Craft ACT Artist-in-residence 2014: Bogs and Fens

craft + design centre
Bogs and Fens:
artist-in-residence

Residencies
Artists
Satoshi Fujinuma, Japan
Sally Blake, Canberra
Location: Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage,
Namadgi National Park
Annee Miron, Melbourne
Location: Nil Desperandum Homestead,
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
Dates
Satoshi Fujinuma: 1 Sept – 2 October 2014
Annee Miron: 2 April – 14 May 2014
Sally Blake: 7 April – 14 May 2014
Research
Australian National Botanic Gardens
Exhibition
Date: 10 April to 16 May 2015
Location: Craft ACT: Craft + Design
Centre Gallery
Date: 24 April – 25 May 2015
Location: Australian National Botanic
Gardens, Visitor Centre Gallery
Catalogue
Public Program
Open days at Nil Desperandum Homestead,
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and Gudgenby
Ready-Cut Cottage, Namadgi National Park
Artist talks at Australian National University
Art Forum School of Art, and Australian
National Botanic Gardens
Workshops – Learn how to extract dyes
from plants and then dye your own fabric
with Sally Blake and Learn weaving, plaiting
and knotting techniques and patterns to
construct an object or plant form with your
dyed fabric with Annee Miron, Australian
National Botanic Gardens; and Naturalistic
Wood Carving Intensive Weekend Workshop
with Satoshi Fujinuma, Australian National
University School of Art Furniture Workshop
Forum – Bogs and Fens: the interplay
between craft, science and the environment,
Australian National Botanic Gardens
Introduction
Avi Amesbury 3
Alpine bogs and fens – wetlands of significance
Brett McNamara 7
Bog and fens: 2014 artists-in-residence
Judy West 9
Catalogue essay
What word is that? Bogs, fens and how we understand them
Rosanna Stevens 11
From the artists
Satoshi Fujinuma 17
Annee Miron 19
Sally Blake 20
Public program
Forum 23
Speaker biographies 24
Acknowledgements 28

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
Introduction
Craft, science and the environment
It is nine years since the initial
conversation between Craft ACT: Craft
and Design Centre and ACT Parks &
Conservation Service, and the inaugural
Artist-in-Residence program. Over the
years the program has grown from
hosting local artists to attracting national
and international practitioners. In 2013
the program expanded to incorporate a
research component, with artists being
invited to undertake a research period in
a national cultural or research institution.
Open days in the Parks, artists’ talks,
workshops and forums are held during
the residencies so that the community
can meet the artists and engage through
the public program. The residence draws
attention to Canberra’s distinct natural
and cultural landscape and connects
community to our unique environment.
This was particularly poignant in
2014 with the selected artists, Satoshi
Fujinuma, Sally Blake and Annee Miron,
invited to respond to the theme the
environmental protection of bogs
and fens. The devastating bushfires in
2003 affected all the bogs in Namadgi
National Park and a collaborative
restoration program between ACT Parks
& Conservation Service and the Australian
National Botanic Gardens was undertaken
to aid their recovery. Bog communities
provide a number of ecosystem services
including the breeding habitat for the
endangered Corroboree frogs as well as
water control and filtration at catchment
sources. Canberra’s water catchment area
is in Namadgi National Park.
It seemed a perfect match for a
three‐way partnership – Craft ACT,
ACT Parks & Conservation Service
and the Australian National Botanic
Gardens – with the artists undertaking
their residency at Gudgenby Ready‐Cut
Cottage in Namadgi National Park
and Nil Desperandum Homestead in
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, and their
research period at the Gardens.
The Gardens facilitated field trips to the
bogs and fens in the national park, and
gave the artists open access to scientists,
their research data and equipment.
The assistance and generosity of the
partners has had a deep and lasting
impact on everyone involved – artists,
scientists, rangers, and the public – and
provided unique opportunities to link
ideas, knowledge and creativity.
The artists’ isolation and immersion in
the residency gave way to self-reflection,
insights into a culture and nature of
Cover: Swamp, Barrington Tops. Photography, Murray Fagg. Image provided by the Australian National Botanic Gardens.
Inside cover: Satoshi Fujinuma, capturing the landscape for future reference, Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage, Namadgi
National Park. Photography: Art Atelier Photography.
Left: Swampland. Photography, Murray Fagg. Image provided by the Australian National Botanic Gardens.
PAGE 3

