Diane Tuft: Using Art to Bring the Reality of Global Warming to Life
Photographer, Global Warming Activist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/diane-tuft/2b/1a8/511
Website: http://www.dianetuft.com
Bio:
Diane Tuft is a mixed media artist who has focused primarily on photography since 1998. She earned a degree in mathematics at the University of Connecticut before continuing her studies in art at Pratt Institute, New York.
Innovating in Field of Work:
• Diane Tuft has dedicated her life to using her photographs to call attention to the devastating effects of global warming. At 65 years old (now 67) she risked her life hanging out of helicopters to capture unseen parts of the Earth so that other people in the world could visualize what she is seeing through her camera lens.
• In 2012, Diane was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to participate in their Antarctic Artists & Writers Program (AAWP) at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. During the six weeks of living a McMurdo, the average temperature was -32F degrees and the average wind speed, 40MPH.
• Tuft’s resulting book of Antarctic photography, “Gondwana — Images of an Ancient Land” not only shares an artist’s eye but also a conservationist’s plea.
• She has also travelled to Iceland, Greenland, New Zealand and has just returned from her last venture to the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole to capture the fragility of the Arctic Landscape with respect to climate change. She is using art to bring a massive global issue to the forefront.
Impact:
• Tuft ‘s installation, “Internal Reflection”, exhibited at the Katonah Museum of Art in New York and Art L.A. in Santa Monica, combined photography, sculpture, light and sound. It explored the Internal fragility of our forests by using light to refract and refract within a resin forest.
• She has had solo exhibitions at Marlborough Gallery, Ameringer-Yohe Gallery and Pace Gallery, NYC, The Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah, The Southampton Center in Southampton. N.Y. and several museums throughout the country.
• Tuft’s work is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the International Center of Photography in NYC, and the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill NY
Role Model:
• Diane became a photographer in 1998 after having raised three children in NYC.
• She stays true to her values and will travel to any corner of the world in order to bring attention to the devastating effects of global warming through art.
Reinvention / Risk / Momentum:
• This summer, Diane continues her work in The Arctic Ocean where she will focus on recording the Artic melt, the intense ultraviolet light that occurs in the Arctic summer, and the animal life that is being compromised in the Arctic.
• She believes her artistic and contextual goals of capturing the effects of our rapidly changing climate on the earth’s landscape will be enhanced with a documentary film partner. This will allow for the story behind the art to be told and the unique and powerful journey to be recorded. Through a combination of Diane’s art and a documentary film, she will bring new perspective on the gravity of the issues that our planet is facing.
“By sharing these images, I hope to provoke discussion on the fragile environment that we are experiencing and stimulate dialogue on how to preserve the beauty of our planet.”