Category: FMP

Final Major Project. January – June 2019. Entitled ‘Shinrin Yoku’; an exploration of the health and well being benefits of being among the trees examined with reference to the contemporary sublime.

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Writing a proposal Part 1.

In my Pecha Kucha, I tried to present the basis of my thinking/inspiration/project concept with reference to the background posted below – a sort of melding of the Arts in Health with the Kimono installation that I had been doing up to the beginning of FMP. Neither felt ‘finished’. The Kimonos group crit. left me buzzing with ideas to pursue; coming up, in March, is The First National Culture, Health and Well-being Alliance Conference. (CHWA) I have a ticket. Over half term, getting ready for FMP and putting PK together, I researched around the concept of our environment impacting upon us and artistic expressions of this; the road led to The Sublime. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime

This area of the Tate website is an extensive one with the following sections; ‘Project Overview’, ‘What Is the sublime?’, ‘Resources’, ‘The Baroque sublime’, ‘The Romantic sublime’, ‘The Victorian sublime’, ‘The modern sublime’ each containing a range of articles from art historians, artists, philosophers etc. with expertise/opinion in each particular area………. I had planned to start at the beginning and just read through the lot but, of course, there are all the links and tempting little detours! Needless to say – it took nearly the whole of Half Term . My leisure reading for the week was ‘A Book of Silence’ by Sara Maitland, chosen purely because it arrived the week before half term as a belated Christmas gift from my daughter. HOW SERENDIPITOUS!. As my journey through Sara’s book progressed in parallel with my ‘Sublime’ research, it seemed that I had fallen into an entirely unexpected confluence of thoughts, ideas and experiences. Sara had, in her quest for silence, moved to The North Pennines and, I discovered, had lived for some years, just up the road from me – resonant. She wrote of her sojourn in silence on The Isle of Skye – resonant …. (recalling being there myself last Summer with my husband and actually discussing the meaning of ‘sublime’ as we drove through the valley Sara had hidden away in.)

Reaching Sara’s reflection about ‘The Lake District’ – coincided with reading ‘The Romantics’ and ‘The Victorians’ on the Tate site. ……. Thus, Ruskin : a detour
Just the day before, I had listened to a programme on the radio about Ruskin’s bicentenary that had prompted me to look at The Brantwood website and visit https://ruskinland.org.uk/. then I discovered …….. https://www.ruskinprize.co.uk/2019 –

THEN THIS: JUST AS I HAD REACHED ‘THE MODERN SUBLIME’ HEADED-UP BY ROTHKO-SEAGRAM SERIES ……

I read … Maitland writes,

“One day, though, I discovered a new and for me unexpected sanctuary. I went to the Tate Modern and by chance found myself in the dim light of Room 3, where Rothko’s Seagram paintings hang: nine huge pulsating dense pools of silent energy. Rothko himself said the paintings were designed for ‘contemplation’ and Simon Schama has described them as ‘A space that might be where we came from or where we will end up. They’re not meant to keep us out, but to embrace us’. For me , that hot nervy afternoon, they were silence made visible; I was shaken by their power and their fierce dark beauty. ……. The visual arts are obviously silent in a way that literature and music can never be ….. I began to look for and find silence in both traditional and contemporary art (she discusses a series of specific works too long for here…..) These were all images that used silence itself as part of thew work and generated silence in me. In all these, and many others, the silence seems to pour out of the work into the space around it. I came to believe that my silence was making my seeing more sensitive.”

Maitland, S (2008), A Book of Silence, p.145-6

Resonant (Still, quiet …. beneath a tree) Connected (Ruskin’s woods)

R

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Shinrin Yoku. FMP background

In January we were to have undertaken a short self-initiated project. A warm-up if you like, for writing one’s own ‘proposal’, as FMP would require. Unfortunately, I had been unwell and missed the beginning of this. I had recovered enough to haul myself out of sick-bed and in to the Arts in Health Conversation. This meant that when I did get back into the studio, I felt as if I was rather on the back foot – and feeling a bit anxious as a result. In a gesture of mindfulness, I decided to begin my project with a simple exploration of a beautiful collection of Oriental brushes that had been passed on to me over Christmas. They had belonged to my late father. With the exception of one, fine brush, they were unused. I felt an urge to develop a technique for painting with them, thirsting to make simple, fluid, gestural strokes with water colours and the ink blocks in the brush sets – calming – I hoped.

