Yesterday, I had the amazing honour of being an artistic ‘Forest Ambassador’ with the very talented sustainability and natural mixed media artist Gloria Florez and the very talented video installation artist Alyson Bell. Together we created a collaborative exhibition that combined our three very different yet complimentary methods of artistic expression, to reflect the fragility and beauty of nature and, in particular, the Pittwater Spotted Gum Forest, a local but endangered ecological community likely to become extinct. The exhibition was kindly launched by our deputy mayor, the lovely Sue Heins.
Gloria crafted artistic handmade papers that celebrated and reflected the Spotted Gum and taught the process to schoolchildren; I taught those same schoolchildren how to express their love of nature through poetry; while Alyson filmed the entire creation process to construct a reflective video installation. It was fascinating to see how our three different approaches connected so well within a single exhibition, itself therefore reflecting the interconnections of life and nature…
Words of poetry entwined with leaves and twigs in the children’s handmade paper.
Alyson’s video was projected in reverse from behind the hung muslin material that carried the children’s paper creations.
The poem I crafted with the children featured in the video, and was also printed onto the walls. There were pedestals displaying the children’s brainstorms for the words we eventually used in the poem, also backed by handmade paper.
And all around the main exhibition space hung Gloria’s beautiful papered layers of muslin, reflecting the layered nature of the forest.
Words, video and artwork combined to make the exhibition an immersive and dynamic experience – which is currently on display at Eramboo Artist Environment. If you can visit, the exhibition is open 10am-4pm everyday until 23rd June. Otherwise, I took some photos to share with you all:
Gloria is an incredible artist, and I thank her for having the idea to collaborate with other artists as part of her six-month artist residency at Eramboo, sponsored by Northern Beaches Council. I find it so rewarding to work collaboratively with other artists, whether they’re writers like myself or visual artists like Gloria and Alyson, as both process and result are multi-dimensional, artistically fulfilling, and inspiring. Art needn’t be segregated by media, it can overlap and entwine, evolve and stimulate, reflect and deepen the experience for viewers.
Here’s more on the poetry creation process; here’s more about the Pittwater Spotted Gum Forest; and here’s a photo of a Spotted Gum tree at Eramboo itself, isn’t it gorgeous!
