Creative Conservation Collaborative celebrates art and environmental conservation with the goal of creating site-specific, nature-centric art that increases awareness and support for the surrounding landscape.
With the belief that art can change our ways of seeing the environment, we work with communities to create sustainable sculptural installations and landscape restoration that re-connects viewers to local natural environments. We work with local environmental organizations to engage the community
MEET THE TEAM
Nancy Winship Milliken: Co-creator, artist
Nancy has a17 year career in environmental art, creating monumental interventions of cultural and natural histories of place. She thrives in collaborative environments and engages with environmentalists, builders, farmers, engineers, poets and communities. When not in the studio, you will find her in the lake, mountains and fields surrounding their Fieldsong studio.
Andrew Milliken: Co-creator, conservationist
Andrew is an ecologist who worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with partners for over thirty years conserving habitats in the Lake Champlain Basin, Northeast Region, Atlantic Coast and nationally. He focuses on the importance of restoring and conserving connected networks of lands and waters for natural and human communities to be more resilient in the face of climate change. He also loves being out on or in the lake,coast, mountains and fields.
Lorna Loy, Studio Assistant
Lorna Loy is a pianist and teacher who is currently a graduate student of landscape architecture at Boston Architectural College. She believes that design should serve all forms of life. Lorna is our digital translator and brings her knowledge of Landscape Architecture into project designs.
WHAT WE DO
We approach our work with different backgrounds in arts and sciences, blending our passions to create immersive public environmental art experiences, inviting an awareness and support for local and national conservation efforts.
We approach every site-specific project through an iterative and collaborative process of research, design and installation while gathering community partners. We listen to the design needs of the whole project while working closely with client, state and/or municipal departments. The studio has extensive experience in large project fabrication and installation, mindful of public safety, building codes and material integrity for both indoor and outdoor settings. We gather local materials, a local team of professionals, and create the work locally.
Lakebone is an example of an installation that highlights and informs the public on environmental issues; in this case, honoring and recognizing the importance of living and dead trees and native ecological communities in the watershed of Lake Champlain.
Projects may also blend ecological restoration and art. For example, a proposed 2028 project for Brooks School in Massachusetts, would engage the school/community to restore a wetland system integrated with sculptures that highlight the natural beauty and importance of these habitats.
The resulting accessible, interactive public art includes native plantings and landscaping that are reflective of the local community and environs and invite viewers to learn about local and global conservation.
