WHITTINGTON - The Grammar of Landscape: Photographic Visions of Illinois looks at the land around our state in terms of building blocks: wetlands, prairies, forest, plains, agriculture, the lake, the city and industry.

In a healthy environment these "units" function symbiotically to create a viable ecobiotic system in much the same way that parts of speech combine to create effective language for communication. The way we talk about the land reflects how we feel about it and, ultimately, the kinds of stewards we are of our specific landscapes and our larger community, the earth. The Grammar of Landscape: Photographic Visions of Illinois, the Southern Illinois Art Gallery's newest exhibit, will be on display through Oct. 4. The exhibition is curated by Judith Lloyd Klauba, Associate Curator of Art at the Illinois State Museum's Chicago Gallery.

Included as one of the 10 photographers featured in the exhibition is Gary Kolb of Carbondale, who has photographed the Shawnee National Forest for almost 30 years. Five landscape photographs and three digital montages of the Shawnee National Forest represent Kolb's work in the exhibition. Gary Kolb serves as chairman of Mass Communications and Media Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Also featured is work by photographer Art Sinsabaugh, one of the late masters whose iconomic panoramas changed Midwestern photography; mature mid-career artists Barbara Crane; Rhondal McKinney, and Bob Thall; a newer generation including Michelle Keim; Jin Lee, Michael McGuire; and Bill Sosin; and the late David Avison all of whom have made commitments to their individual landscapes, rural, urban, or industrial.

Curator Judith Klauba suggests a scholarly foundation exists which connects the experience of art with the human experience in the environment. The world famous scholar E. O. Wilson introduced the term "biophilia" to address the human's natural affinity for the environment.

The Canadian/Japanese biologist, writer, and filmmaker David Suzuki speaks of the necessary re-integration of people into the environment. Wilson, Suzuki, and others feel that if we do not address these issues and educate people to live in ways that will not destroy the environment, we doom ourselves to being the last animal on the planet ecocide.

The Grammar of Landscape maps the terrain of our state through the eyes of artists with unique visions. As part of the mapping concept inherent in the exhibit, United States Geological Survey Maps are placed by each artist's work to show where he or she found inspiration. Wall labels based on the ideas of important environmental philosophers of our day complete the exhibit.

The Southern Illinois Art Gallery is located at the Southern Illinois Art and Artisans Center, six miles north of Benton, just off I-57 west of Exit 77. For more information, call 618-629-2220.

Debra Tayes is the associate curator of art at Southern Illinois Art Gallery, Illinois State Museum.