thoughtless destructiveness, and the
discovery of new ways of seeing, and,
perhaps changing. It challenged ideas of
aloneness, intellectual understanding of
how natural ecosystem work and the vital
role they play in our world.
Each year the residency draws together
people of different ideals and cultures,
and touches their hearts. Through a
shared passion – art, science or the
environment – we are taken on a journey
of change, of new ways of seeing and
a deeper understanding of the land
we are custodians of.
Avi Amesbury
Executive Director
Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre
Residencies: Memories in Place: art in high
country huts, artists Paull McKee, Daniel
Maginnity and Joanne Searle; Artists in
place: Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage
Residency, artists Paull McKee and Kirstie
Rea; Talking Water: artists-in-residence,
artists Antonia Aitken, Christine Atkins,
Marily Cintra and Marian Hosking;
Elements of Place: artist-in-residence,
artists Michael Brennand-Wood (UK)
and Ceretha Skinner, Gumbayngirr
woman; and most recently Bogs and
Fens: artist-in-residence, artists Satoshi
Fujinuma (Japan), Sally Blake and
Annee Miron.
PAGE 4
Above: Visitors listening to presentations at the artist-in-residence open day, Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage,
Namadgi National Park. Photography: Art Atelier Photography
Right: Map of Namadgi National Park.

To Tumut
Brindabella Rd
Cotter Rd
CANBERRA
BendoraR
Mt Franklin Rd
d
NAMADGI
TIDBINBILLA
NATURE
RESERVE
NATIONAL
Corin Rd
Apollo
Tidbinbilla Rd
Rd
Tharwa
Naas Rd
Namadgi
Visitor
Centre
Orroral Rd
PARK
Boboyan Rd
Gudgenby
Ready-Cut Cottage
0
10km
NSW
ACT
25 km
To Adaminaby

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
Alpine bogs and fens –
wetlands of significance
The Artist-in-Residence program has to
date produced a rich repertoire of cultural
practice, born from a direct association
with the majestic mountains of Namadgi
National Park.
This diverse body of work now provides
us with an archive of imaginative
interpretation. It speaks of artistic
interpretation that has created a narrative
for discussion, discourse and debate.
Through this, we are offered insights
into the many stories of this ancient,
yet constantly evolving landscape.
Here in the Bush Capital we find ourselves
immersed by nature’s artistic endeavours.
The ancient mountains which surround
the nation’s capital shape our urban
existence on so many different levels.
The mountains and valleys are a place
of beauty, where nature is able to flourish
and evolve, where clear water flows and
where people can find insight, enjoyment
and understanding.
It was set against this backdrop that
a catalyst for a rather unique alliance
between the ACT Parks & Conservation
Service and Craft ACT formed. Now in
its ninth year, this partnership continues
to weave a rich tapestry of artistic
interpretation of our natural world.
In 2014, the theme for the Artist-in-
Residence program spoke of the
significance of environmental wetlands.
Alpine wetlands purify and replenish our
water. Alpine wetlands act as a natural
sponge against flooding and drought and
protect our fragile mountains ecosystems.
They burst with biodiversity and are a
vital means of storing carbon. Put simply,
the future of humanity depends on our
fragile wetlands.
The three artists, Sally Blake, Annee
Miron and Satoshi Fujinuma immersed
themselves in this primordial landscape
and interpreted the environmental values
of alpine bogs and fens – unique and
endangered peat-forming wetlands which
occur in cool, wet mountainous environs
across Australia’s high country.
These unique communities provide
a number of ecosystem services
including vital breeding habitats for the
critically endangered Corroboree frog
(Pseudophryne sp.) as well as water
control and filtration at catchment
sources. Worldwide, wetlands are
threatened by a number of processes
such as climate change. In the Australian
Alps high country, alpine bogs are also
impacted by the heavy hoof grazing by
cattle and thousands of feral horses.
Left: Sphagnum Swamp, Monga. Photography, Murray Fagg.
Image provided by the Australian National Botanic Gardens.
PAGE 7

