Activism: The Giving Gallery

In March 2008, the G2 Gallery of Los Angeles opened its doors to the public and introduced to Venice Beach the first of many wildlife photography exhibits. Owners Susan and Dan Gottlieb share a passion for photographing the natural world, and the couple has long been dedicated to the cause of conservation. The gallery space was once a visual-effects office. The owners reused existing building elements, and kept new ones environmentally friendly—like bamboo flooring, non-adhesive FLOR carpeting and nontoxic paint. They made use of the building’s natural light, and the Gottlieb’s garden, which has been named a National Wildlife Habitat Designation, is a “synergy to what they are doing in the gallery,” says curator Jolene Hansen. The gallery gives 50% of its funds to artists, and the other half to green organizations like the Ballona Wetlands and the Environmental Media Association.

From January 6 to February 15, 2009, the traveling exhibit “Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World” heads to the gallery. Images of endangered and extinct wildlife will be shown, captured through the lenses of Frans Lanting, Galen Rowell, Art Wolfe and Michele Westmorland, among others. The mission of the “Irreplaceable” artists parallels that of Dan and Susan Gottlieb: ”
to educate the public about how climate change is threatening species—and to show our policymakers we care deeply about the fate of irreplaceable wildlife.”