HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! ONE DOOR CLOSES....ANOTHER IS OPEN

What a year 2010 was! The year-long residency at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens has come to a close... sadly ... but happily this is just the beginning of the next chapter for the project Homage to the Seed.... begun tentatively last February.


I had no idea how many stories, people and initiatives I would touch down with through this project...but it has been extraordinary, precious and hugely uplifting to say the least. 


Its far too early to outline what 2011 will involve ... lets just say research on seeds, considerable reflection and also painting at the Paddington studio has continued to be a big part of daily life... with of course breaks for a recent trip to Melbourne, Xmas and time with friends and family. We've also been having the wettest and, for some, toughest festive season in years. Read a story just posted at my other blog!

New years image from the floods of Qld. See more at that story above!

People are still sending me links to wonderful Seed intitaves... so there are lots of posts waiting for me to put up as soon as I can!


If you wish to visit my latest web-link that I started new years eve for some whimsy click seed capsules and you will find my experiment with Tumblr which I am really enjoying... I love the fact that the archive is a storehouse for images I wish to return to, think more about or use in some way! I was a little rusty at first and have to tidy it up but it is SO convenient and I like the feel of it I must say.


From the archive:

Marian Bijlenga, collage from her book 'written weed'

uncertaintimes: thethirdmind: Materia Medica of Vegetable Origin

eyehavenoi:

Lotus Seeds (Hawaiian Sea)

Tumblr offers a fascinating world and a really viable respository for images, links and ideas.

Food bowl for a continent under water!

Last year Food Security emerged as an issue to take seriously in mainstream media. Events such as the Queensland floods point to the kind of phenomena being discussed as a reason we must rethink  the sustainability of the systems in place - food, water, soil, farming and food production... to cope with changes we are experiencing with climate.


...here's something else to think about in 2011... from National Geographic on population... their theme for the year!

I wish you all a wonderful 2011  and hope you will be back to visit, leave comments and links ... and that together we will find ways to be more creative about how we manage the resources of this planet for the best interests of all!


Abundant blessings to all!
Sophie

Inspiration for Monday morning!

Whilst visiting Abigail Doan's wonderful blog this morning I found two article's I wanted to post on here. Read about her at the greenmuseum.org. She describes herself as:

"a writer and environmental fiber artist residing in NYC and Europe. 

My eco-textile and art farming projects are a means to create sustainable 

solutions and visual links to the global challenges we collectively face."

 This eco-art blog I like to visit for inspiration featured artist Kevin Inkawhich some time ago and the Seed Project which I'll focus on  as well.

From Abigail Doan:

'Kevin Inkawhich crafts the most heart palpitatingly natural mobiles. Using dried leaves, seeds, pods, branches, and delicate wire armatures, his floating sculptural pieces make any room or exhibition space flutter with organicism. They are lyrical, resourceful, and an homage of sorts to the fact that the best design is always, in essence, nature-based.'

Kevin Inkawhich

 Also at Abigail's blog:

Ruth Asawa in her San Francisco studio via Community of Creatives

this article below on Abigail Doan is well worth a read:

Returning to and from THE LAND: Connectivity and Crafting Residency

ABIGAIL DOAN
THE LAND/an art site is located eighty miles southeast of Albuquerque in the pinon and juniper-scented foothills of New Mexico's Manzano Mountains. The pueblo mission ruins of Salinas National Monument are situated nearby, as is the train-whistle-punctuated town of Mountainair, the former pinto-bean capital of the world and the now faded hub of the Santa Fe Railway. As THE LAND's September 2006 artist-in-residence, I prepared myself for an immersive week of surveying and studying the unique characteristics of this remote art and conservation site.

all images form the Land Views site.

also from Landviews:

Abigail Doan is an environmental artist and activist. Her work has been exhibited in conjunction with the United Nation's Environment Programme, Art into Action/The Natural World Museum, and in group exhibits worldwide. Abigail is a contributing editor to Supernaturale.com, where she writes about art farming, craft, and the use of fiber in the landscape. She recently exhibited her 'Crocheted Snow' series at Lafayette College's Williams Center Art Gallery, in an exhibit called, "On Ice". Her work appears on Greenmuseum.org, in periodicals such as Knit Knit, and in the recently published book, Craftivity. Her 'Tumbleweeds' will be exhibited this April in the show, "Stretched Threads", at The Atlantic Center for The Arts in Central Florida. For more information on Abigail's projects, go toabigaildoan.blogspot.com.

NOW... the next thing I wanted to share found at Abigail's blog was this:

http://abigaildoan.blogspot.com/2007/04/seed-project.html

From The Seed Project website: 

watch this one minute video!

Matthew Gehring

Monica Hernadez

Joan Fitsimmons

Gina Fuentes Walker - apple seeds

The Seed project began in 2006 by David Cohen, an installation artist.

The Seed project engages people all over the world plant to plant seeds creatively, creating individual art projects. The growth is then documented digitally. The digital images are compiled and placed together to form a “Virtual Field”  that can be seen  online. The components of the actual field exist in many separate places at once; sort of a diaspora of plants.

The plants can be grown freely in any configuration the planter chooses and the images can express the individuality of the grower as well. Planters are also free to choose to grow whatever seeds they choose. The three criteria are that the plants must be:

1 non-spreading,

2 non-invasive and

3 grown legally.

When a person participates by planting the seeds they become connected to a collective group of artists and activists. There are opportunities to meet potential collaborators and work creatively on other projects separate from the Seed Project. The seed becomes symbolic of these new collectives. 

School project

Anyone can join in this seed project!

counting the inheritance...

'counting the inheritance' -close up.

'Counting the inheritance' is the title of a work from the recent show that I painted some time back. It seemed a fitting title to a work that was a gesture to the seed banking of australian species... and this image above is a section of that work. In the Lab there is considerable counting of one kind or another... weighing, measuring... data entries... processes that are all part of the work behind the scenes for the Seed lab. Counting the inheritance is also a play on that standard idea of what makes an inheritance -  it challenges ideas of what matters, what we want to leave behind... what is valuable in the first place.

In the recently published book ' Homage to the Seed' I included a section on the Seed Lab at Mt Coot-tha, part of the QLD 'Seeds for life' - UK Millennium Seed Bank joint project. These pages are from that book and may be read in a larger format by clicking on each image. This a tribute to the people I collaborated with around that project over the year!

See other posts for more information or alternatively you may email for details.

For the past 5 months I've been working from the studio below and I included this heart-felt thank you to my kind sponsor in the book!

Homage to the Seed residency show at Herbarium, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha

The Herbarium at Mt Coot-tha was the setting for the December exhibition of the residency artwork in 'homage to the seed'.

ARTIST'S BOOK FOR SALE

The book contained material from across the year ... covering the role of the seed lab and the collaboration with Jason Halford from the lab.... as well as touching on various other aspects of public engagement carried out during the project. There was an overview on the ideas and passion behind the project going back many years and material was also included on the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity that  'homage to the seed' did in part respond to.  Journal pages as well as artworks were included in this book along with an essay written by Kevin Wilson, director of Artworkers Alliance (see end of post for essay).

The following piece is an overview of painting in 2010 during the residency written for the book.

OVERVIEW

fossil seeds

Eucalyptus seed capsule

seeds and pods of Leopard tree

fossil seeds

'and the world was made fruitful'

'and the world became bright'

'continuum'

'infinite'

'archaic, yet reverberating still I'

'archaic, yet reverberating still II'

'from the nothing the abundance'

Essay by Kevin Wilson on the exhibition: