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Restorative Storm, 2023, Site Specific Installation and part of Art of Nature at Blue Heron Nature Preserve
This installation is about change and transformation and also a memorial of sorts. Grieving for the beautiful pockets of wildness and small, but important ecosystems around Atlanta that have just evaporated due to endless development. It also acknowledges that places like BHNP are the important calm and sustenance pockets of wildness amidst the storm of development, both for animals and people alike.
This installation is very similar to a tornadic piece called Imaginings that I created for a gallery show last year. Suspended from a discarded root ball (I am often inspired by other’s yard trash), I created a bird tornado made of wood veneer birds. Both the rootball and the birds have been treated to repel water and to hang outdoors for the duration of the exhibition. The birds carry little pieces of found natural ephemera and a small bowl made from leaves and wood veneer. The ephemera is to be taken as needed by creatures in the Preserve or dissolve into the surroundings over time. The little bowl will provide drinking stops for insects and birds.
The rootball and the birds bring air and earth together. The tornado - often symbolic of a cycle of chaos and destruction takes on a new meaning and purpose in the Preserve. It is no longer in control but sways with the breeze and succumbs to the atmosphere and the creatures that encounter it. It nurtures instead of destroys.