Kim Abeles’ first piece that could be labeled “environmental” was her 1983 series of photographs attempting to capture a clear view of the San Gabriel Mountains from where she lived in Downtown L.A., one not obstructed by hovering smog . She had her first studio on Broadway in 1979, and was one of the original residents of the Santa Fe art colony. She has lived Downtown ever since constructing pieces that engage the environment, making tangible the abstract. That’s when she wasn’t fighting a formaldehyde-spewing factory. It’s not surprising for someone who once lived in a grain silo in Ohio penning a book titled Crafts, Cookery, and Country Living and grew up in Pittsburgh haunted by photos of a steel industry town veiled by a cloud of air pollution.

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