Wood/Land reflects the relationships and influence of the forest. Artist submissions must consider the theme Wood/Land through technique, perspective or subject matter. What of the land that grows the tree? What do forests and woodlands mean to us?
Deep Water Gallery call for submissions January 20, 2023
When our local gallery published this call for submissions, I saw Peter’s eyes light up.
Really, he lives his life immersed in trees, constantly interacting with them through his teaching, planting, removing, burning of them for heat and reading about them for pleasure. On top of that, we are taking an online class about coppice agroforestry. Trees are his jam.
You may recall we (meaning mostly Peter) started a dead hedge project in 2020. I wrote about it here on the blog. That project blossomed into two dead hedges in the meadow that became our very own wood/land project–perfect for submitting to the gallery.
Peter’s recent writing about the dead hedge (and hedges in general) accompanies the photos. This is merely the tip of the iceberg of what we are learning lately. Here is one of my favourite quotes from recent readings:
We think we know a tree when we can name its genus and species, perhaps place it in a family, and recount the tale of invisible processes like photosynthesis and the production of pigments. What if this were really a strange, abstract, and less useful way of knowing trees than to know them by the forms in which they grow, live, and die? … even into the Middle Ages, human beings were better at the latter than the former way. In those times times too, they had a very active relationship with trees, depending on them for energy, warmth, structure. …In those days, we knew trees the way we know friends: what they like and don’t like, how they are likely to respond to a thing we do with them, what we should under no circumstances try with them.
-William Bryant Logan, Sprout Lands
Well, I certainly look forward to deepening my relationship with the trees and woody plants around here. There is so much to learn.
