Awareness through art: Eileen Wold

At some point you have been to the Inner Harbor, whether to shop, eat, go to the Aquarium or just to walk around the water. But the condition of the water—specifically, its pollution—often goes unnoticed.

The Baltimore Health Department has obviously taken note; they discourage people from swimming in the harbor because it contains certain disease-causing bacteria.

Eileen T. Wold's latest multimedia art exhibit, "Empty Waters," uses photography and charcoal work to draw attention to the pollution of the Inner Harbor, Patapsco River and the Chesapeake Bay. It is her goal for every person who sees this exhibit to take a moment to examine how his or her own actions influence the bay.

In her introduction to the exhibit, Wold calls the Chesapeake Bay "a symbol for massiveeglect and abuse" due to pollution. The pollution of the bay has nearly eradicated the oyster population, reduced the crab population by 70 percent and erased about half of the wetlands. Pollution from agriculture and industry is responsible for this destruction, and Wold wonders if it could become worse in upcoming years.

Every piece in the exhibit features a brightly-colored inner tube in a shade of neon orange, green or yellow played against some facet of the harbor. It is an ironic statement about how unsafe it is to swim in natural bodies of water and yet it is perfectly acceptable for one to swim in pools or lakes created by man.

This statement is especially prominent in the charcoal pieces, etched on canvas. Each drawing captures a representation of something that creates pollution around the harbor, such as oil refineries or power plants. The blackness of the charcoal emphasizes the smoke stacks and the destruction of nature. In each charcoal piece, the only color comes from the inner tubes. The inner tubes are smaller than anything else in the piece, showing how small recreation in the harbor has become.

The photographs are in color and were taken on a sunny day with clear blue skies, contrasting with the pollution pile-ups on the land. Garbage crowds the beaches, and a single inner tube sits on the ground or floats in the water. These are the corners of the harbor that we are not familiar with or have never even seen.

Wold's exhibit serves as an eye-opening experience for anyone who has seen the Inner Harbor and marveled at the beauty of the water.

Wold graduated from Loyola in 2000 with a B.A. in Visual Arts. Her exhibit showsawareness of one's surroundings and proves that she has put the core values learned at Loyola to use in the real world.

This exhibit is particularly suited for environmentalists and artists, but also for those who just want to know more about where they live. It can be seen on the second floor of the SMC Student Center of University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus at 621 W. Lombard Street. The exhibit runs from Jan. 24-April 15. You can take the Collegetown shuttle to the Inner Harbor, and it is about a 20-minute walk to the exhibit.