ART OF NATURE
LIGHT AS A FEATHER
LIGHT AS A FEATHER
Curated by Artist-In-Residence K. Tauches
ART OF NATURE 2022:
LIGHT AS A FEATHER
April 23 – June 12, 2022
Curated by Artist-In-Residence K. Tauches
“This year’s Art of Nature theme – LIGHT as a Feather – indicates our particular interest in artists who engage lightly with the land. With an emphasis on co-creation [and not competition] with nature, we challenged artists to invoke the invisible histories and subtle energies felt when spending time, unplugged, in the preserve. Feathers not only refer to Herons and other birds, but also honor the spiritual presence and heritage of the Creek (Muscogee) and Cherokee Indians who lived here 200 years ago. With a highway buzzing beside us, we can learn a lot from the way their cultures left few permanent marks on this remarkable 30-acre riverscape.”
-K. Tauches
Ask the Children
Toxosi AkaraSangba
Digital Collage, Sewn Tapestry, String, Spray Paint, Bells, Mirror, Wire, Tree Limbs, Stones and Found Objects in the Preserve.
As a Psycho-Spiritual Artist, I combine the metaphysical realms into the material world. By engaging in a subtle meditative process, I synthesize with nature by way of remembering, listening and expanding upon the teachings of my elders and ancestors. Each color and design is a prayer weaving through myth, spirituality and storytelling that is New Indigenous African and encourages mental and emotional inner sensitivities to guide the imagination towards remembering the missing and murdered children of Atlanta, Native tribes and Indigenous communities around the world.
Illuminations
Chloe Alexander
The installation consists of 10 lanterns constructed of polyurethane plastic that will capture sunlight during the day, and use solar power to illuminate and create a soft glow at night. The boxes will be lightweight and will move in the breeze while being sturdy and weather-safe. Each lantern will have openings on all size faces, and wax paper inserts that will include images from nature, specifically local flora and fauna, will be hand printed inside of each inset panel. The wax paper is translucent and will capture light and shadow around the printed elements during the day, creating a silhouette. Using a small solar light, the boxes will emit a soft glow at nightfall, illuminating the design on each inset panel from 4 sides and from below.
The boxes can be arranged in a grouping or individually along a path, or a combination of both. The boxes will be hung using transparent hanging wire, which is sturdy while giving the illusion that the boxes are floating on air.
Tree Lines
Gavin Bernard
“Tree Lines” highlights the natural beauty that already exists within the Preserve, its bounty of trees. I’m using molded PVC piping to mimic the organic structure of one tree, heating and wrapping pipe to the tree’s organic form. I’ll be creating web-like weavings along the piping to accentuate the tree’s natural geometry. With continuous white lines threaded through tiny holes drilled in the pipe, I’m interested in alluding to the interdependent, underground networks of the natural world.
This work seeks to shift our relationship to nature’s masterpieces from the mundane and ordinary, to the exquisite and life-giving installations they are. Atlanta’s trees have always offered an abundance of exquisite, large-scale sculptures for us to enjoy every day, but beyond their beauty, trees are majestic creatures that share space with humanity while operating in a time frame which is quite different from our own.
My preference for this project is to work with a tree in the Preserve that is dying, dead, or soon to be removed. I want to capture and offer reverence to one tree’s life journey by fossilizing its architectural path.
Spirits of the Preserve
Dorothy O’Connor
Herons carry significantly positive symbolic meaning in many different cultures: persistence, longevity, protection, peace, balance and wisdom. They are also seen as messengers to the gods. The old-growth trees within the boundaries of the Preserve as well as the four distinct habitats are critical life forces that sustain perfectly balanced ecosystems within, and also embody this symbology. My project is both a tribute to that balance in nature and a wish to preserve it.
Listening to Trees
Judy Parady
Cement castings, paint, yarn, tree.
Even in this most special place, it is easy to pass through unaware of being seen by the ones who too quietly witness our kind. If only the trees spoke more forcefully. If only we opened ourselves enough to listen.
Spoken Word and Music Performance
Claire Paul and Yusef Sullivan
The power of the arts is in the infinite ability to express various representations of our connection and to question and interrogate fractures within our connection. I wish to share poetry as a part of Light as a Feather centered on stories of African Americans and Native Americans that incorporate various elements of nature.” Inspired by these words, Sullivan collaborates with sound artist Claire Paul for a poetry reading performance amplified by her reed “Cherokee Style” flute.
Portals
PHENIZEEFM
An art installation of mirrored plexiglass
marking the foot trail entrance into our
beloved Blue Heron Nature Preserve.
Light as a feather; let’s embark.
Nature is the portal!
Step within and continue reflecting
thouself, the sky, the branches, and
all the connections…
US.
Swallow Tail
Steve Pomberg
Acrylic on repurposed aluminum, 24″ x 30″
The act of repurposing an abandoned traffic sign and altering the graphic command into a coastal abstraction transfers power from implied authority back to nature. With gratitude, this chromatic symbol temporarily exists in a sanctuary that provides animals and humans the opportunity to observe, rest and engage. “Swallow Tail” is a reference to the shape of some bird tails and how this dynamic natural design is emulated by surfboard shapers to provide speed and control to wave sliders.
PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Trevor Reese
plants and animals seem obvious, it’s why we go to nature, it’s what’s around us when we walk around this preserve, we see signs all the time, we get info from signs, plants and animals are what is protected here but they need constant protection to keep here, this sign seems to float and almost disappear, it reminds me what is important and not to take it for granted
ReFlowering (Love is a Rose)
Shana Robbins
As we entered springtime, a time of blooming, expansion, and abundance, I was inspired by the Light as a Feather artist call to create a totally experiential work of art that leaves no visible residue or impact on the natural habitat. Over the course of the exhibition, I created several ephemeral, walking performance pieces that occurred at several sites along Nancy Creek. The intention was to honor the water itself and highlight and reassert the grace, intelligence, history, and healing qualities of Blue Heron Nature Preserve as an urban wildlife sanctuary.
Flag of My Devotion #1-3
Melissa Word
Cotton, Nylon, Acrylic, Charcoal, Bamboo
What does it mean to be devoted to the land irrespective of location, nationhood or border? To pledge allegiance to the ubiquity of dirt, rock, earthworm, river silt?
These flags are created at the intersection of performance, ritual, gestural mark-making, and improvisational patchwork. Throughout April 2022, the artist engaged in solo performances for the land—movement as a reverence practice, along with fabric, charcoal, acrylic and found flora as drawing tools. What transpired was a series of embodied maps of the land, charting a place through the felt experience of being there.
