Last month, I was part of the first exhibition with the Four Nature group, which is compromised of myself and three other incredibly lovely, like-minded creative ladies that all share the same vision as me, how lovely is that! I will leave their links below this post so you can pleasure your eyes over their beautiful creations.
It was hosted at the Artspace gallery in Woodbridge and was a great success! I displayed a mixture of paintings old and new, from my new oil paintings portraying the wildlife that inspires me and the threats that jeopardise their very existence, some watercolour studies and my ethical taxidermy.
I was particularly surprised at people’s response to my taxidermy work, as it’s not everyones cup of tea and I was a little apprehensive. People saw the beauty of the birds I preserve and ancient stigmas of taxidermy only being an art to satisfy people’s gluttonous desires have very much changed these days, with the exception of abhorrent trophy hunters that is.
Soon, taxidermy specimens may offer the only way of coming up close and personal with species if we continue on our destructive path and I think that people are starting to see the historical and important value of my craft, as well as the beauty it invokes.
We have booked the same slot for next year, where I should have a much more defined portfolio of work to display.
Why make art using about nature and using natural materials?
Beauty opens the heart and the mind follows. By using art to create beautiful stories about our relationship with the natural world and highlighting its wonders, we, as artists, hope to add to the voices that are pointing out how crucial awe is to our mental well being as humans, how integral nature is to our sense of ourselves as a species and how irreplaceable the beauty and complexity that we find in the organic truly is.
By using natural elements within the artworks themselves, we afford ourselves the deep joy of giving our attention over fully to the elements we collect and work with. Hopefully we also express that joy in such a way that may encourage others to search out sensory experiences directly with nature or allow them to connect with nature from a different perspective having experienced the stories of our connection.
Through collecting, handling, observing and using natural materials to create works that celebrate the beauty of their materials and the landscapes they are a part of, we offer small talismans of each of our very deep love and wonder of the more than human world around us.
I just want to say a HUGE thank you to Nicola, who is the brain child behind Four Nature for all of her hard work making this a possibility! X