Nature Walk

Week 5

Barrambin - Victoria Park

Guided walk through with Keith, stopping in multiple areas to explore and reflect on the land below our feet.

While acknowledging that the landscape had been heavily altered to make a golf course, then public park space, it was still Australian land that had been inhabited and appreciated for thousands of years.

First reflection

Coming through the built up Kelvin Grove urban area with roads and shops, Keith told us how the water used to run through certain areas. The whole of Kelvin Grove was once wetlands and the river would come down the mountain and through where most of the roads now lie.

This concept of pooling and natural waterflow is very intriguing, it makes me feel very connected to the land as I imagine energies flowing where the water does.

Walking further uphill into the park, I noticed how our soggy footprints (made from the dewy morning grass) made shiny prints on the bitumen path ways. This was in interesting example of our effect on our surroundings, how we leave marks both permanent and ephemeral.

Towards the end of the walk, we stopped at a large waterway intersection. This particular area was bursting with wildlife:

birds (ducks, Ibis, sparrows, crows)

eels

insects

lizards

The whole group stopped and sat in the grass to participate in a mindful meditation lead by Keith. The aim was to connect to your surroundings using all your senses and become present with where you are. I felt particularly drawn to the feeling of the wind on my skin, this is a sensation I try to consciously acknowledge as often as I can.

I regularly walk myself through meditations similar to this to connect with place and space. It is a wonderful way to notice and appreciate the small things around you and ground yourself in the present moment.

Wandering up and down the hilly gardens, I noticed I gravitated towards the larger trees and bodies of water.

The larger trees offer stronger shade coverage (it was a hot morning) and their trunks often hold fantastically intricate ecosystems of their own.

I stopped and took 5min to draw this particular tree trunk, it's shade was complete and expansive and the trunk was so detailed.

I think it is a Strangler Fig tree, with interconnected root systems growing up and around the tree as well as underground.

Water pooled near the base of each hilly area, this one in particular was stunning with numerous trees surrounding its bank. I love the mottles light that is created by tree canopies, this combined with the light refracting through water is an incredibly delightful composition.

At the highest point of the gardens, there was a large clear area with small grass lumps around the edges.

I wandered around these miniature hills and thought they were a lot like the Tombliboo hill from the children's show, In The Night Garden.

They gave a child-like whimsy to the area and interesting levels of elevation.

I started sketching to make a sculpture on one of these mounds that would enhance the child-like wonder while still connecting with the natural landscape around it.

Sketch Proposal

My proposed public installation for Barrambin is inspired by the natural trees and air currents moving through the expansive park. Placed on the small hills seen in the photo above, I designed a stainless steel structure that would stand roughly 3m tall. The natural curves and tall stretching silhouette of the sculpture is an abstracted representation of a tree.

On it's central spire, a single thin plate of metal designed to look like a leaf would function as a wind indicator, swinging with the natural wind in the open area.

The central spire would also function as a sundial, using the steel plates imbedded in the grass around the structure to measure the spire's shadow and communicate the time.

Each of these functional elements work to connect the public with the cycles of nature. It asks pedestrians to actively notice the passage of time, the wind on their skin and be present in this time and place.

Using Photoshop, I created a mock-up version of my sculpture in the intended space. The full height may be around 3m

The large open grass space at the height of Victoria Park is ideal for uninterrupted wind readings and sun-dial shadow casts.

This is my initial sketch and brainstorm page that I drew while walking through the park for the first time.

In my early iterations of the sculpture (see top right and upper middle) I played with ideas of shape, form and function. The upper middle sketch shows an alternate version of the steel tree that had many swinging leaf wind indicators that would move together like a school of fish.

Artist Research

Ned Kahn

Turbulent Line (2012)

At the Brisbane airport, veiling the exterior wall of the carpark is a huge installation of 117 000 suspended aluminium panels. They are arranged in a grid pattern with the Maiwar (Brisbane River) featuring as a pattern across the expansive plane. The panels are only attached by their top two corners to allow them to flutter in the wind; this creates a mesmerising ripple effect, turning the many metal plates into the illusion of water.

This is the effect i was imagining in an early iteration of my sketch proposal.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

The Gates (2005)

In New York's Central Park Christo and Jeanne-Claude placed a series of bright orange frames in a long line, guiding a path through the famous park. These frames had orange fabric hanging freely from them, swaying in the wind and making the static artwork kinesthetic.

The gates transform the natural space, imbuing it with wonder and whimsy yet still paying tribute to the original scenery. As the gates stay contained within the paved pathways, they do not interrupt the surrounding natural landscape.