Following in Phenix's footsteps, Stokes has taken up the green mantle once again in her recent show, The Recycle Club, a combination concert, party and educational event. Stokes' approach encompasses recycling at every level, from the costumes to the dancers (old timers Farrell Dyde and Roberta Stokes). She even used her old choreography for the show.

Why make up new stuff when you have perfectly good old stuff?

Parente to Participate in this Years Art on the Avenue on November 14, 2009

Two of Nicola Parente's painting will be auctioned off in this years Art on the Avenue. Avenue CDC mission is to improve the Washington Avenue and Near Northside community by developing affordable housing and increasing economic opportunities, while preserving our area's cultural, economic, and historic diversity.

Location:
Winter Street Studios
2101 Winter Street
Houston, TX 77007 6 p.m - 10 p.m.

n.p. news brief November 2009

Natural Recyclers, By Nicola Parente and Divya Murthy,
Art League Houston Patio
Photo by Aaron Courtland, www.aaroncourtland.com

Please join me this Friday, November 13, 2009, 6 to 9PM at Art League Houston for the opening reception of two site specific sculpture and installations, Natural Recyclers (outdoor patio space) and Wasted Resolve (front gallery). Feel free to invite others who may be interested. Have a wonderful week and hope to see you there!!!

Project details...
What: Natural Recyclers and Wasted Resolve, two site specific projects by Nicola Parente and Divya Murthy
When: Friday, November 13, 2009
Where: Art League Houston, 1953 Montrose Blvd. Houston, TX 77006
Time: 6-9 PM (Artist Talk at 6:30)

Natural Recyclers... using mainly recyclable and renewable resources, Parente and Murthy have created a site specific installation for the Art League Patio, consisting of three giant mushrooms, fabricated from rebar, soil, moss, herbs, Texas native and non native plants. Runs through 2010.

Wasted Resolve... an installation created by Murthy and Parente for the Front Gallery, is inspired by a 2008 New York Times article that ranked Houston as the worst recycler among the nation's 30 largest cities. Wasted Resolve is a visual categorized summary of un-recycled waste created from debris collected during a week long period from an eight-block area surrounding Art League Houston. Runs through December 31, 2009.

PS: I have created an artist page on Facebook, please become a fan so that I can keep you posted on future projects. Thank you!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nicola-Parente/59709524186