Fragile With Attitude
"Fragile with Attitude" was an art exhibition held in the Great Oak Hall at Westonbirt Arboretum from 21st – 25th April 2022.
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The exhibition was developed as part of the "Re-Storying Landscapes for Social Inclusion" project with Sarah Bell from the University of Exeter; a project that aimed to inform landscape decision-making that reflects and respects the diverse ways in which landscapes are sensed, valued and experienced over time.
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"Fragile with Attitude" was curated by contemporary artist and creative consultant, Zoe Partington, in collaboration with Westonbirt Arboretum and ArtShape. Alongside five other ArtShape artists who also face disabling barriers, I created works for this exhibition following visits to Westonbirt Arboretum in autumn 2021.
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I have often felt like an imposter, as many of us do, whatever our field. But being a visually-impaired visual artist has felt oxymoronic and something I should hide. However, while working with other artists who face disabling barriers, I didn’t feel like the odd one out, having to explain access needs. This made me feel at ease, and freed me to concentrate on art from the start. Then throughout the project I came to further embrace my identity as a visually-impaired artist, and I believe that this has enabled me to create more authentic work. I am building on this to create art that more closely reflects how I experience the natural world.
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Silk Wood
Acrylic, leaves and bark collaged on MDF
120cm x 30cm
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Silk Wood combines acrylic pour paintings with birch bark and fallen leaves collected at Westonbirt in the Autumn of 2021. By alternating collaged leaves with acrylic pours, I am drawing the viewer towards the painting, encouraging them to engage with the differences between the real and the imagined in the shapes and colours created.
These leaves were all collected in the autumn after they had fallen from trees within the arboretum. As leaves lose the green chlorophyll pigment that allows them to create energy, the other pigments within the leaves become apparent, bringing to light the wonderful colours of autumn. These leaves have been dropped from the tree, no longer useful to it to provide it with energy. However, they show exquisite colours and beauty in their fragility. This links to the idea of disabled people being marginalised and disenfranchised within society, with their talents, and what makes them each unique often being dismissed.
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Acer Glade
Acrylic and leaves collaged on MDF
60cm x 60cm
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Acer Glade combines blue acrylic pours representing skies with collaged fallen acer leaves collected in Westonbirt in autumn 2021.
To create the pours, I layered different shades of fluid acrylic paint in a cup, and poured them onto the surface, before gently moving them around the surface to create the fluid pattern of light clouds moving across the sky. While the pours on the nine squares that combine to make this artwork are all similar, they are all slightly different, representing skies on a succession of different days under different weather conditions as time passes. The nine acer leaves have been dried and preserved in this collage, capturing them at a moment in time.
This painting is intended to highlight the beauty of these autumn leaves, collected after they had been dropped from the tree, no longer required as it moves in winter dormancy. Similar in shape to outstretched hands, these leaves, just nine of so many that fell from the trees, call out to demand our attention.
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Old Arboretum
Acrylic and natural elements collaged on MDF
60cm x 60cm
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Old Arboretum combines green acrylic pours representing mixed undergrowth with collaged conkers, bark, pine cones and seed pods collected in Westonbirt in autumn 2021.
To create the pours, I mixed acrylic paint with pouring medium and water, layered different shades of green fluid acrylic paint in a cup, and poured them onto the surface, before gently moving them around the surface to create abstract patterns representing mixed undergrowth growing beneath trees. In the centre of each of these nine panels, there is a natural element, collected at Westonbirt arboretum in the autumn. The natural elements have have been dried and preserved in this collage, capturing them at a moment in time.
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Oriental Plane: stand close; look up
Watercolour and pen on paper
71cm x 61cm in frame
£175​
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This watercolour painting of an oriental plane tree combines a close-up of the tree trunk with a view in a different direction up towards the canopy of the tree. Being partially sighted, I intended this painting to capture something of the way in which I personally engage with nature. It combines expressive, abstract elements in the background of the sky and the canopy, with more detailed sections on the trunk of the tree. This mirrors how I see large vistas out of focus, while enjoying playfully getting up close to look at and touch details.
The close-up of the bark on the tree trunk is intended to encourage the viewer to get close to the tree, to look at and feel the detail of the bark. The view up towards the sky is intended to encourage the viewer to stand close to the tree trunk and look up through the canopy, listening to the moving leaves and the wildlife.
I have included a plaque on the tree trunk similar to those found throughout Westonbirt Arboretum. The message on this plaque demonstrates my love for trees, and the high value that we ought to place on them and their preservation. This plaque reads:
Platanus Orientalis
Oriental Plane
I stand on your street wearing bark like your warriors’ garb. My bark will soak up your pollution and, cleansing your city air, drop it in flakes on your crowded streets, to be swept away with your litter. Breathe deep.
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Japanese Maple: stand close; look up
Watercolour and pen on paper
61cm x 51cm in frame
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This watercolour painting of an acer combines a close-up of the tree trunk with a view in a different direction up towards the canopy of the tree. Being partially sighted, I intended this painting to capture something of the way in which I personally engage with nature. It combines expressive, abstract elements in the background of the sky and the canopy, with more detailed sections on the trunk of the tree. This mirrors how I see large vistas out of focus, while enjoying playfully getting up close to look at and touch details.
The close-up of the bark on the tree trunk is intended to encourage the viewer to get close to the tree, to look at and feel the detail of the bark. There is also moss growing on the bark of this tree, one of the many different textures that can be found among the trees. The view up towards the sky is intended to encourage the viewer to stand close to the tree trunk and look up through the canopy, listening to the moving leaves and the wildlife.
I have included a plaque on the tree trunk similar to those found throughout Westonbirt Arboretum. The message on this plaque demonstrates my love for trees, and the high value that we ought to place on them and their preservation. This plaque reads:
Acer palmatum
Japanese Maple
Stop. Pause. Wait.
Reach up. Spread out your fingers to meet my answering leaves. Let their colours entice, ensnare, ensorcle.
Stop. Pause. Wait.
Pacific Yew: stand close; look up
Watercolour and pen on paper
61cm x 51cm in frame
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This watercolour painting of a yew tree combines a close-up of the tree trunk with a view in a different direction up towards the canopy of the tree. Being partially sighted, I intended this painting to capture something of the way in which I personally engage with nature. It combines expressive, abstract elements in the background of the sky and the canopy, with more detailed sections on the trunk of the tree. This mirrors how I see large vistas out of focus, while enjoying playfully getting up close to look at and touch details.
The close-up of the bark on the tree trunk is intended to encourage the viewer to get close to the tree, to look at and feel the detail of the bark. The view up towards the sky is intended to encourage the viewer to stand close to the tree trunk and look up through the canopy, listening to the moving leaves and the wildlife.
I have included a plaque on the tree trunk similar to those found throughout Westonbirt Arboretum. The message on this plaque mentions taxol, a powerful cancer drug that was originally derived from yew trees.
Taxus brevifolia
Pacific Yew Tree
I could poison you as soon as look at you! But you… lean in close… I’ll bear your weight… my roots will take your tears.
My taxol could cure you.
…breathe deep… hope…
Keep Off the Paths
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Acrylic on stretched canvas
80cm x 60cm
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Keep Off the Paths features playful stencilled messages against an abstract background representing a map of the paths running through Westonbirt Arboretum. This painting was inspired by a desire to encourage visitors not to treat the arboretum as a formal garden, where they might be expected to keep to the paths, but rather to get close to the trees, to walk among them and gain as much as possible from the experience of being in nature.
The stencilled messages on this painting are all prompts to engage mindfully with the arboretum. Inspired by my time exploring Westonbirt, these messages can also be extended to time spent anywhere in nature, and as a encourage to take the time to spend time gaining the benefits that natural spaces can bring to our mental health and well-being.