Published: Jan. 29, 2002

Environmental artist Betsy Damon will give a free public lecture Feb.12, at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Colorado at Boulder as part of the Fine Arts department's Visiting Artist Program.

The talk will be in the Sibell Wolle Fine Arts building, room N141.

Damon's large-scale environmental projects focus on waterway pollution and its impact on the survival of the planet. She has used water as the central theme for her work since 1985.

Damon began her artistic career with painting and sculpting, later moving to performance art and public action. She has received numerous study and travel grants from organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Flow Foundation.

In 1990 Damon created an organization called Keepers of the Waters with the goal of initiating collaboration between artists, scientists and communities to build projects that develop creative solutions to water -quality issues.

Five years later in 1995, Keepers of the Waters brought together 20 artists from Tibet, China and the United States to create 25 water-cleansing installations along China's polluted Fu-Nan River. The completed six-acre park is the first Chinese inner-city park based on a water theme.

Damon continues to work with communities in the development of ideas for living water parks and events that focus on improving the world.