Treeline 2012 Kicks Off at River School Maleny

Treeline 2012 is focused on education and working with young people. Artists  will be be working within selected schools on the Sunshine Coast.
Yesterday the first part of the 2012 Treeline programme got underway when  Renata Buziak and I spent a day at the River School in Maleny.

Renata and I are working with the Year Seven students from the River School on a collaborative project that incorporates cyanotypes (which we did yesterday) and a digital component which we'll do next Monday. John Waldron from Sunshine Coast Council did us the honour of coming to officially start the project and tell the children at River School about the objectives of the Treeline project.

To make the cyanotypes Renata had the children collect natural materials from the bushland and gardens surrounding the school. These were arranged on cloth treated with light sensitive chemicals. When exposed to the sun it turned blue in the parts exposed to the UV light.

The children were encouraged to think about their arrangements and to make work that reflected their feelings about the school's wonderful natural setting.

Then the arrangements on the cloth were laid out in the sun and we waited 10 minutes or so for them to develop. It was a really hot, sunny day and it was only the excitement of the process that kept us from wanting to be indoors or swimming in the creek.

Then it was time to take the cloth inside and wash it under running water for quite a long time. A great activity on a hot day. You have to be quite quick about keeping the sun off the cloth after you remove the objects, so we carried it inside in a black bag.

After a long time washing it was time to hang up our masterpieces. What an amazing thing to see how they turned out.

Cyantotype is quite a simple process and was one of the forerunners of modern photography.
Next week we are going to take our creativity one step further and see what we can do with digital manipulation of images of the cyanotypes. Watch this space to see how it turns out.

Trill Zapatero - Treeline 3 Artist

This month one of the Treeline Sky Galleries is showing 2D work reproduced from real life paintings by Trill Zapatero.

Trill describes her paintings as travel collages or maps of journeys. Having spent part of her life in Asia, captivated by its richness and diversity, her work resonates with exuberant colours and the mix of reality, myth, fantasy and dream one finds in much of this part of the world. She says what she is looking for is some place to get to that is behind the surface, beyond the material nature of the painting and collage.

Her work is informed in part by the landscape, the flora and fauna of the places she has visited, in part by the 'happening' of the painting where images and ideas form of their own accord, and in part by inspirational material from other sources. Her works in this exhibition are all related to trees.
Trill says:
Trees are a universal symbol of growth and as such inform the organic nature of the process of my painting

You can see more of Trill's paintings on her Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwenbpenner/

Virtual Treeline2 - Artist Jadyn Firehawk

Jadyn Firehawk is a professional geographer and an amateur photographer. Studying geography (in particular, doing field studies) has helped me learn to see with a "geographer's eye." Born in the Philippines and raised in the United States, she has lived many places in her life and is currently the environmental education coordinator for a statewide water quality program in Texas. With a photographer's eye for composition and colour Jadyn's work in this exhibition speaks to us of the dignity of trees and the beautiful colours of the changing seasons.

Jadyn says:
Most people see things in pictures; I see pictures in things. I especially like to photograph things that I see in daily life "as is," things that simply catch my eye, without any staging. I have jokingly told people that if I ever publish a book of my photos, it will be called "Pictures of Nothing." I am amazed that once I start looking for interesting pictures, the world around me gets more interesting. The more I take pictures, the more beauty I see in the world.














In Second Life Jadyn's main gallery is located at:http://slurl.com/secondlife/Las%20Lagunas/170/173/22

Virtual Treeline2 - Artist Lynda Robinson

Lynda Robinson's pastels take us to the heart of the Australian bush and the eucalyptus tree, ubiquitous in many parts of the world, but native to Australia. In this exhibition her paintings are in stark contrast to the photographic works of Em Larsson and Jadyn Firehawk whose works focus on the seasonal changes in the northern hemisphere. Lynda's paintings capture the vibrant and unique colours, textures and light of the Australian environment. Her works reflect her love of the Australian bushland and the trees that inhabit this dry, harsh and sometimes hostile continent.

