The Art for Trees Project: Update

The Art For Trees Project

On the 20th November 1769 Captain Cook ventured up the Waihou River, named by him that day the Thames. His journal entry tells of “ lofty trees which adorne its banks....” and a tree he measured “that girted 19 feet 8 inches 6 feet above the ground….its length from the root to the first branch to be 89 feet…as straight as an arrow…"
( J.C Beaglehole, 1955).
His companion Joseph Banks described ...the finest timber my eyes ever beheld ….thick woods of it were everywhere upon the Banks, every tree as straight as a pine and of immense size…... (J.C Beaglehole,1962)

Today, if you were to follow in Cook’s wake up the river Waihou, your gaze would be met not with magnificent native swamp forest, but acid green dairy pasture stretching away between stop banks and macrocarpa shelter belts. Of the vanished giant Kahikatea there remains only a few scrappy fragments.

The Art for Trees Project pays homage to what Cook saw that day in 1769. To the giant tree he measured not far from the spot he went ashore. The artist, Fiona Garlick, has made a forest of 400 ceramic bottles representing some of the native trees and shrubs which once adorned the banks of the Waihou, and which have been displaced by the introduced species associated with farming.

YOU BUY A BOTTLE ..... A TREE WILL BE PLANTED

For every bottle sold, a tree will be planted across the river from Cook’s Landing site. This restorative planting program will take place in partnership with Environment Waikato with the aim of establishing an area of self sustaining native wetlands.

When will planting take place?
Planting date confirmed for Saturday 25th July 2009.

Where?
At Ferry Road Pond, on the banks of the Waihou River near where State Highway 2 meets Hauraki Road. See map.

What will be planted?
Seedlings of the plants and shrubs represented by the artwork plus many more varieties that will help to establish the complex wetlands ecosystem.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Update

Hi there, I'm back in Auckland to set up the Objectspace show which opened on Saturday. The opening "proper" is this Friday 30th from 6 - 8pm. Come along and bags your bottles as they are sure to go fast. Already I have sold out of some of the plants...Kauri all gone, and Kahikatea scarce already. Funny that. Lots of the smaller but no less important plant species (on cream bottles) left. In all about 200 bottles in this installation which had to be installed in more space efficient manner due to the group show. Treegirl

1 comment:

HMS said...: hoping there is going to be some action soon. perhaps an installation shot of the project at elam with before and after images, and a report of how many bottles have been transacted, and indeed which species were most popular...; November 22, 2008 at 7:50 PM