What a mixed bag of weather we have had this month, heavy rain winds and even some snow. We had also had some beautiful sunny days that have been unseasonably warm. So I have managed to use this time to make drawings of the first spring flowers. Snowdrops of course but also crocuses, aconites and pulmoneria.
I have also been putting my submission together for “The Art of the Book” an exhibition that has been running for several years and that celebrates the artist book in all it’s forms.
Working as I do outside in the rural landscape I have become increasing worried about the rate of change in this environment. Thousands of acres of farmland locally are currently under threat of development. I work in my studio to the squeal branches cut away by tree cutters. What can I do? So. this is my first Artivist Piece and something I feel very strongly about.
Imagine a time, in the not too distant future, when many of our wild flowers from our meadows and hedgerows have vanished. When all that remains of some species are drawings made by a few artists, and photographs taken by amateur enthusiasts, and by some quirk of fate some of this material survives, stored carefully away in a special box.
This is what this artist book seeks to recall. It is a box found in the back of a cupboard containing what I imagine would be some of this material. I don’t believe that this is too far of the mark as my Father was one such amateur botanist. He had a passion for English Native Orchids and this construction contains one of his hand written notes. I created the diary entries old diary entries to take the story forward into the future when, though neglect or carelessness, these amazing plants have disappeared.
