Louie Schwartzberg has made it his life’s mission to use his cinematic artistry to raise the alarm for public awareness of the dire situation we are facing in the possible collapse of our taken-for-granted natural resources. The “colony collapse disorder” currently decimating our honeybees was the prompt for Louie’s new movie, Wings of Life, which at it's essence, is a love story that feeds the earth.
Disney is releasing the film on multiple formats and portals everywhere this week. The film is a cinematic wonder of beautiful camera work capturing natural beauty— the finest example of a “dialogue” between nature’s own “narration” and the “journalistic” skills of an artist with a true poet soul. The pure magic of this mesmerizing film is the fruit of such collaboration.
Anyone lucky enough to spend a little time with louieschwartzberg and become caught up in the spell of his desire to save humanity from itself will be familiar with his profound dictum: “Beauty and seduction are nature’s tool for survival, because we will protect what we fall in love with.” He refers here not only to people falling in love, but to bees, butterflies, bats and hummingbirds being attracted to the beauty of the various flowering plants that need to be pollinated so that their bounty (like honey and fruits and nuts, etc.) can continue to support human survival. I found the correlation of this idea to the very mission of art to be startling.
Could it be that because the indescribable beauty of nature’s seduction rages just a bit too far beyond the edges of our daily perceptions to be noticed, we will let that engine of human survival finally fail— a victim of our blindness to its beauty?
Joshua TreesReaching the Stars
Could it be that works of art— like Louie’s documentary— can “seduce” us into loving nature’s beauty, really seeing it for the first time, and thus finally gain our urgently needed protection?
Louie Schwartzberg is not only a poet with a camera, but is proving himself to be one of the most important guides to the survival of humanity on our rapidly depleting planet. When an artist could easily simply rest on his or her laurels for their achievement in artistic innovation and excellence, it is truly heartening and inspiring when that artist chooses to take it that step beyond into advocacy for nature and humanity and use his or her art to educate and help heal the planet. This is the extra dimension to Louie’s life that makes him someone whose spirit we should hope to honor and emiulate in our own artistic endeavors.
Beautyas a Force of Energy
That’s another Louie maxim I keep twisting round and round in my head, endlessly considering all its possible dimensions. The beauty of nature, the beauty of art, the beauty of love are what energize us and keep us forever wanting to preserve life – every life, including animal and plant life, planet life.
Mooseon the Loose
SerengetiSunrise
A Galaxy Inside aFlower
BronzedForest
Heaven atBig Sur
In honor of the message behindWings of Desire
Louie is proposing that we do our best to create or curate artworks or other images that best illustrate this idea:
“Beauty as a Force of Energy.” Louie will soon share his vision for a project he will be curating around just this thought with the deviantART community, the depiction of Beauty, Kindness, Love, Joy, etc. as a force of energy could not only have an impact but change the world. I just thought I would get the ball rolling early! Louie is thinking of a collaborative project built around artworks that best depict the idea of Beauty as a Force of Energy. He will reveal more details on his page soon. If you have any ideas for him about what might make a project like that soar and really deliver the message around the world please send him a note as he is in early stages of building the project.
I love the Jumping Spider photo by dalimas. I once filmed a baby caterpillar being pounced upon and consumed by a jumping spider. The good news is that millions of Monarchs survive their caterpillar phase with a mass quantities strategy beneficial to both butterflies and spiders. Natural beauty may be savage, but it is purposeful and balanced.
In the "Closer Gallery", the Purple Dahlia by Coatlique touches the deepest part of my soul as I recognize the universal pattern of radiant symmetry and composition. Such are nature’s tools for creating a resonance within us. I believe that beauty is nature's tool for survival because we fall in love with what is beautiful and so we seek to protect it. Nature's operating instructions motivate our behavior to move our DNA forward – which is why Life is a force of energy.
Spiral II by abey79 and Color Explosion by IngoSchobert reveal that from the micro to the macro the universal patterns and rhythms of the Universe are reflected to us daily in these mirrors deep inside of every cell of your mind, heart and soul.
All of the work in EARTH-SCRIPTURES speaks to the shift of consciousness that is happening as artists unite to inspire people to the truth, beauty, and intelligence of nature. We humans may lack the vocabulary to communicate with nature, which speaks to our own inadequacy. Artists at EARTH-SCRIPTURES have their antennae tuned into scanning beyond the surface of nature to capture the spirit of nature that touches and opens our hearts to be present, conscious and connected with our friends, our families and most importantly, with ourselves.
QuestionsFor the Reader
- Is it a responsibility of artists to participate in environmental and social justice causes? Do artists have any excuse for not participating?
- Artists have a gift in representing the beauty of the world. Should this necessarily become a contribution to saving the environment?
- Were you already aware of the honey bee “colony collapse disorder” syndrome before being alerted to it through this article or Louie's documentary?
