(<< that's our dog Holly on the left! )
My current work is a SLOW ART art & ecology forest project begun in 2008
It's an ongoing diary in images, short films & conversations between myself, close to nature foresters, our local community & online audiences, detailing an example of how we are turning our small 24 year old monoculture spruce plantation into an ecologically & economically sustainable real FOREST.
I've used a blog www.ecoartnotebook.com as a visual diary
Short films created from this project so far include
burning bright (2008)
once i counted birds (2009)
The project so far:
So since then I've organised a tree-marking day (April 2008) with two close to nature foresters and interested members of my neighbourhood. I made a very small film 'burning bright 2008'
Sept 08 I went to Slovenia, the home of close to nature forestry with the Irish branch of Pro Silva Ireland field trip and toured the home of close to nature forestry - a country where 70% of the countryside and 70% of the ecomony is forest based has invested in long term, prosperity for biodiversity and their economy
Jan 2009 we employed the newly formed, close to nature forestry company lightfootforestry.ie to thin our forest to start the conversion process. Made a small fun film on the thinning process;
April 2009 Attended National IrishForestry seminar in Port Laois - foresters wondering how to communicate the good news story of forestry to general public and Minister Sargent says 'the answer to climate chaos is trees'
May 2009 documenting the natural regeneration (young tree seedlings) occurring in the newly created light spaces and clearings
June 2009 attended first UK Arts & Foresty Discussion meeting, organised by the UK RSA Arts and Ecology programme
June 2009 Pro Silva Ireland trip to Holland to visit Dutch close to nature forests
Sept 2009 went to Slovenia to 20th annniversary of the Pro Silva Europe - now 27 countries strong, all promoting close to nature forestry
My past projects have involved a 2 year project documenting 13 year old plantings of broadleaf woodlands in Co. Leitrim (see 'the local project, revisited 2006') and previous work that began as long ago in 1996 when I was raising awareness about rare Irish trees and shrubs for a Leitrim Hedgerow project (see Hedgerow calendar I wrote and illustrated). I have had the good fortune to work alongside leading Irish foresters who have championed pioneering sustainable forestry methods.
In recent years, I needed to create a body of work that was based at home in South Co. Carlow. While the intention of documenting all the community broadleaf woodlands in Leitrim in the 'local project' exhibtion & workshop in 2006 was to inspire others to do the same, that project also identified a major concern. Like most people living in Ireland that has been bereft of forests for centuries, these new woodland owners had little knowledge about managing woodlands in a sustainable manner into the future.
Coincidentally this is about the time my forestry friends were adopting European close to nature, permanent forestry management skills and knowledge. Basically, bit by bit, they were and are now actively involved in promoting the conversion of many monoculture spruce plantations by selective thinning, into permanent, mixed species forests, managed both for maximum biodiversity and economic returns (see prosilvaireland.org - pro silva is latin: 'for the forests'. Apparently most EU foresters who visit Ireland see enormous potential in our spruce monocultures to be converted into permanent mixed species forests. Some of this must have seeped into my artistic subconcious as while walking my dog Holly in my small 2 acre, 20 year old spruce plantation (a plantation that had never been managed but one that my husband and I wanted to know how to deal with) a thought came into my head that I could use my own forest as a tiny learning/teaching experiment about close to nature forestry. I also viewed it as a small local gesture against thebackdrop of continuing global deforestation / climate chaos. |
