Death is inevitable. Waiting. We were born to die. Maybe eat a few great meals in between, enjoy the company of great people, and have a poop that makes us wonder why we even ate that extra piece. That’s all life really is. Occasionally someone invents something great. Or something nice happens. But not usually here
My dad was a landscape architect, and his goal in whatever job he did was to save as many trees as possible. He would have liked this article and your heart. Thanks!
Excellent articles posted on the website. The information behind the inspiration and process has primed me for a visit to the field. Looking forward to seeing the new work in person. CG.
I saw the article in Perth News. What a novel idea! I have created a giraffelope from recovered tree and cedar. I didn't know I am part of a great community! I am a retired teacher, not an artist. I will be sure to visit this place!
Kelly, I love the picture of your field. Great to get a sense of where you've been spending time listening and looking this summer. It also has made me want to let the field here (the fieldwork field) - or part of it, go back to 'old field'.
From wikipedia:
Old field is a term used in ecology to describe lands formerly cultivated or grazed but later abandoned. The dominant flora include grasses, heaths and herbaceous plants, with encroaching woody vegetation. It represents an intermediate stage found in ecological succession in an ecosystem advancing towards its climax community. The concept of climax communities has been challenged in recent years.
Old field sites are often marginal lands with soil quality unsuitable for crops or pasture. Examples include abandoned farmlands in central Ontario, along th eedge of the Canadian Shield.
The directions are located in the menu option titled 'location' in the right hand menu of this website. If you still have questions let me know and I will email them to you.
Thanks for all the fabulous links Dan. I have loved Cormier's 'Blue Tree' for year. Love the way it disappears at certain times of day into the sky - illuminating the act of noticing/not noticing. - Susie
Hi Alicia!
I'm so glad you found a place for the barb. I remember that chap very well.... He was certainly curious :) And I think it is pretty wonderful and somehow fitting that he looked upon the barb as a gift. Continuing to 'breach' the implied contract that a fence is supposed to suggest (if not enforce) - completely unaware that the fence represents anything whatsoever.
I also hung a barb on the fence between the hacienda and the road/laneway. I wonder if it is still there!
Susie
hi Susie!
I placed Henny's ceramic barb as instructed "on a place where boundaries are being compromised". I chose the barbed wire fence dividing our hacienda and our neighbor's house (the mentally challenged kid who could not stay away from the artists). Unfortunately, I did not have a camera to take a picture of it, as it did not stay there for long...the kid took it as a gift, and continued crossing the fence to visit us. I think he will become a great artist himself :)
Susie, thank you for your thoughts and for bringing and leaving the barbs. I really like the idea of leaving small, hardly noticeable traces like that, letting the people who might find them the possibility of their having their own imagination coming up with a story for the object.
Nice to think that those pieces was made at the old Rörstrand porcelain factory in Lidköping, Sweden and are now to find in the Mexican country side.
Wow what a wonderful installation! The images are delightful.....I love the black and white photographs. The ice formations created are great. Is the ice melting the dripping on the field now? I cannot wait to see more images as time goes on!
Thanks! Barbara
I think that is a great question and I am not an art philosopher but this is what I think.
I think all of life is art since life is ultimately a holistic process.
However, we've divided life up into pieces and one piece is called art.
For example, I don't think there is much difference between a brilliant and moving marketing campaign complete with powerful visuals compared to 'visual art', except perhaps in the intent. So in that sense advertizing can be considered art but I think artists would prefer not to think it as such.
So in the society that we live in today, I would argue that the label that we give art is important, otherwise it will get lost in our sliced up world.
If we lived more holistically, perhaps the fence that sits across the road adjacent to 'Freedom to Roam' would be no less art than the artwork itself. This might be because the fence would have been created with meaningful, thoughtful intentions that stem from the fullness of our being......just as Freedom to Roam has been!!!