Lynda Robinson is a real life Australian artist who lives on 40 acres in the bush in the state of Victoria. Her son, avatar Rooperto Robbiani, exhibits and sells her work in Second Life. Her website can be found at http://lyndarob.redbubble.com/


Soror Nishi's bonsai trees at the Virtual Treeline Sky Gallery are the perfect accompaniment to Lynda Robinson's pastel painting.

Treeline - Official Launch

The real life Treeline project will be officially launched at the Bunya Dreaming Festival at Baroon Pocket Dam in Queensland, Australia on January 30th. This is a low tech event without computer access, but Virtual Treeline has provided several printed brochures to be handed out at the festival.
Bunya Dreaming is an small festival celebrating the connections indigenous people from this area of Queensland have with the Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii). Festival organiser Beverly Hand says:
The Bunya tree was so special to our people that there were laws that precluded people harming it in any way.
The festival shows that the tree is more than just an icon, it generates understanding of Aboriginal culture, provides a forum for networking and information sharing, and strengthens community partnerships.
The Virtual Treeline brochures outline the project and show images of work from some of artists who have shown at our gallery in second Life, including RAG Randt, Alizarin Goldflake, Em Larsson, Araminta Kroitschov, Bocan Undercroft and Soror Nishi.
A separate brochure is dedicated to images and information about Araucaria, the work of Chilean artist Anyunie Daviau, which is currently featured at the Treeline ground level.http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/80/214/22
Anyunie's work (above) is about a tree from the same genus as the Bunya Pine, which is of special significance to the indigenous people in Chile. What a great link from across the oceans to the local indigenous population through the Bunya Dreaming Festival.

Opening Tomorrow - TREELINE 2

Virtual Treeline opens its second exhibition in Second Life tomorrow Thursday January 21st at 2 pm PST.
Featured on the ground level are works by Anyunie Daviau (above) and Em larsson (below). At Sky gallery level are Lynda Robinson, Em Larsson, Jadyn Firehawk and Araminta Kroitschov. Please join us to celebrate these wonderful works.

RAG Randt-Virtual Treeline Artist

RAG Randt's work usually has a touch of whimsy with a serious message. I smile every time I see one of his pieces. He has a wry sense of humour and a very finely balanced and well honed sense of graphic design.








For the first Virtual Treeline exhibition RAG (Illustrator/Designer from the USA) shows a series of visual messages that link human desires and activities with the natural world, through the use of trees as easily recognised visual symbols.
His small 3D installation hidden at the end of a pathway in the sand dunes is a delight for all the senses. On can almost hear the jungle animals celebrating their colourful fall setting.....and what's that smell?

RAG says:
"Trees are a major symbol for me. My concepts tend to be humorous visual statements broadly interpreting a given topic. I have found trees to be wonderfully rich and flexible in symbolism whether I am making a statement about Hope, Networking, Communication, Finances and many other ideas. As trees are a vital part of the earth's ecosystem, they are also a vital part of my visual problem solving vocabulary."



RAG also says in his profile information:

The global environment is a subject I care deeply about and I would like to leave the world a better place.

Can art make a difference?

Virtual Treeline Artist - Sheba Blitz

Australian Artist Sheba Blitz is one of the artists exhibiting in the first exhibition at the Treeline Sky Gallery in Second Life. Sheba's says of trees:
"Trees produce oxygen - oxygen gives us life "
It might be a short statement, but it tells us a lot about why trees are important to us.

In this image Juanita Deharo ponders on Sheba's giant revolving disk of precious rainforest plants.

OPENING OF VIRTUAL TREELINE GALLERIES

The Virtual Treeline Galleries in Second Life will be officially opened with a small party on Tuesday December 15th at 2.00 pm PST (for Australia that's 8.00am EST,9.00 am EDT, and to early to get up in Perth.)
The first exhibition will feature work from Asmita Duranjaya (Germany), Alizarin Goldflake (USA), RAG Randt (USA), Fuschia Nightfire (UK), Soror Nishi (UK), Bocan Undercroft (UK) and Sheba Blitz (Australia). The work of each artist will be featured here in blog posts and on our Flickr site.
Please join us for the opening if you are able, at:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lie/80/214/22