Walking into “Tread Lightly” at the Gallery @ the Guild in Charlottetown, it’s easy to leave the workday world behind.
That’s because the exhibition, featuring the work of P.E.I. artists Niki Heddle and Carina Phillips, offers gallerygoers a respite; an opportunity to take a step back from the busyness of city life and enjoy a break with nature.
It’s being presented by The Guild in partnership with "This Town is Small".
The gallery walls are covered with floral images. There’s a patch of green grass on the floor. And, from the ceiling, a series of nests, made of muslin cheesecloth, flour and water, that sway back and forth in the light breeze.
“I hope people will take a moment to think about their relationship with nature and how they can tread more lightly on the earth,” said Phillips, whose section is inspired by the environment and the P.E.I. countryside.
On one wall, it’s the Poppy Series – large 3D images of the showy, decorative flower, made from dried poppies.
“The supplies were provided from a friend, who was saving the seeds. So, I grew the flowers myself, saved the seed, dried them and used them as materials.”
After and putting them aside, she painted some wooden circles. Next she made clay balls and placed one into the centre of each disc.
One by one she stuck dried flower stems into the centre of the ball to imitate the stamens of a flower.
“I’m trying to echo a field of poppies. I also like the shadow field it creates. It’s the idea of looking out and seeing a field of colour,” said the Byrnes Road resident.
Niki Heddle echoes her love for nature in “Nesting in Gaia’s Womb”. Her installation is a mobile-like structure comprised of nests, as she calls them, that stream from the ceiling, held by strings.
The nests are made by mixing flour and water and adding muslin cheese cloth.
The mixture is spread over latex balloons. Then, when the nests are dry Heddle removes the balloon material and fills the empty shells with leaves, seeds, pebbles or pieces of birch bark.
After assembly, each nest turns into a viewing box, giving gallerygoers a glimpse of the natural world when they look in.
“I wanted to create the same feeling of lying in the grass, watching an ant or spider or the little mosses that are growing. It’s about getting in close.”
Heddle said it’s a feeling that people are familiar with.
“But I think it’s easy for us to get detached from it. So, I hope the show will remind people about the importance of connecting with nature.”
The idea for the show was inspired by a conversation that Heddle and Philips had about a year ago.
“Collaborating presented a challenge. Because we live on different ends of the Island we were communicating almost telepathically.”
sally.cole@theguardian.pe.ca