Hopefully we can return to the day where function, utility, meaning and beauty merge once again so that we can all live artful or art-filled lives, where we are awakened to the wholeness of our being and thus we all are considered artists...... and where the role of the artist of today is diminished or made redundant.
There are some interesting clips from EARTHLINGS, the movie, on YOUtube and I guess The Cove takes it to the next level.
Tests have shown that some animals have self awareness and I believe some even feel empathy.
More and more I try to honour the spirit of the animal I eat....being thankful for giving me life.
Our infrastructure to grow/transport vegetables may not be any more sustainable than that of meat, so perhaps we need a very holistic approach to assessing the negative impacts on the health of people and the environment regarding how we eat.
Let us move toward the light from these days of darkness!!
I liked the article, and it was nice to hear someone talk about hunting in that sense - as a means of sustenance and without waste, it is a natural, human act.
I've recently stopped buying and eating meat, because of the way animals are bred and killed in captivity for food. I will buy eat and buy meat that is hunted though. To me it is more "real," and better for the animal. To be surprised by a stalking human is much better than knowing your fate. Despite the scientific ideas about animals not having self-awareness, I'm convinced that on some level, they know; they can hear their cohorts being killed ahead of them in the queue. Besides, what way is it to live, cramped, confined,from birth to death.
ps. I saw "The Cove" the other day, and that's probably the reason for this long comment.
WOW is right...this is crazy and so cool!!!!
Real
Well now what a wonderful initiative.....that's what I think it should be all about!!!!
What a great way to engage people meaningfully with the the land, with place, with each other and with themselves!!
Congrats on this!!!
Real
That looks like a lot of fun.....Congratulations!
Death is inevitable. Waiting. We were born to die. Maybe eat a few great meals in between, enjoy the company of great people, and have a poop that makes us wonder why we even ate that extra piece. That’s all life really is. Occasionally someone invents something great. Or something nice happens. But not usually here
My dad was a landscape architect, and his goal in whatever job he did was to save as many trees as possible. He would have liked this article and your heart. Thanks!
Matt Hellstrom
Spokane, WA
Parenting Skills
WOW I love this installation...the scale, the relationship to the site......the use of local natural materials.
Congratulations!!!!
Excellent articles posted on the website. The information behind the inspiration and process has primed me for a visit to the field. Looking forward to seeing the new work in person. CG.
I saw the article in Perth News. What a novel idea! I have created a giraffelope from recovered tree and cedar. I didn't know I am part of a great community! I am a retired teacher, not an artist. I will be sure to visit this place!
Kelly, I love the picture of your field. Great to get a sense of where you've been spending time listening and looking this summer. It also has made me want to let the field here (the fieldwork field) - or part of it, go back to 'old field'.
From wikipedia:
Old field is a term used in ecology to describe lands formerly cultivated or grazed but later abandoned. The dominant flora include grasses, heaths and herbaceous plants, with encroaching woody vegetation. It represents an intermediate stage found in ecological succession in an ecosystem advancing towards its climax community. The concept of climax communities has been challenged in recent years.
Old field sites are often marginal lands with soil quality unsuitable for crops or pasture. Examples include abandoned farmlands in central Ontario, along th eedge of the Canadian Shield.
-Susie
Hi there,
The directions are located in the menu option titled 'location' in the right hand menu of this website. If you still have questions let me know and I will email them to you.
Hope this helps.
Susie
Where is it??? Neither the radio interview nor this website mentions the location, except "near Perth"
Jo Brodie, josephinebrodie@sympatico.ca
Thanks for all the fabulous links Dan. I have loved Cormier's 'Blue Tree' for year. Love the way it disappears at certain times of day into the sky - illuminating the act of noticing/not noticing. - Susie
hopefully they won't be back for more!
bear, tar, feathers, fur, wish he'd/she'd just written in the comment book by the road instead of a mighty swing..
Hi Alicia!
I'm so glad you found a place for the barb. I remember that chap very well.... He was certainly curious :) And I think it is pretty wonderful and somehow fitting that he looked upon the barb as a gift. Continuing to 'breach' the implied contract that a fence is supposed to suggest (if not enforce) - completely unaware that the fence represents anything whatsoever.
