Source: Flickr / laurajlaura
Nothing can be done well at a speed of forty miles a day. The multitude of mixed, novel impressions rapidly piled on one another make only a dreamy, bewildering, swirling blur, most of which is unrememberable. Far more time should be taken. Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grass and gentians of glacier meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of Nature’s darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but Nature’s sources never fail. Like a generous host, she offers here brimming cups in endless variety, served in a grand hall, the sky its ceiling, the mountains its walls, decorated with glorious paintings and enlivened with bands of music ever playing. The petty discomforts that beset the awkward guest, the unskilled camper, are quickly forgotten, while all that is precious remains. Fears vanish as soon as one is fairly free in the wilderness.
— Our National Parks, John Muir
Source: connect470
Source: bangback.com
Nate: Finding a little bit of nature in the strangest places. I truly saw this little sign out side my grandfather’s office the other day.
Nate: Look for inspiration in the strangest of places!
Nate: Field trips
I agree with Laura. We definitely need to take a field trip (or several) for this.
Some places Laura and I were talking about today are:
- Crater Lake (both of us haven’t been there before)
- California Redwoods
- Mt. Hood during the winter (I can probably borrow my mom’s CR-V so we can drive in the snow.)
There are countless places we can go. Yay!
Nate: Some more ideas…
Laura’s stuff is great! I am really happy about where this is headed. The only concern I have is the money part. It’s gonna cost a lot of cash to get some of this stuff done. I think that we can do some fundraising and come up with enough cash to do what we want to do. Zines or hand made scout books would be great. I think we could do fun things with leather and natural materials. We could find some leather (not vinyl) and make books out of it. It would be really fun to craft it.
We need to do more research and come up with content, or else we can’t make a zine. I think we should definitely do some color pages, but since color is so expensive, black and white may be the way to go. (We do have a really good resource for printing at school. The Phasers are sooper cheap to print on versus printing at FedEx. The quality is fine and we can fuss with the color if it’s not working for us.)
More thoughts to come…
Laura: urban forest.
Hey nate, thanks for making this. I was getting really confused on the google wave. apparently olive was chatting me in november ‘09 and it was still trying to blink at me about it. things got weird.
Here’s a short list of things that i’m interested in re: forest.
++ urban “forests” or trees that are forced to grow with or around things that we have put in their way.
++ baby trees / tree lifecycle /
++ trees as anthropomorphic beings
++ portraits of urban trees, sketches of trees here in P-town or nearby that have been influenced by our growth & living here.
++ invasive species: i’ve always wanted to have a battle royal with invasive species and see which one is the most invasive, and i know this is maybe the ugly side of trees & forests because invasive species are not desirable, but in the future, we may see completely different forests because of them, so I think there’s something there that needs to be investigated.
++ tree houses. YES.
++ sculptures with things. I’ve had an idea involving sewing “moss” (which would actually be yarn) for a while, and I’m still not sure how to execute it, but there’s a big idea kicking around there.
++ making treehouses (mini ones) putting them in trees and taking beautiful photos of them.
++ hammock.
++ zines were mentioned. I think a curated collection of forest stories/zines/books/papers would be really nice for people to sit with in a cozy little spot.
++ there’s a really big forest fire in AZ where i used to live. something about that? maybe?
++ creatures of the forest.
++ terrariums/ mini forests/ mini landscapes/
++ interview with a tree
++ moss writing/drawing
++ the sad parts about the story of trees and forests, what we do to them, how we use/waste/abuse resources
———————————————-
Mediums that I’m interested in using:
screenprint
letterpress (we could make some really fun prints & use my little printer!)
sewing, yarn, stitching,
“sculpture”
drawing & watercolor
moss, leaves, sticks, string, tree parts
paint
found/re-used objects
photography, digital & analog
paper, paper cutting, paper sculpture
also, we might need to take a group field trip.
:)
Nate: Thoughts on the forest…
I have some thoughts about the forest as well. I have taken down some notes. Pardon the incoherence of some of them; they’re just thoughts—a stream of consciousness about what the forest and trees mean to me.
What the forest means to me…
• Nature in urbia — nature vs urbia — the constant struggle, but life always finds a way (thank you, Ian Malcolm of Jurassic Park)
• trees > forest > frontier > new territory, unexplored, uncharted, unchartable (maybe because it is so ever-changing?)
• wild > untamed. maybe untamable?
• alive / life
• faerie — another realm, elfin creatures, fairies, ancient, old, timeless, mystical, wondrous (I really like this form of thought—magical creatures unseen to human eyes, finding ways to survive in the forest. They are so good at living in the forest, that we can never see their effect on the trees/forest. It’s also an interesting way that people of old times explained what science explains today. I don’t know. It just strikes a chord in me—which is why I really like fantasy writing.)
• medieval views on the forest — evil; haunted; scary; off limits; people get lost, taken – never to be seen again (I like this, as well. It was once thought that the forest was evil or haunted. It was where the idea of faerie came into being. The brothers Grimm and countless others based many of their stories on this notion that the forest was evil, scary, and off limits. Our knowledge today has hampered those fears, but I think that we still want to believe that there is still something unknown and not pertainable [yes, I made that word up] about what lies beyond the edge of the trees.)
• dead trees — home / food for living, life in death, cycle of life
• ecology — balance, interaction / interconnectedness of species
– types of trees > deciduous vs evergreen
– lifecycle of a growing forest – from sapling to old growth
I have many, many more thoughts about what the forest can mean in the urban landscape—forests contained within a city. There’s one very close to my apartment. We should take some time this summer to explore it. Even Mount Tabor is a great example of such a contained forest. You might even be able to argue that the forest is contained within urban parks and that while it is limited, life has foraged a way in that harsh, rude environment. Trees put up with a lot of crap in the city.
What we could make…
installations
• hang twigs / small branches from ceiling, form a path in them, audience involvement
• possible sound on loop : animals, wind, water, branches snapping / breaking, fire crackling, rain
• seasonal photos
– winter > snow, ice, weight, resilience, strength, hibernate, perseverance, danger, blank
– spring > sprout, new growth, stirring, emerging, melt
– summer > settled growth, constancy, persistence, fully awake, gathering
– fall > fade of growth, not stagnation, settling of life, preparation, mustering
These are just some thoughts about what we can do and make.
I have more thoughts coming.
We can come up with names as this progresses, but I am really liking ‘Nor’wester’ or ‘Frontier’. I like ‘Nor’wester’ because it is like noreaster, a powerful storm. It is like a certain kind of strength that the forest contains. It is resilient and not easily tamed. I like ‘Frontier’ because the forest is a new discover at every turn. It renews itself. Life exists without intervention—at least it should. I find that it can be soothing to discover new things, to appreciate life away from the city. I prefer ‘Nor’wester’ over ‘Frontier’, but we will find our voice over the next few months to get a solid theme down. I think we should each come up with 50 or so names, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, verbs—anything, really—that can mean ‘forest’. The forest isn’t just a noun; it’s also a verb—a thriving place of life and unexpected perseverance through trials or humanity’s exploitation and invasion.
