Climate Conversations Installation Mock-up

Climate Conversations Installation Art of Memory Tree

The installation features art banners, hanging in a public space, with large-scale images of tree drawings and other botanical-themed art. The viewer will experience a walk-through physical encounter with the banners, which could hang at torso level, depending on the location. Our goal is to invoke in our viewers personal memories of trees and the impact trees have had in their lives, such as a childhood memory, or a cherished tree. The banners will also include text of memories gathered from the public at previous installations. This proposed installation for CIAF is part of an ongoing, interactive project, also called ‘Climate Conversations’, that uses art and natural artifacts to collect and document viewers’ memories of trees. Please see the ‘Details of our creative practice’ section below for more information. 

Our goal is to collect over 1,000 memories in 2023.

We plan to hang multiple (8-10) six-foot high, translucent banners, in a staggered formation to allow the public to mingle among them. We’ve provided a mock-up of the banners hanging in the trellis-covered walkway in Romare Bearden Park, as an example. Other locations would work as well, with stand-and-pipe hanging structures. The synthetic fiber, likely from Rose Brand, is strong and lightweight, so they will move in a breeze, but allow for intense public interaction.

• Tree drawings on the banners are by fine artist Wil Bosbyshell

• Botanical-themed fiber art created by fiber artist Maura Bosbyshell

• Database and data points summarizing past memories provided by Maura Bosbyshell

We will use signage with prompts to solicit memories, which viewers will share via a QR code. The QR will take them to a landing page on Wil’s website where they will enter their memory and see those of other viewers. Examples of prompts include, ‘Do you have a favorite tree or tree memory from your childhood?’ and ‘When was the last time you climbed a tree?’ On the landing page, viewers will also be able to upload a photo relating to their memory.

In addition, signage will provide ‘fun facts’, ie interesting data points and examples of past responses to viewers; for example,

The following locales outside the US are mentioned when referring to favorite trees (all memories were collected in Charlotte):

• Jamaica (mango tree)
• Japan (willow)
• Kenya
• Morocco
• Trinidad (mango tree)
• W. Africa (palm tree)
• Spain (chestnut)

The objective of the Climate Conversations project is to use art to provoke memories and stimulate thinking about the impact and importance of trees. The project itself is not scientifically based, nor does it focus on future actions to save trees. Instead, it is more personal, seeking to elicit personal memories. We use art to get to the ‘why’ more so than the ‘how’. We know we are successful when people linger in an installation.

Each installation features site-, audience-, and event-relevant programming. Consistent components include public interaction, fine art, fiber art, and the collection and display of tree-related memories. We often curate multiple artists and offer public programming. The project can include single and multi-day as well as interior and exterior displays.

Past installations for the Climate Conversations project include:

a) Resident Artist show at the McColl Center (2021) – We premiered the Memory Tree, a tree/large branch where viewers write memories on tags and hang them on the branches. Hence, we began collecting memories from viewers.

b) Earth Day Charlotte ’22 – Since Earth Day is family friendly, we include a hands-on art component for young children. We displayed tree disks, slices of tree trunks that have been cut down, to discuss loss of trees. The tree disks also provided a tactile aspect. We are currently planning for Charlotte Earth Day ‘23.

c) Gallery 206 (2022) – This installation was a key part of the organization’s month-long Creation Care program. We curated an art show with an environmental theme, which served as a fundraiser for the program. We co-lead a youth tour of the art exhibit, discussing environmental impacts in their lives and in the future. We also lead an adult program by sharing examples of memories we had collected.

We are artists whose art is rooted in a love for the natural environment, and our intimate but often unconscious relationship with it. Our fascination with trees lies in my belief that trees are not proverbial abstract things but individual, living beings with personalities and stories to tell. Bringing those stories into a daily consciousness is at the heart of our creative process. We hope to instill the public with a more personal relationship with trees—leading to greater understanding of their importance in the local ecosystem, the planet, and the spiritual place they hold in the world.

Climate Conversations: Artists Talk & Guided Tour

 

Climate Conversations: Creation Care Artists talk and guided tour.

This Sunday morning May 8 at 11:30 Wil Bosbyshell will lead a tour of the Holy Comforter Climate art exhibition during the adult program.

Room 206 in Van Every is now Gallery 206 with Climate Conversations: An art experience featuring works by Wil and Maura Bosbyshell and others, including Caroline C. Brown, Tom Cooke, Mary W. Cox and Holli Adams.

The exhibit invites us to see and value God’s endangered creation in new ways. The adult forum after the 10 a.m. service will feature speakers on ways we can address the climate crisis and protect “this fragile earth, our island home.”

The exhibit features drawings, acrylic painting, watercolor paintings, floral prints, photographs and table runners.

The exhibit runs to the end of May at 2701 Park Road in Charlotte.

The Latest Tree Drawings!

I have finished these drawings and I am in the process of getting them framed. They really came out well. The one above is 40 x 36...Big! Compositionally, no branches on one side. 

36 x 36 on rice paper! I really weighted the branches to one side in this drawing. 

30 x 22 on parchment! No small delicate branches in this one. 

24 x 18 on color textured paper. The detailed texture is high contrast in the center of the tree, then less detail and contrast toward the edges. 

14 x 11 in watercolor paper. 

Climate Conversation Drawing 17

Climate Conversations:

• I love the gingko tree in our front yard and love to see the leaves turn golden in the fall.

• I love our fig tree – it produces too much to enjoy. Started out as a little stick and now provides shade to our yard.

• Growing up, there was an enormous Japanese magnolia tree in my backyard. Every spring it would burst into full loom and by early summer the petals rained from the boughs.

This tree drawing is on pale yellow paper that is heavily textured, 18 x 24. This cedar tree in the North Carolina Mountains was heavily scarred. It was not dead, but was splitting very badly in some places. I used a full range of light and dark values in the center of the tree, then used less contrast at the edges of the tree. 

 

Climate Conversation Drawing 16

 

This drawing is on watercolor paper. It is the darkest of the series so far.

Conversations:

I last climbed a tree as a child in my parents’ backyard.

My favorite tree was my neighbors’ tree with a tire swing

The future feels bleak, but thanks for trying, trees.

Trees absorb a great deal of water! Drawing 15

Climate Conversation: My favorite tree is the willow oak in our front yard in Fourth Ward. It shaded our home for 40 years. We pruned it and raked its leaves all the time. When it came down, we had to add a sump pump under our house to handle all the water it absorbed [had been absorbing].

Drawing 15, 30x20 inches, graphite on paper

Drawing 15 Complete!

This is drawing 15 in the Tree Series I am working on. It is part of a future exhibit I am calling Climate Conversations. This is 22 x 30 on printing paper. 

The left edge of the tree is almost lost and very light in value. The tree has a very scarred texture. Looks like many nails were driven into the tree in the past. Many circular marks as well that I found fascinating. This was a combination of trees on the Penland Property.