By Melissa Reynolds

Environmental issues have been written about, talked about and sung about, but now they can be viewed in the form of art, bringing issues to the world to see.

Ecoartspace, www.ecoartspace.org, combines artists, scientists, curators, writers, non-profits and businesses who are working to address global environmental issues through their own unique strategies.

"Our current mission is to 'create opportunities for addressing environmental issues through the arts,'" says Amy Lipton, co-director of ecoartspace. "This is a broad mission and we execute it in a variety of ways - the artists and art works that we promote are diverse - they are participatory, collaborative, interdisciplinary and often have an educational aspect."

With artists combining their work with real world issues, they are able to raise awareness through their craft.

Together Lipton and her co-director Tricia Watts curate gallery and museum exhibitions, participate in conferences, panels and symposia, give lectures at schools and universities, develop public programs and curricula, and write essays for printed and online publications. They also advocate for international artists whose projects range from scientifically based ecological restoration to product based functional artworks, from temporal works created outdoors with nature to eco-social interventions in the urban public sphere.

Ecoartspace also has an office in New York City, which has a changing exhibition program and is open to the public on weekends.

Since 1999, ecoartspace has organized 38 exhibitions and over 70 programs, worked with over 400 artists and collaborated or partnered with over 140 organizations.

By receiving feedback daily from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, ecoartspace is making a difference. "We know from their responses that they all appreciate our work and our support tremendously," says Lipton.

At the same time, Lipton knows that ecoartspace is making a difference in environmental awareness. "I know that the environmental groups we have partnered with over the years feel that the artists have helped convey these issues to a wider audience and to their constituents through the process of eco visualization - or making ecological concepts visually compelling which leads to greater understanding," says Lipton.

Most recently ecoartspace worked on curating an outdoor exhibition titled, "Down to Earth: Artists Create Edible Landscapes," at Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia. In the exhibit, six artists teams produced food growing gardens over a six month period, addressing the issues of growing indigenous food, the healing properties of plants, sustainable agriculture, water irrigation, permaculture planting, recycling of materials and overpopulation of deer grazing.

Next up for ecoartspace is some fundraising to continue with their programs. A fundraiser/art exhibition in San Francisco this month as well as a collaborative fundraising project involving hundreds of artists and the public is on the schedule for 2010.