12 Trees: Good for the Earth

The Gardiner Museum is a speciality museum that focuses on one of the world's oldest art forms of  crafting through clay.  I've been intending to visit this museum for quite some time (I love a speciality museum!) and just never got around to it for one reason or another. 

Then I came across a post online about the Gardiner Museum's annual 12 Trees exhibition and that cinched it. I had no more excuses to not plan a visit.

The exhibit was based on the theme ''Good for the Earth'' and  contemporary designers and artists used natural, recycled, and sustainable materials to create their installations.

Having not seen previous year's reinterpretations of the Christmas tree, I can't compare, all I know is that I was enchanted by this year's display. I loved the use of found and sustainable materials used to create these contemporary pieces.The theme of 'Good for the Earth' was interestingly addressed by each artist, it was hard to pick a favourite.

'Birds of a Feather' by Rodney Smith

'Twice Blessed' by Susan Avishai, made of deconstructed and hand-cut men's dress shirts

'A Canadian Fashion Landscape' by Peggy Sue Deaven-Smiltnieks, the deconstructed dress of raw materials

'A Christmas Story' by Robyn Thomas, created from folded and woven pages from Canadian magazine, The Walrus

 ' ''These Trees Shall be my Books'' (As You Like It, Act III, Sc 2)' by Stratford Festival (Liza Giffen and Andrew Mestern, made from recycled books, scripts and other material used by the Stratford Festival Company in 2016.

'L'Arbre et la Pirogue' by Amelie Desjardins, hand-carved canoe found from a wreck. Visitors are encouraged to take a seed from the base, take it home and plant it.

'The Wishing Tree' by Erin Lightfeather, the feathers are either naturally shed or made from recycled holiday greeting cards and placed in a fallen tree.

'Thirsty by Nature' by Aurora Pagano, uses water bottles and plumbing materials to create this tree.

'Burn Your Fire' by Christine Dewancker and Katherine Strang, represents both the Jack Pine (think Group of Seven), the Balsam fir (think Christmas tree), and the Black Spruce (think Canadian forest) which make up the Canadian landscape and are renewed by forest fires.

'We are Yorick' by Fiona Legg, represents the plight of the bee and the demise of humanity if the bee population disappears.

'Terracotta Tree' by Sandra Gregson and Gary Spearin, uses found pots made from clay which is considered a sustainable material

'Boreal Forest Mid-Winter' by Linda-Marlena Bucholtz Ross, a visual night stroll through a forest with the sounds of snow crunching.

My review of 12 Trees: So cool! I think this will be a new tradition added to my 'get into the spirit' list of activities.

Check out their website for museum hours.

12 Trees: Good for the Earth runs until January 8th, 2017

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