Residency at Mt Coot-tha Gardens

I had an amazing year as the 2012 Artist-in-Residence at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-tha.

I am still continuing to work on some of the unfinished projects, and occasionally display my collaborative projects at various venues throughout Queensland.

 

Click here to read my Residency Blog which has detailed descriptions of all the projects and activities.

 

The biggest highlight of my year was the collaborative "Flowers of Friendship" hangings. 

355 people from Brisbane and other parts of Queensland, aged from 2 to 91, created 495 flower squares. These incorporated an amazing variety of mediums and the techniques ranged from traditional to modern.

I sewed these squares together to create 11 hangings, each 180cm long and 40cm wide (total width 440 cm).

Over the past three years the hangings have been on display throughout Queensland, but I am still trying to find a permanent home for them in a  prominent location where they can be on regular display. 

 I have made a hard-cover book documenting the project.
It describes the initial concept and the construction process and also lists the contributors and their individual flowers.

A printed version is available for $13 (AU)

During the year of the residency I completed many other collaborative projects.

A-I-R Mail
decorated envelopes from around the world

Fragrant Flags
fabric panels inspired by the Fragrant Garden
(with "Serendipity" group)

Japanese Garden Reveries
a book of images and haiku poetry
(with Alison Horsley)

Tropical Profusion
garment with quotes
and flowers
(with Gay McEwan) 

Environmental Exhortations
and Elucidations

decorated artist books
(with by several friends)

Emergence
basketry forms
(with Jill Brose)

 Floral Fantasy (with Jill Brose)

 

Woven Words (with Jill Brose)

There were other collaborative projects as well, including: 

  • Focus on Nature
  • Forest Fusion
  • Wata the Water Dragon
  • Naturally InSPIREd
  • Floral Folds
  • Butterfly Cascade
  • Tree of Tags
  • Paired Printings
  • Other Voices
  • Grevillea Grandeur
  • Floral Fantasy
  • Naturally Collaborative
  • Tangled Nature
  • Bookswap - ‘Plants’ theme 
  • Bookswap - ‘Seasons’ theme
  • Fascination with Foliage 

 

Various installations graced the Gardens throughout the year.

Swishy Swathes

Garlands of flowers and leaves festooned several shelter sheds and fences, the bus stop, the Gardens tour bus and the entrance to the Administration building.

Arachnid Artistry

Several people helped me make webs to decorate the trees in the entrance area of the Gardens.

 

Integrate/Disintegrate

Members of ‘Broadstrokes’ hung bundles of materials in trees. The disintegrated remains were turned into collage pages for a collaborative book.

I organised many activities in which visitors to the Gardens, both adults and children, could participate.

 

April School Holidays .... Origami Insects, Wacky Windmills & Vegetable Printing

Mothers’ Day .... Card making

World Environment Day ....Tree of Hope

Winter Solstice .... Wreath Making & Candle Covers

Far Out Forests ... Wearable art from Nature

Japan Week ... Peace Cranes & Tanabata Stars

Web Words ... Community Messages on webs

Branching Far and Wide .... Visitors’ messages on leaves

September School Holidays .... Fascinating Fibonacci, Light Catchers & Water Dragon Dalliance

Tree Dressing ... Christmas decorations for the Shaving Brush tree

 

I also completed some individual projects.

The Importance of Trees

Biodiversities

Waxing Lyrical about Nature

 

I had two exhibitions at Richard Randall Studio during the year.

“The Language of Nature 1” in June showed the ongoing progress of several collaborative projects.

“The Language of Nature 11” in November was the culmination of the year’s work.

The following week many of these works were also displayed in “Floressence” in the Auditorium. 

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