I also hung a barb on the fence between the hacienda and the road/laneway. I wonder if it is still there!
Susie
hi Susie!
I placed Henny's ceramic barb as instructed "on a place where boundaries are being compromised". I chose the barbed wire fence dividing our hacienda and our neighbor's house (the mentally challenged kid who could not stay away from the artists). Unfortunately, I did not have a camera to take a picture of it, as it did not stay there for long...the kid took it as a gift, and continued crossing the fence to visit us. I think he will become a great artist himself :)
Susie, thank you for your thoughts and for bringing and leaving the barbs. I really like the idea of leaving small, hardly noticeable traces like that, letting the people who might find them the possibility of their having their own imagination coming up with a story for the object.
Nice to think that those pieces was made at the old Rörstrand porcelain factory in Lidköping, Sweden and are now to find in the Mexican country side.
:-)
Henny
Henny ,
these photos are so beautiful!
Oh do you mean is the ice melting now and dripping on the field?
The dripping would be very interesting......a subtle process that requires pause and careful attention!!
Real
Wow what a wonderful installation! The images are delightful.....I love the black and white photographs. The ice formations created are great. Is the ice melting the dripping on the field now? I cannot wait to see more images as time goes on!
Thanks! Barbara
I think that is a great question and I am not an art philosopher but this is what I think.
I think all of life is art since life is ultimately a holistic process.
However, we've divided life up into pieces and one piece is called art.
For example, I don't think there is much difference between a brilliant and moving marketing campaign complete with powerful visuals compared to 'visual art', except perhaps in the intent. So in that sense advertizing can be considered art but I think artists would prefer not to think it as such.
So in the society that we live in today, I would argue that the label that we give art is important, otherwise it will get lost in our sliced up world.
If we lived more holistically, perhaps the fence that sits across the road adjacent to 'Freedom to Roam' would be no less art than the artwork itself. This might be because the fence would have been created with meaningful, thoughtful intentions that stem from the fullness of our being......just as Freedom to Roam has been!!!
Hopefully we can return to the day where function, utility, meaning and beauty merge once again so that we can all live artful or art-filled lives, where we are awakened to the wholeness of our being and thus we all are considered artists...... and where the role of the artist of today is diminished or made redundant.
re
The question that continually comes up for me is "Does it matter that it be seen as 'Art' and if so, why?"
Susie,
I enjoyed reading your comments.....always very stimulating!
I think the only thing we can be sure of is that the artist created something that is meaningful to herself and therein lies the art.
The bonus seems to be that the work has been a catalyst for some degree of inner awakening for many people that has led to interesting dialogue.
Nothing wrong with Tilted Arc!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilted_Arc
Real
There are some interesting clips from EARTHLINGS, the movie, on YOUtube and I guess The Cove takes it to the next level.
Tests have shown that some animals have self awareness and I believe some even feel empathy.
More and more I try to honour the spirit of the animal I eat....being thankful for giving me life.
Our infrastructure to grow/transport vegetables may not be any more sustainable than that of meat, so perhaps we need a very holistic approach to assessing the negative impacts on the health of people and the environment regarding how we eat.
Let us move toward the light from these days of darkness!!
I liked the article, and it was nice to hear someone talk about hunting in that sense - as a means of sustenance and without waste, it is a natural, human act.
I've recently stopped buying and eating meat, because of the way animals are bred and killed in captivity for food. I will buy eat and buy meat that is hunted though. To me it is more "real," and better for the animal. To be surprised by a stalking human is much better than knowing your fate. Despite the scientific ideas about animals not having self-awareness, I'm convinced that on some level, they know; they can hear their cohorts being killed ahead of them in the queue. Besides, what way is it to live, cramped, confined,from birth to death.
ps. I saw "The Cove" the other day, and that's probably the reason for this long comment.