The New York Times, Long Island Edition, May 20, 2007

Motivated by what they see as a lack of government response to environmental change and global warming, artists have been taking measures into their own hands.

Go to Complete Coverage » Some of the results can be seen in “Called to Action: Environmental Restoration by Artists,” an admirable show at Art Sites in Riverhead. Organized by Lillian Ball, an environmental artist, the exhibition brings together works by more than a dozen artists and collaborative teams who intervene directly in nature “to halt degradation and nurture environmental health,” Ms. Ball explains in the catalog. For them, making art involves being passionately involved in processes that restore damaged ecosystems worldwide.

The choice of artists ranges from recognized leaders in this area, like Newton and Helen Harrison, Mel Chin and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, to a younger generation of artist-advocates. Some work alone, but most collaborate with scientists, government officials and planners. Some want to make a direct impact on a particular site or place; others have a grander vision of galvanizing community support to sway government policy.

This kind of art activity is not new. In the 1960s, conceptual art pioneered the idea of artists’ working beyond the confines of the “white box” gallery space. Early environmental art comes out of that experimental era, rejecting the commercialization of art while piggybacking on the emerging ecological movement. The artists had wide-ranging methods and goals, though Alan Sonfist, Nancy Holt, Richard Long, Joseph Beuys, Michael Heizer and Robert Smithson are commonly counted among the pioneers.

Much of the work at Art Sites is visual and written documentation of past or continuing restoration projects, with the emphasis on education and communication rather than the aesthetic. No doubt this focus will disappoint some viewers, but the show is more about actions and ideas than about more conventional notions of art as an object of detached contemplation. In short, the exhibition demands a higher than usual level of viewer participation.

Making judgments about these works is difficult given their ambiguous status — part artwork, part environmental activism mixed with social commentary.

Video displays are a popular format for the artists here; they are more informative than entertaining. Ms. Ukeles, a longtime artist in residence at the former Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, presents a six-channel video piece combining actual footage of the landfill with interviews with city officials and biologists now working on the environmental restoration of the 2,200-acre site, which for 50 years was a dumping ground for New York City’s garbage. Ms. Ukeles is also part of the design team currently producing a Fresh Kills master plan for the future creation of an environmentally safe urban park.

Other artists work in a more hands-on manner. Displays show how two artists, Jackie Brookner and Mr. Chin, used plants to remove toxins from water and soil. There is something soulful and intimate here, especially in Mr. Chin’s photographs of circular areas of land being remediated. Nearby, a presentation by the collaborative team of Stacy Levy and Julie Bargmann documents the use of plantings in the restoration of an abandoned coal mine in Pennsylvania, which they turned into a park. The artists’ small maplike reliefs using materials from the site have a kind of whimsical beauty.

Community involvement is an important component of all these projects, often involving the help of hundreds of volunteers or even towns. The Harrisons, veteran environmental artists, are masters of community-oriented environmental projects. From 2002 to 2005, the couple worked to restore seven miles of the Santa Fe River in New Mexico that was clogged and eroded from generations of overgrazing and environmental misuse.

Aviva Rahmani’s photographic collage and drawing “Trigger Points” (1990-2000) charts some environmentally imperiled hot spots around the globe, including Great Peconic Bay and the Pine Barrens on Long Island. The installation hints at a common cause; the impact on the environment from the demands of the world’s burgeoning human population.

Several projects relate specifically to Long Island, among them Hope Sandrow’s photographs of a 13-acre old-growth forest estate and historic building at Shinnecock Hills that she is helping to preserve. Taken at dawn, they have an exhilarating richness and warmth. William Meyer teamed with local middle school students to replant native tree species outside Art Sites, built on land contaminated with low-level industrial pollution. These are small, localized gestures, but they make a statement.

BENJAMIN GENOCCHIO