Thought for the week: Nature in Art
Every year I look forward the light festival that comes to town, this is the eighth year visiting Barnsley.
The reason I look forward to it is that these events are often full of nature inspired installations that blend art and nature beautifully. It also brings the whole town together, as long as it’s not wet or clashes with an England football match as it did one year. It can bring people of all ages into town even though its dark.
I love to see how art as a medium can be used to illustrate ecological concepts and environmental concerns of the day. I think it is important that we stop and look at what those issues might be, and art is a super medium to bring those concerns to life without judgement, if the message is clear. These installations are often interactive yet stimulating and I come away with a sense of wellbeing and fresh ideas for myself and aspire to be more creative going forward.
Last weekend there were more people at the Bright Nights than I have seen previously so well done the organisers, I even had to queue to see some of the installations.
This year’s theme was Grow – exploring the natural world and the collective growth of our vibrant communities. It was so nice to see families and their young kids exploring ‘Wild lights lanterns’ by RSPB Old Moor – created by community volunteers and schools’ workshops from across the Dearne valley. They certainly lit up Mandela gardens as the young kids interacted with the puppets and creatures on show. Close by was ‘And Breathe’… by Pif-Paf a tactile sound and light installation, it made for a stimulating area to visit.
Up at the college was where the next generation gathered, the art was more commercial and performance based, with the ‘The Dancing Fountain’ as water, light, moved with the sound of music crafted by kinetic artist Alexis Richter. Inside the college was singing and community-based activities with some students raising money for the charity blood cancer. There was even more music over at St Mary’s church as Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major by ONYVA studio, played a visual performance that made you sit and listen. More my cup of tea to be honest than what the college students offered.
Then down to the train station, to the soon to be opened Youth Centre, was Molecular Clouds by Daksha Patel. An interactive projection using mesmerising imagery to explore themes of climate change. This five-minute show aims to highlight the impact of greenhouse gases. It was great to see the kids reaching out to touch and get rid of the greenhouse molecules at the end of the show, which made their silhouette grow as they grabbed and removed more particles from the atmosphere. I do wonder if they really understood the significance of this, let’s hope so….
This perfectly epitomises a quote from Wendell Berry – To care for the earth is to care for ourselves and future generations.
There were stilt walkers and dancers amongst drummers with kids doing parkour, giving that party vibe, in and around the Glass Works. The square was filled with large, illuminated sculptures of stars ‘Supernova’ by Studio Vertigo. Occasionally letting off steam, as the star dies and scatters its elements all to the background theme from the Interstellar soundtrack but only heard in the quieter moments.
The one installation that you had to queue for …. ‘The Neon Garden’ by ArtWorks Barnsley, was a small room full of colourful oversized floral blooms created by hundreds of local young people and adults, many of whom have learning disabilities or are autistic (or both). What a delightful 20mins, where if you looked closely, you could find critters, birds, and mammals amongst the colourful vegetation. I thought there might have been a winged tardigrade, but I will let you decide on that…… It certainly held the attention of the younger kids thus the queue. With only so many allowed in the space at one time, you had to wait until the kids left, it made you linger and appreciate it more.
I have visited some installations in past years, often lingering to soak up the ambience created by an artist. Trying to understand what the artist is trying to tell me. Often people will wander in and out without a pause, leaving as quickly as they entered. Maybe the art did not speak to them, or it did not engage, I will never know, I suppose that is art. So, to see an installation get so much attention is fabulous. I saw a couple turn up to a bird reserve recently, they got out the car entered the hide and even though there was a plethora of birds to see, 25 different species as we had just been in there, they got back in their car and drove off before I had even changed my boots.
The final and probably my favourite interactive installation was the ‘The collectors’ by Bethan Maddocks. Big shout out to the Feels like Home, Culture Companions, Butterfly community groups and young people from Queens Road Academy that helped create this wonderful immersive garden. This was in the garden of the Cooper Gallery, and we were handed a UV torch to find and shine, to create silhouettes of insects, bugs and birds we come across. The spinning carousel to music as the video below shows, created a magical place to be, nature can be the same if we let it. Bethan had previously displayed this suspended mobile carousel at Seaton Delaval Hall, so it was nice to see it here. I have linked her site below for those interested in finding out more, certainly creativity I appreciated and enjoyed. It made me think do we need nature to inspire us.
I do wonder what people took away from this Bright Night festival. One hopes they at the very least they took away an appreciation for how many hours each installation took to create. I hope they took away that nature through art can be inspiring.
One can only hope that in a world where there are so many demands on people's time that they continue to find time to appreciate what nature can offer. But my big hope is they go away not only inspired but with a realisation of a conscious need for nature, rather than an unconscious need for nature.
If you get a chance to go to your local Bright Night, I hope you will support and find it as uplifting as I did…. And please if you enjoyed this article please comment below or subscribe so you don’t miss future posts.
I leave you with this thought:
Nature asks for nothing yet offers everything – if only we take time to notice.
No comments:
Post a Comment