WILDLAND: Ethan Turpin's
Collaborations on Fire and Water
January 9 - March 22, 2025
Opening Reception: January 9, 4-6pm
Ethan Turpin's works are grounded in the natural cycles of wildfire, devastation, and recovery and regrowth. Turpin is a multi-media artist and fireline-trained, press-credentialed photographer. His collaborations include other artists and scientists at the UCSB Bren School, and works with the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council to provide educational programming about wildfires and our local landscape.
Turpin brings artists, scientists and educators directly to communities to create powerful experiences that broaden perspectives and deepen awareness of underlying natural forces where we live in Southern California. Turpin’s personal artistic practice has explored ways of perceiving climate change, leading to 10 years of collaborations and the founding of The Burn Cycle Project, which focuses on the complex relationships between fire, water, and ourselves. WILDLAND will engage with the paradoxical entanglements of beauty and risk present in the exhibit’s location, the Westmont College campus. Using a wide range of immersive and participatory media, Turpin and his collaborators share modes of orientation toward wonder and resilience within a mighty landscape.
Scientist collaborators: Laura Drake Schultheis and Naomi Tague
Artist collaborators: Mike Demavivas, David Gordon, Zach Gill, Tai Rodrig, and Jonathan Smith - The Environment Makers
WILDLAND EVENTS
Ember Trees
When: Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 6pm
Where: Grove of Pines in the Westmont College Formal Gardens (located by the Dining Commons)
A special, site-specific installation event for Wildland and in remembrance of the 2008 Tea Fire. The event featured the premiere of a composition by Assistant Professor of Music Daniel Gee commissioned for Ember Trees [listen to "Agua Quemada" here], poetry readings by former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate and Professor Emeritus Paul Willis, and testimonials from Montecito Fire Marshals Alex Broumand and Aaron Briner.
The installation was created by Ethan Turpin and Jonathan PJ Smith of The Environment Makers. Using multiple video projectors and mapped footage of glowing embers, Turpin and Smith made trees appear as though glowing with fire from within. The installation site was a grove of pine trees scarred from the 2008 Tea Fire, located east of the Museum by the Dining Commons.
Living Earth: A Family Day of Exploration
When: Saturday, March 1, 2025 from 11am-5pm
Where: Adams Center, Westmont College
Visit the event page here.
A free, all-ages event for families, students, and the entire community to experience the WILDLAND exhibition. Visit the Museum to see interactive and immersive video installations of wildfire and water systems, then enjoy lively music, food, a petting zoo, arts-and-crafts, and learn more about local environmental organizations. There's something for everyone!
Artist & Collaborator Lecture
When: January 30, 2025 at 5:30pm
Where: Porter Theatre, Westmont College
Ethan Turpin and Naomi Tague presented a lecture on their collaborations for WILDLAND. Naomi Tague is a researcher and professor of ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. Thank you to all who joined us for "Beyond Data Visualization: Art-Science Collaboration in an Era of Global Environmental Change!"
Arroyo Hondo Field Trip
When: February 10, 10am-1pm
Where: Arroyo Hondo Preserve (near Goleta)
Ethan Turpin led a group of Westmont students and interested community members on a field trip to the Arroyo Hondo Preserve, where he filmed time-lapse videos of wildfire and recovery for the WILDLAND exhibition. The area was hit by the 2021 Alisal Fire. Learn more about the Preserve here: https://www.sblandtrust.org/land/arroyo-hondo-preserve/