Eco-artists share art for a cause

The EcoArtFest was a two-day affair at Cooper's Landing.

By Kelsey Whipple

Published Sept. 25, 2007

At last weekend's EcoArtFest, people had beers in their grips, Birkenstocks on their feet, recyclables on their backs and pamphlets in their hands.

They all threw away their trash, but they didn't throw away their recyclables. Tie-dye, that age-old symbol of the unabashed hippie, was a common sight, not a lost cause.

Believe it or not, there are still places where "eco" isn't a dirty root word, and the second EcoArtFest was one of them, in true grassroots style.

The environmental crusaders who skipped Peace Park's Pagan Festival for the EcoArtFest this past weekend passed more trees than people on their half-hour drive to Cooper's Landing and squinted at more than one cow.

And if, like me, you parked your hybrid under an oak on a small, unpaved two-way river road, you were probably relieved when you discovered that the festival and the river were worth it.

Across from the festival's entrance, Stream Team volunteer Lea Langdon's cause involved local water animals.

"We're trying to educate people about their local water," Langdon said as she lifted up a stonefly. "We're empowering them to monitor and clean streams and other bodies of water, because in the end, what are we without water?"

And those two-inch invertebrates play a vital role for the local water.

"Believe it or not, we need these guys in our water," Langdon said. "They're proof that the water is good, not dirty. If we didn't have them, it would be a bad sign."

The Stream Team booth was one of many that was full of volunteers who spoke in earnest about issues that could speak for themselves.

A few feet down, a child peered into a tub at a rather cranky soft-shelled turtle.

"Everybody likes to see the critters," said Troy Gordon, chairman of Friends of Big Muddy.

The Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge provides shelter for local animals.

"What you have to understand about the Missouri River is that it traditionally rose and fell in the spring and summer, and we kind of reversed that to benefit navigation," Troy Gordon said. "While that's OK, having the refuge area provides some help for the animals-bottomland forest areas and backwater areas for some of them to spawn."

One pamphlet at the Big Muddy booth read, "What's up with our nation's waters?" Troy Gordon said this question is hard for some people to answer.

"We want people to know that the river isn't bad," said Janine Gordon, Friends of Big Muddy secretary. "It's big, it's fast and it can be deep, but it's fine. People need to learn about their water."

There was a story at every booth. The pieces in Columbia artist Gale Johnson's booth helped tell her tale while she talked.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast in 2005, Johnson took a month-long trip to the area on a houseboat to add her hands to those helping.

"The more stories I heard, the more I needed to help," Johnson said. She spent seven months there aiding and collecting debris with which she now creates "Katrinkets," charms and hangings influenced by what Katrina taught her.

"All the glass I've collected is from Katrina, from people's lives, from people who lost everything they had and gave the rest to me," she said.

Like the festival's other local artists, her pieces speak to her, and she speaks about them.

"I was ready to come back to Columbia and decompress," said Johnson, a cancer survivor. "I thought, 'This is what I need to do.' People said, 'How can you give up your job?' They don't understand that these pieces are symbols to me."

As Johnson spoke, a young girl asked her for permission to participate in a craft at her booth. Johnson's response was typical of the festival's vibe.

"Go tell your dad it's $2, but if he won't pay for you, I will," Johnson said. And while the girl hurried to her father, she explained why she would pay for the child.

"In the end," she said, "it comes down to this: We need to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. You hear it all the time, but do you listen?"