2024

GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL EXHIBITION

HEIDI SCHWENK

HEIDI SCHWENK

(Palo Alto, California)

Apocalyptic Atmosphere

 encaustic paint, colored pencil, rice paper,  12.125 x 18  inches

Price: $1500 + $45 shipping fee

Artist Statement:

Upon awakening on September 9, 2020, an intense, somber feeling arose within my body that something had gone terribly wrong during the night. An ominous orange hue permeated the atmosphere. The howling winds and constant flashes of lightning were precursors to what ws to be anything but the beginning of a normal day. Looking outside was even more strange; it still looked and felt like nighttime. In every direction, the sky glowed orange along with a thick gray haze. Smoke? Yes, this was familiar. Climate change was once again upon us. In 2018, the fires had not created the doom-like sky that we were experiencing this day, yet the awareness about air quality reports had become part of our lives. A new phase of global warming, an irrefutable atmospheric change, became our new reality.

My art piece, Apocalyptic Atmosphere, illustrates a new reality attributed to global warming, a burning sky and earth. A combination of more than a century of poor forest management, insufficient controlled fires to remove built-up fuel, a record-breaking heat wave, and severe drought for decades resulted in this disaster. My hope is that if humans accept climate change soon enough, adjust their current lifestyle, and practice loving stewardship of this planet, then another new and better reality may emerge.

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