Reflecting back on 2018

Reflecting on summer/autumn Art projects 2018- Organik Planet, Altered Perceptions, Linocut works;     

Beauty of a single leaf, Autumn2018, photo by yvonne forste

 

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after 
night, and spring after winter. Rachel Carson/ ref 1



















For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realise that, in order to survive, he must protect it. Jacques-Yves Cousteau/ ref2
  
************************************************



Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower. Albert Camus

Organik Planet Project Halesworth Gallery Open 2018

Organik Planet upcycle -recycle no plastic zero carbon foot print

OrganiK Planet, Mini Abstract upcycle art by yvonne forster 2018

Organik Planet 2, mini abstract, upcycled art, by yvonne forster 2018

Organik Abstract

, mini abstract, upcycled art, by yvonne forster 2018

 Organik Planet 2030, mini abstract, upcycled art, by yvonne forster 2018

Near to nature fox linocut by yvonne forster

In my Garden Black Bird in a Robin Tree  lino cut 2018 by yvonne forster

Reduced linoprint Home to Roost by yvonne forster 

Altered Perceptions 2017,

 Unfinished work inspired by Rachel Carson by yvonne forster

Framed work Altered Perceptions Exhibited at the Kunst Huis Gallery in Yorkshire

We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. – Howard Zinn/ ref3

http://wisdomquotes.com/nature-quotes/ ref 1 http://wisdomquotes.com/nature-quotes/ref 2
https://ecowarriorprincess.net/2016/01/60-great-quotes-about-sustainability-green-living-our-environment-2/ ref 3

Organik Planet - 2030

                

Organik Planet- 2030.

              

       Hope has never trickled down, it has always sprung up - Naomi Klein (ref 1 below)

Over the summer I was working on some new ideas, with the intention of creating something new by recycling old discarded art works...which evolved into new mini abstract works... images below

Each new work was made with the intention of having minimal impact on the environment and to help with the sustainability of Earth's natural resources. I have used reclaimed materials and recycled artworks as part of an ongoing eco- project which explores ideas around the creative process of recycling old discarded works.


**********************

Reclaimed used art and materials:

Brown paper - handcrafted string for tags,frames.

Tissue paper - handcrafted string for gift tags

Card - supporting artworks

Recycled artworks -redesigned

Locally found Elm wood branches carved into frames.

In motivating people to love and defend the natural world, an ounce of hope is worth a ton of despair. George Monbiot 2ref.below.

Naomi Klein (2010). “No Logo 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.30, Vintage Canada ref 1
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/761573 ref2 George Monbiot

In memory of and inspired by conservationist - Artist Franz Krajcberg ; As a human being, I am completely completely connected to nature. My existence, my life, my culture – is the natural environment. My survival and my creativity depend on it.F.K. 12.04.1921—15.11.2017

Tropical Abstracts

Tropical Abstracts

If one truly loves nature one finds beauty everywhere.

Vincent Van Gogh ref belo

“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.” 

― Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

New works of digital imagery now in progress hope to complete soon...

My main projects are inspired by the natural world. I explore the culmative cause and effects of human activities upon habitats and ecosystems. My work is often a response to currrent issues concerning climate change -  and often informed by reasearching articles and authors such as Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson and George Monboit.  Brazilian Artist Franz Krajeberg, whose dedication to protect the natural world over a number of decades, opened up a new way of seeing the human impact on our planet and a need for dedicated alternative views and responses to emerge ...My works below are in response to the use and knock on effects of industrial pesticides, these detrimental effects on insect species such as butterflies and moths ... then have a further knock on effect to bird species . The series Tropical Abstraction portray a single butterfly in a vibrant abstracted space. The creature is isolated from its natural habitat in order to empasise the pracarity of ecosystems impacted by industrial deforestation /farming 

... don't copy nature too closely. Art is an abstraction; as you dream amid nature, extrapolate art from it, and concentrate on what you will create as a result.

Paul Gauguin

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/43828.Aldo_Leopold

http://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/nature-and-art.html

Initial drawings...leading to outcomes

Drawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times. It brings together man and the world. It lives through magic. Keith Haring.

