About

In the soil of the Earth, there is art (eARTh).

Here is a compendium of “Nature” related creative works to discover.

Botanical sculpture, Nomadic gardens, Cinemascapes, Stills of clouds or waves, Compost becoming design, Music made by bees, Photography in movement like pollen on wind, Art that is human and insect, floral and fowl-like.

There may be high fashion that grows into the ground, Roots becoming glass becoming lungs, Wire warp and weft taking on sapling like tension, Colour rich textiles becoming prints of the landscape.

A death, a birthday a digital accident, a lapsus, a surprise, à holiday, a request, a collaboration. I can not predict where the posts will take me, I can only admit to an intention.

The work here is Documenting Uncanny form and unsettling beauty: some works are playful, exquisite, upending, others grave, dangerous, sinful, dooming.

“Nature” is such a knot of concerns. The temptation to essentialist reification and choseification of “Nature” is no doubt reflected in the continued gutting and exploitation of Earth’s resources. On this note, I will regularly showcase artists who work with the objects of our demise. Recyclables, rubbish, the uncomfortable uses of the finds in e-dumps (electronic waste).

These Nature inspired works, textural and high tactile as per my own penchants,  encourage a rapprochement between Horticultural and Art Therapy designed activities. In the U.K. this ecotherapeutic crossover is sometimes referred to as Environmental Art Therapy. In North America it has gained notice as Eco-Art Therapy. The point being that to lock Horticultural Therapy up in a disciplinary strait jacket may do professionals and the clients or patients we serve little in the way of improving the quality of the therapeutic process.

Andre LeNotre, plan for Tuileries gardens 1666-1672

While Horticultural Therapy was born in the garden, there are many paths to embodiment or creative invention of the hortus, the enclosed contained safe space and healing sanctuary.

It is no wonder that Gardens/gardening is referred to in France as “l’Art des Jardins”, mirrored in a Hegelian reference on the seven arts.

I celebrate these diverse artists for their courage and persistence. But these works also stand simply for what they already are…surprising vision.

I hope you find them as engaging as I do.