I love this quote:
"Look, I want to love this world as though it’s the last chance I’m ever going to get to be alive and know it." -Mary Oliver (October)
Juliet Whitsett is an Austin-based artist and arts and environmental educator specializing in biodiversity, ecological storytelling, and public engagement. Her research-driven practice explores the lives and forms of species across Texas, including threatened, endangered, and Species of Greatest Conservation Need. Through digitally based art, community-engaged installations, and art-science collaborations, she makes scientific knowledge accessible and fosters greater understanding of the natural world. In her BIODIVERSITY OF TEXAS series, Whitsett creates original artworks using color palettes sampled from crowdsourced images of the species she portrays. Collaborating with scientists and other experts, she continually deepens her understanding of these species, connecting art with environmental education and conservation.
Artist's Statement:
Humanity will decide our ecological future in the coming decade. This emergency, not only for humanity but for every species on Earth, motivates me to focus my work on bringing awareness to these issues. For the past four years I have been studying, building partnerships, creating art, engaging the public, and advocating for the preservation of our world’s biodiversity, in particular shedding light on the staggering number of at-risk species that we have in Texas alone.
Committed to seeking out scientific wisdom and inspired by the rise of the global youth climate movement, my perspectives as mother, cancer survivor and global citizen compel me to use my skills to reflect upon and represent some of our rarest and most at-risk species- those who obviously have no means of advocating for themselves. In doing this work, I draw on my background not only as an artist, but also as an environmental and arts educator with a passion for finding the intersection of science, community and creativity.
While I actively create solo work, my roots lie in community-based arts (I earned a master’s degree in Community-based Arts Education from UT). I gravitate to and thrive in collaboration and find that the methods of community arts are excellent tools for engaging both the public and experts across a range of topics. My interactive work and art series, Biodiversity of Texas, uses story-telling, engages empathy, and celebrates the incredible diversity and importance of species in our home state. The extensive relationships I have developed with scientists, city and state agencies, nonprofits, museum programs and community leaders were essential to realizing this work and deeply inspiring for me. The multiple art shows, social media engagement and events that I have generated with this body of work have proven highly successful opportunities to engage a diverse public about unique species and challenges that many never knew existed.
5% of the profits from this series enthusiastically goes to help Threatened & Endangered Species.
-Juliet
Learn more about my:
Bio HERE
CV HERE
Endangered, Threatened & Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) Series HERE