Closely related to Land Art, Environmental Art expresses concern for ecological causes and often takes the form of site-specific installations. The rise of Environmental Art as a movement is closely tied to those other artistic tendencies and involved many of the same players. Robert Smithson, a major figure in the Land Art movement, used materials from nature in works made both inside and outside. For his Earthworks, he staged large-scale interventions to the landscape and documented his works through photographs. The most famous of these is his Spiral Jetty (1970), an enormous coil of basalt unfurling into the Great Salt Lake, the series also includes Asphalt Rundown of 1969, and Amarillo Ramp of 1973. He used materials like dirt, rocks, wood, and coral to create indoor sculptures that he called Non-Sites. Both leanings of his work expressed Smithson’s interest in entropy and decay. While Smithson’s Earthworks permanently altered, and often damaged, the landscapes, other environmental artists took conservation into consideration. Andy Goldsworthy uses natural materials like sticks, leaves, bark, and even snow to create ephemeral works of art in natural settings. Goldsworthy considers the temporary essence of these artworks a reflection of life and the way we live.

North Carolina-based sculptor Patrick Dougherty represents a more recent entry into Environmental Art. Inspired by his own love of nature and by ancient building techniques, Dougherty fabricates monumental site-specific sculptural installations out of thin and malleable maple saplings. Other artists associated with environmental art include Lothar Baumgarten, Tomás Saraceno, and Sarah Sze.