Be Happy Pollutant Moment! ?? captured, Air drawing by plane!
 Photo by yvonne forster 2016

Traveller, pastel on board by yvonne forster, 2018

A current ongoing project, Worlds Apart and Travellers.

From an ecological perspective, I have been focusing on exploring the journeys we take by public transport for over a year. The initial study sketches made whilst travelling on the train, then emerged into a recent series of  larger scale drawings titled, 'Travellers' based on the original sketches. I also produced lino cut images, titled ,'Worlds Apart', in 2017 as an ongoing exploration of the internal and external worlds which we experience in contemporary life travel. Through these series of works, I also consider human manipulation and exploitation of the natural order of things. By taking into account the pollutant effects of industrialisation caused by human activity on nature, I explore the impacts - of current trending issues. Raising questions such as; "What will the consequences lead to in the over exploitation of nature"?  "How to become more reflective and aware of the strain our planet bears in the hands of humanity"? and "Could we imagine an alternative way of sustaining the Earths natural resources from new perspectives"

Albeit inadvertently, nature is used as commodity. Due to this it has lead to an increasing detached, passive and insouciant response toward the natural world. Which somehow needs a solution.

Aldo Leopolds, philosophy of 'respect' for nature is encapsulated in his response ; that we abuse land when we regard it as a commodity, 'belonging to us' . But when we start to realise and see land as 'community' of which we are a apart and belong to, we may begin to use it with far deeper concern and respect...

                                             Sketch study of woman on train journey graphite
                                                      by yvonne forster

   Traveller on a journey graphite, 2018

                by yvonne forster  

   Traveller on a journey, graphite, 2018

                  by yvonne forster  

                                                 Traveller on a journey, graphite, 2018
                                                      by yvonne forster

                                 Study of objects Graphite on paper by yvonne forster 2018

The Revellers, Graphite on Paper
by yvonne forster.2018

Traveller, pastel work on card by yvonne forster 2018

Worlds Apart, linocut , by yvonne forster,2017

                                           Worlds Apart, linocut, by yvonne forster 2017

                         Worlds Apart, combined images into one work, Linocut
                                                             by yvonne forster 2017

This exploration with drawing skills...Besides being a cathartic 'magical' experience it is also a foundation and a channel through which to explore and express facets of the human experience. The creative act becomes a journey an immersion - of the inner life connecting to the outer world...Being stimulated by a combination of  contemplation and observation, it is then finally expressed through the physical act .

The deliberate act of drawing, creates space through which to witness. It's a communication of representations of the material world, through exploring the interactions of shape, form, light, shadow, texture and patterns all come into play and leave their residue Anon

                Aldo Leopold author of ' A Sand County Almanac' 1949 Oxford University Press                                               (pharphrased ideas)

        Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/drawing

Creativity, Passion and Explorations

The reasons behind Creativity and Exploration.

'There are some who can live without the wild things and some who cannot'. Aldo Leopold

The process of exploration and experimentation happens  through the manipulation of a diverse range of techniques and mediums -  the  image then evolves - Creativity is most often informed by ideas which focus around anthropic ecological concerns.

This series of works, Tropical Abstracts, has given me the chance to explore and experiment with digital photography.Intialy focussing on ideas through which  I considered the major impacts of human activity upon the natural environment.

 My intention also is to highlight the inadvertent alienating effects upon humans themselves by exploring chasem of disengagement from the land and other life forms we depend upon. Initiated by reducing the environment to commodity - imposing exploitative methods, thwarts the order of natural ecological processes.

Taking a photo image of a butterfly I played around with ideas by  exploiting the original image through manipulation. Abstracting the insect from its natural  background to highlight the consequences of man's manipulation of nature. As not only do pesticides kill targeted insects, but all other insect life - pollinators we depend upon. 

The impact of pesticides and herbicides now is  adversely effecting fauna and flora - rendering nature into its current precarious state. 

 Ideas that Rachel Carson explored and discussed in her seminal book 'Silent Spring'. 

Aldo leopold , Also expressed concerns about human disconnection  fron the land....to re -engage at a deeper ecological level .

In order for humans to survive....  we need to let the wild to thrive.

Based on flora and fauna