1.a. One of my favorite natural spaces is the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ. This outdoor gallery functions as both an organic landscape and museum, allowing me to enjoy two of my favorite things, art and the outdoors. In a contemporary museum, the idea is to conserve and protect artist's work. At the Grounds for Sculpture, however, the artist must truly consider the environment in which their piece will reside, with consideration of the elements/climate. This dynamic between nature and art is what makes the museum so intriguing, it provides the opportunity to enjoy artwork outside of conventional standards.
http://www.groundsforsculpture.org/index.html
1.b. The Grounds for Sculpture was originally developed by sculptor and philanthropist J. Seward Johnson in the hopes to make sculpture more accessible to many different people in a setting that they felt comfortable in. Ultimately, he wanted to expose the community to contemporary art in a new way. The museum is also a non-profit organization, which means that the community functions as not only the audience but its supporters as well.
4. Yes, I do agree with Light's hands-on approach to ecological citizenship because it requires that the public be educated. In most areas, I feel, that the public is under-educated about very important issues, whether it be lack of sex education in schools which leads to high cases of unwanted pregnancy or the spread of STI's or the fact that many people do not realize that their drinking water comes from sewers, so they think a sewer can serve as a trash can. The public needs to know why it is important to make informed decisions, and the information needs to be accessible, to anyone, regardless of their background. A point that Light made in his work really stood out to me. He mentions that we should be concerned with building suburbs more like densely-packed cities rather than building cities like. This point again related, to me, to low-income housing in Philadelphia. Recently I have noticed that many housing projects resemble suburban developments, single homes with lawns, no shared walls, driveways and a garage. This not only takes up a huge amount of space when considering the low amount of people that will be residing in each lot, it creates an unrealistic, unsustainable and isolated community. Also, much like he mentions, the representatives of environmentalist organizations lack any representation of people of color or low-income, the exact person who is most often confined to these bizarre pseudo-suburban housing developments. The housing authority would rather provide the low-income community with an unrealistic image of American life than listen to their needs and concerns. Therefor, it is very important to involve the community, and ensure that they possess this crucial knowledge.
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