The penny drops!

I am having a good few days, feeling closer to understanding what I am trying to do.

I noticed Abigail Doan's posting about an exhibition called Propagating Eden: Techniques of Nature Printing in Botany and Art. The exhibition looks fabulous, I wish I could go, but Wave Hill gallery have kindly made the exhibition catalogue available online.

Michele Oka Doner

The images are exquisite, including historical and contemporary examples, and I was busy appreciating the wonders of the natural world when I suddenly wondered why Richard Long's 'Mud Hand Prints' were included? They seemed out of place amongst the mainly botanical images.... AND THEN THE PENNY DROPPED... the artist IS nature!

I found two other artists in the catalogue exploring themes of self within nature or self as nature and they also had in common a very primal response to nature. My favourite are the works by Valerie Hammond (below), which have an instant attraction along with a spiritual richness.

This all starts to give me ideas about how nature, self awareness, place and process might all come together.