A Biodiversity Study of A Sculpture Park

My art historical biogeography of Storm King Art Center

Back in May, I finally finished grad school. Inevitably, I get asked a variation of same question again and again: “What do you research? What was your thesis about? What was your program about?” My answer remains a slippery, unstable thing. Sometimes, I simply say that I study environmental art history (like the history of environmental art). If I’m feeling extra pretentious, I’ll say that I’m a “climate museology” scholar—an unofficial academic term that describes museum studies research focused on the climate crisis and its impact on cultural institutions, historic sites, and archives. I’ve realized that this kind of interdisciplinary scholarly compost is what I love most, when I’m able to dabble in a little bit of art history, a little bit of animal and plant studies, some design and architectural history, with a mix of science fiction studies and environmental humanities work thrown in there for good measure.

My final research project, “Out of the Gallery And Into The Open Green: Storm King Art Center’s Entangled Art Historical Ecologies,” brought all of these tangled academic threads together. This thesis definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone as a scholar, challenging me to merge my love of art and the outdoors through environmental science research and species identification. Comprised of archival research, staff interviews, and site visits, I found myself spending hours digging through oral histories, speaking with the team responsible for conserving the sculpture park’s collection and ecosystems, and trekking across Storm King’s 500-acre property through mud, grass, and forests to learn about the museum’s historic landscaping and see how this biodiverse outdoor space is adapting to climate crisis.

Before I take you behind the scenes into months of research, you should take a look at the biodiversity map I created for this project. I structured this spatiotemporal work into Storm King’s past, present, and future. As you click through, you’ll see notes about its landscape design, what the property was like in its early years, and how the land has been shaped by human and nonhuman intervention alike. Beginning with a set of artworks from their collection to help guide you around the museum, you can take a look at and learn more about the many plants, animals, trees, fungi, and lichen that have called Storm King home for generations. I also urge to use the mobile version if you go, like an ecological alternative to their visitor’s guide.