My name is:  Diane Burko.   

My book is called:  Glacial Shifts, Changing Perspectives: Bearing Witness to Climate Change. 

The publication date is:  April 2017. 

 I was inspired to write it when:  asked to collaborate with curator Andrea Packard on the installation of my exhibition of same name at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas; May 4th to September 30th, 2017. 

It’s about:  the  exhibition.  It includes three essays: an introduction by the Walton Art’s Center curator, Andrea Packard; an analysis of my work in relation to the history of glacial imagery, written by William Fox, the Director of the Art and Environment Center of the Nevada Museum of Art; and insightful commentary by Carter Ratcliff, who followed my career as it developed over many years.   

My hope is that readers will:  learn about my work and also become aware of the issues of climate change and how the dramatic melting of glaciers, in particular, is demonstrating the urgency of this issue. 

My next book might be:  about my next project: Kai’Apapa, which is Hawaiian for coral reef. I am the “environmental artist” on a team with a musician/composer and  musician/videographer and one oceanographer. We are doing residences at the nine US National Parks, which have reef systems. Our first expedition is this December through January to Molokai and American Samoa. 

Reef systems throughout the world have suffered in recent decades from a multitude of threats, including acidification due to warming from increased CO2 in the atmosphere and the warming trends of our oceans. This is another aspect of my commitment to communicating issues of climate change through my experiences translated into my art. I will be making paintings, as well as photographs, and using a drone as part of my investigation. 

The title of my autobiography would be:  Artist/Activist: The Unlikely Journey of a Girl from Brooklyn.  

If I was a character from fiction, I'd be: That’s a challenge—what comes to mind is maybe Jo from Little Women.