Building Community in Art | Amelia Ah You
Keeping up with social media posts is a daunting task. Yet, occasionally, a post pops out - maybe from an intriguing image, or a compelling opening line, or, a phrase that triggers your curiosity and you find yourself relating to the message.
Such is a post by our local artist , Adrian Baker (see email below). https://www.facebook.com/adrian.baker.794
“Do you want to be part of an environmental art exhibition?… a collaborative installation called “Net-Work”…Hooked? Find out more. http://www.adrianbakerart.com/net-work/
”The inspiration for this installation is the underground web of mycorrhizal fungi which allows trees to communicate through their roots….that this communication network is crucial to the health of the forest…Collaboration for this installation recognizes our human connection, or collective consciousness, so essential to the health of society”.
This is the best of both worlds! Art and community building. Raising awareness, one strand at a time, for the health of our natural world and humankind.
You have until the end of April 2020 if you would like to participate.
Thank you, Adrian, for bringing this project to this community and beyond and good luck with your MFA thesis show. Brava!
Photo credit: Eileen Hennemann
Hi Amelia, thanks for being such an enthusiastic advocate for this project. I’m amazed and pleased at the number of creative people who want to participate! Yes, feel free to share this with the Ten Collective. They can contact me if they want more info.
As to what has inspired this project, it’s been years in the making. Much of my art relates to recognizing our connection to nature, with the aim of encouraging a commitment to protect the earth.
For the past few years working on my master’s degree, I have focused on mature forests in eastern Ontario, spending a lot of time doing ‘fieldwork’ during the summer. This has included creating on-site installations and working on ways to translate a ‘language’ of trees onto paper. Further research led me to learn of the communication between trees VIA the network of mycorrhizal fungi. Below is the ‘blurb’ that I’ve been sending interested participants, which you can pass on to others.
The inspiration for this installation comes from the forests in eastern Ontario where I spend a lot of time both summer & winter. Tentatively called 'Net-Work', the fibre works represent the underground web of mycorrhizal fungi which allows trees to communicate through their roots. Scientists have discovered that these fungal ‘networks’ allow trees to interact, to exchange carbon, nitrogen, & water, and to convey chemical ‘messages’, even between trees of different species! We’re learning that this communication network is crucial to the health of the forest.
As part of my MFA thesis exhibition, I'm reaching out to people through various ‘networks’- online and by word of mouth. Collaboration for this installation recognizes our human connection, or collective consciousness, so essential to the health of a society. I feel that this ‘coming together’ to create an artwork that symbolizes the underground bond between trees also speaks of our own inexorable connection to nature. This is the underlying ‘message’ in all my artwork.
The piece that you knit (or otherwise create with fibre) can be just a few inches wide but can be long - very long – up to 10 or 15 feet!! No problem if you can only make a shorter piece, they will be attached together to create longer strands. You can use any material (yarn, string, jute, etc) in any colour or colour combination - a great chance to use up all those leftovers bits of yarn!
I‘ll need all the hand-made pieces by the end of April 2020. (They can be mailed – or dropped off - to the address below). The exhibition will be in July 2020 at the Michael O’Brian Gallery, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, and further exhibition venues are in the planning stage. As a contributor to this installation, you will have your name included in the exhibition. I’d also like each participant to email me a picture of themselves working on their piece, to be included in the exhibition (with their permission). I’ll post and send everyone pictures of the finished installation, and of course, everyone is welcome to attend the opening! Prior to the Vancouver exhibit, I hope to temporarily install and photograph the work in the forest that inspired it. There are also plans in the works to have this installation exhibited in other venues. TBA.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.