Go Green Festival Growing Roots

Alex MacLean, pilot and photographer, has flown his plane over much of the United States documenting the landscape.

Trained as an architect, he has portrayed the history and evolution of the land from vast agricultural patterns to city grids, recording changes brought about by human intervention and natural processes. His powerful and descriptive images provide clues to understanding the relationship between the natural and constructed environments, including the causes and effects of climate change.

MacLean's photographs have been exhibited widely in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia and are found in private, public and university collections. He has won numerous awards, including the 2009 CORINE International Book Award, the American Academy of Rome's Prix de Rome in Landscape Architecture for 2003-2004, and grants from foundations such as the National Endowment for the Arts and Graham Foundation.

MacLean is the author of seven books including OVER: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point (2008), Visualizing Density (2007), The Playbook (2006), Designs on the Land: Exploring America from the Air (2003), Taking Measures Across the American Landscape (1996), Look at the Land: Aerial Reflections of America (1993) and Above and Beyond: Visualizing Change in Small Towns and Rural Areas (2002). MacLean maintains a studio and lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

The Wilton Go Green Festival, scheduled to take place on May 2, will be a town-wide day of education and exploration focused on energy conservation and sustainable living. The event will offer in-depth information about energy and building, transportation, watershed, land and food, and waste management. The festival will run from 11 to 4 p.m. and will have a series of workshops and exhibitors as well as family friendly activities from bike rides to stream wading.

This event is sponsored by the Wilton Energy Commission in partnership with the Wilton Library Association, as well as Ambler Farm, Wilton Conservation Commission, Wilton Family Y, Wilton Garden Club, Wilton Public Schools, and the Woodcock Nature Center.

For questions, please contact Becky Bunnell at becky.bunnell@gmail.com or 203-550-6540.