A subject to paint? Thoughts of the CAIHC, still in my mind…. ‘Standing beneath a tree’ resonating; Oriental brushes and a thought of Japanese paintings; cherry blossom perhaps (cravings for springtime – too long in the wintery SADs?) all mingled to come up with T R E E S.

  • Mondrian
  • Natalie L
  • Droege
  • Klimt
  • Yokoyama Taikan

An initial image search to stimulate ideas …… I experimented with both ‘trends’ that I could observe: a distinction between these strong, vertical perceptions where the trees feel like they encompass you and the representations, like Taikan’s & Mondrian’s, that show the branches and sort of separate you from the ‘tree object’ as an observer.

Later, searching the internet for ‘Japanese/tree/art’; I came upon the practice of ‘Shinrin Yoku’ or forest bathing – the health benefits of which have been asserted, in Japan since the 1980’s. This tied-in with what I had learned earlier, during the ‘Mind & Body’ projects concerning the benefits of microbiomes, not just within our bodies, but also for trees, in the form of the Hartig net (by which they ‘communicate’ )and, connected to this, an idea that gardeners gain health benefits from contact with the soil! I was drawn to the idea of developing work around this idea of forest-bathing which, seemed to fit with that resonant phrase ‘Still, quiet, ….. just to stand beneath a tree’.

My research led me to Nobuhiro Nakanishi’s ‘Layer Drawings’. The way light refracts through the glass layers and extends the work creating shadowy additions … all of which change according to the movement of the viewer past the work quite entranced me. This inspired me to want to experiment with projection, lighting and shadows.

  • Natalie L

From this series of ‘Shinrin Yoku’ works by Natalie L https://www.saatchiart.com/NatalieL , I began to develop an idea of projecting lines suggesting trees onto a ‘forest’ of Kimonos. The Kimonos would suggest the idea of feeling wrapped up or embraced by the trees.

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Brantwood Trip

Lust

A beautiful day for a drive through The Lakes to visit Brantwood; Ruskin’s home. Brantwood was surprisingly busy given the time of year – groups arriving from the Coniston launch as well as the car park being quite full. In the house, I watched the introductory video before a walk through the rooms. I had been looking forward to seeing Sarah Casey’s exhibition ‘Ruskin’s Good Looking’ and it did not disappoint. The drawings on waxed paper of Ruskin’s garments are stunningly beautiful. I discovered her work a while ago when I was investigating artist/science collaborators, and it has held me transfixed. https://www.sarahcasey.co.uk/about I am fascinated by how her chosen drawing processes relate so intimately to her subjects and express with such amazing clarity and economy, the complex concepts she addresses.

After the house – the garden. Ziggy Zaggy was the most interesting area: a restored garden, designed and planted to represent the 7 deadly sins. Following this a pleasurable stroll through the woodland areas. (Photos in sketch book)

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    Arts In Health. FMP background.

    An idea emerged in the studio during the work we were doing around ‘the mind and body’ : perhaps we might exhibit in The Cumbria Infirmary. Some contact between college and ‘Arts in Health’ people at the hospital, it appeared, – all a bit vague really but quite exciting. I was interested in this potential liaison because my work at the time was exploring the dual brain theory relating to mental well-being and gut bacteria.

    The hospital person might come in to college ……..

    As time passed, it seemed that this liaison was just that – an idea! But, the hospital person did send us details about ‘The First Cumbria Arts In Health Conversation’ that would take place in January 2019.

    I got a ticket.

    The ‘hospital person’ is called Susie ( http://susietate.co.uk/) and I hooked up with her at the conference. She led a presentation that brought the delegate audience to tears with the ‘Live work’ on stage demonstrating the work of ‘About Being’ https://www.applied.co.uk/proud-supporting-unique-dance-project-stroke-survivors/

    All in all, a fascinating day.