Last weekend I participated in Art in the Woods, an outdoor exhibition in Cosby, TN. I camped out in a really cute tiny cabin for a couple days and made this piece on site. It was such a wonderful experience to get to respond to the land directly and then, during the opening, engage people from the surrounding area. What began as a simple installation of branches and stone, evolved into a performative installation that invited audience participation.
Ecotone
Beech branches from Kodak, TN, cotton thread died with blood root from creek bank, ground red iron oxide stones from creek
An ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities where they meet and integrate. In this piece, I gathered Beech tree branches from my trails in Kodak, TN and grafted them to the Ironwood branches overhanging the creek here in Cosby. In this way, I extended the ecotone of the forest to the creek and integrated the branches from one biological community into the ecosystem of a different forest. The reaching branches from opposing banks meet over the circle of stones built up from the creek.
I hold a red basin full of ground up iron oxide stones from the creek. I invite the viewer, you, to step out of the “picture frame,” become a participant in the ecotone and return to the river what has been taken from it.
To participate: Dip your hands in the basin, as you do so, hold eye contact with me for as long as you wish. Then journey to wash your hands in the stone circle where the branches meet. Consider meditating on something you’d like to release, someone to forgive or use this moment in time to steep in the silence.
After over a year of social distancing, it was a powerful experience to facilitate a ritual that invited eye contact and a washing of hands that wasn’t for the purpose of vanquishing an invisible enemy.