Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

Symmetrical Planting is on at the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery in 'A Decade of the Windmill' 14th April- 12 May 2007

Symmetrical Planting is a work that involves many stages. The original installation was followed by an education component that was presented at the Second International Art and Early Childhood Conference at New England University in February, 2007. This workshop was developed in collaboration with Dr Margaret Brooks (UNE). The aim of the workshop was to engage the artist, students and teachers in the artist’s process, developing a dialogue between the artist and the student. The delegates (other artists and educators) were invited to take part in a collaborative work using the gauze. Lisa Roberts a Sydney based artist has begun an animation using the gauze and links to this can be found on http://symmetricalplanting.blogspot.com/. I am now working with the gauze in other specific biological communities and patterns.

My works in “A Decade of the Windmill” documents Symmetrical Planting. Renew, my work for the Windmill Trust exhibition, is constructed of the gauze that was used to wrap around the poplar trees. The gauze has retained the smell and patina from the poplar community, with areas of discolouration from the vegetation subtly marking the white. The work is held together with cable ties reflecting back to the technique used in Symmetrical Planting and stuffed with poplar leaves

The background to Symmetrical Planting follows:

During my time as artist in residence at New England Regional Art Museum I watched over Black Gully. The exotic willows gained their green. (Willows figure so vividly in my childhood memories: picnics by the water; of gathering enough long branches to swing whilst carrying the weight of childhood.) The willows that line the creek have escaped from a planting which echoed the desire for another land - (new) England. Long gone are the talkative casuarinas, the tea tree and bottle brush. Still, a sedge dots the banks and people caring for the creek have planted natives in places up- and down- stream, and the frogs call in the afternoon and evening.

The other popular tree (the poplar) was planted on the flat, long before the NERAM building was planned. One tree-trunk stands in the centre, another five surround it at equal distance. Its symmetry contrasts with the accidental rhythm of the bush. In one of my workshops we talked of a method of planting randomly – that being, to throw a handful of coins in the air … and plant where the coins fell. In some of my other works, I aimed to choose randomly, but have found that I need a method to make a ‘random’ choice, as our lived experience and history makes random choices difficult.

In Symmetrical Planting I linked the 6 poplar trees together using gauze. I have been working with gauze in my other work, using its netting characteristics to join together carp scales and echidna spines. Gauze forms a film, a network, a partly translucent layer that holds objects together. Its warp and weft can be pushed and distorted. The installation was represented in the gallery by a series of still images looping on a television screen, and weekly photographs were placed in the galley, in a vertical timeline, over its 12 weeks existence.