Conwy, Gwynedd, Sep 3- 30 —
Local Conwy Artist Michael Powell has built a new art installation 'By catching at the twigs that
form between bliss and me' at Pensychnant Conservation Centre, Sychnant
Pass, Conwy as part of North Welsh Arts Festival Helfa Gelf.
The installation is part of Helfa Gelf Arts Festival, and it is now online and up and running
between a hill and a wood in Conwy.
Please to see it and please forward on to anyone else you think may like to see it
http://www.thecloudgallery.com/conwy-helfa-gelf.html
and for a more detailed look at the making of it click
here
The installation is a replication of the world in which the
character, 'The Thing that looks like a tree but is not a tree' lives.
The Thing that looks like a tree is a character Michael has created, as
part of a larger body of work, beginning its life as a story and developing
into a 2-d/ 3-d artwork. He is based upon the idea that we create the world
around us and the meanings we attribute to things, and as a consequence live in
our own world. Its ultimate message being that to seek to know our self is our life’s work
and through this we may hope to find a cheerful serenity or at least our own
individual neurosis. The Thing that looks like a tree is a character that
explores this idea. This is his world; one of imagination and adventure and
things. He lives in the forest, in his shack, one he has made out of found and
collected objects, only leaving this place to explore the forest at night.
Although he lives in the forest he has no concept of the forest, let alone
beyond the forest.
This work is informed by the theme of nature and explores the
notion of the need for greater harmony in our lives, a harmony developed by
more sustainable living and personal responsibility. And will allow for reflection
upon this.
The installation will be an
attempt at a physical replication of his shack. A small wooden structure built
around a tree made out of natural and found materials. With the tree at the
centre of its design, with the aimed effect of becoming part of the tree (a
structure built influence by its theme of Harmony, with nature as a template;
working with nature rather than against it). Participants will be able to enter
and explore this world through a broken wooden door. Inside there will be 2d
drawings to look at and lots of collected objects (tree bits/ leaves/ wooden
objects/ old jars) piled in corners and hanging from the ceiling that the
character has collected within the world he roams each evening, for them to
look at and explore. There will also be a text version of the story and an old
arm chair, with the aim of providing a space for participants to go to sit in,
read and reflect, whilst also providing a context to the art piece
The structure will be built using wood and other natural
materials. A solid wooden frame will form the basic structure, and from this
the rest of the structure will be built using found/ recovered bits of wood to
lend the overall design a ramshackle/ organic looking effect, and will include
illustrations and makings of/ or by the character.
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