Increasingly, fire frequency can a have
a devastating impact as was the case in
2003, when major wildfires impacted and
destroyed many alpine bogs. While based
at Namadgi National Park and Tidbinbilla
Nature Reserve, and during research at
the Australian National Botanic Gardens,
the artists explored and interpreted
initiatives aimed to conserve and enhance
these endangered communities.
Bogs and Fens: artist-in-residence is
without equal within this environmental
setting. Contributing to the broader
conversation, it captures this unique
landscape as being one of outstanding
natural significance to the national capital,
the city and people of Canberra.
Brett McNamara
Regional Manager
National Parks and Catchments Region
ACT Parks & Conservation Service
Above: Annee Miron talking about her preliminary work and her inspiration, artist-in-residence open day,
Nil Desperandum Homestead, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Photography, Art Atelier Photography.
PAGE 8

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
Bogs and Fens:
2014 artists-in-residence
The theme ‘bogs and fens’ for the 2014
Craft ACT Artists-in-Residence program
is a significant research area at the
Australian National Botanic Gardens.
Locally, these unique and endangered
peat-forming wetlands provide a number
of ecosystem services including breeding
habitat for endangered Corroboree frogs
and water control and filtration. Our
research at the Gardens, investigating
how seeds in these communities persist
and germinate, contributes to our
understanding of plant survival and
succession in bogs and fens.
Artists and scientists approach issues
in similar ways – both are inquisitive
asking the questions ‘why’ and ‘how’ and
thinking ‘outside the square’ to solve
problems or create artwork. Despite this
similarity in approaching an issue, their
observations of the natural world may
be very different. Artists can view the
natural world from different perspectives.
Scientists are aware of the fragile and
endangered nature of bogs and fens and
express this through their research. An
artist can express the fragility of these
ecosystems with a small, ‘simple’ intricate
woven basket from plants growing in
these ecosystems.
An artist’s interpretation of a
subject or issue assists scientists
with communicating it to the public.
Communicating our scientific research
is a key goal of the Gardens. This is one
of the strengths of the Craft ACT Artistin-Residence
program and a reason the
Australian National Botanic Gardens is
proud to support this program.
To see one artist’s interpretation of bogs
and fens is intriguing – to see three artists,
each working in a different medium, is
eye-opening.
I thank Sally Blake, Annee Miron and
Satoshi Fujinuma for their enthusiasm and
willingness to share their interpretation
of bogs and fens, and for the willingness
to share their crafts with staff and public
during their residency at the Gardens. You
each have brought a different perspective
to one of our scientific challenges –
understanding and protecting our
endangered bogs and fens.
Judy West
Executive Director
Australian National Botanic Gardens
PAGE 9

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
Catalogue essay
What word is that?
Bogs, fens and how we understand them
By Rosanna Stevens
Aurally, ‘bog’ isn’t a particularly pleasant
word. It’s squat and round at the front,
monosyllabic, and the end of the
word gets stuck in your throat – ‘bog’.
Perhaps I take this view because in
modern Australia, the term connotes
too many things that are not specifically
the ecology and state of a ‘wet, muddy
ground too soft to support a heavy body’.
‘Bog’ has always existed in my vernacular
as either a figurative or slang term. In
fact, I can’t recall a time where I sat in a
classroom and was taught the gorgeous
factual intricacies of what a bog truly
is, and how it functions. Similarly a ‘fen’
is a monosyllabic term that for too long
escaped me: soft, verdant and feathery
in sound, the word never immediately
summoned marsh or wetland, because
it summoned nothing at all: it’s not
a term we are encouraged to use in
passing conversation, unless perhaps
we visited one recently on one of those
marshland holidays the tourism industry
so commonly capitalises on.
Recently, leading British nature writer
Robert MacFarlane delved into this
change in awareness of environmental
language in The Guardian. In drawing to
the public attention the loss of words
that connote or describe our natural
environment, he discussed the most
recent edition of the Oxford Junior
Dictionary, which has removed a list
of nature-related terms – from acorn
to willow – and replaced them with a
technological lexicon. What does this
loss mean? Are we forgetting how to
see and describe the very thing that
builds us and gives us life?
For bogs and fens, while their exact
meanings slowly eek from the Austral
vernacular, their rich watery bodies lie
patiently, still there, but increasingly
threatened by exactly that which the
Oxford Junior Dictionary has almost
too poetically decided to replace
environmental worlds with: human stuff.
Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated
Fens – those bogs and fens which
specifically populate the ACT region,
as well as outcrops in areas of southern
New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania
– are complex ecosystems which act
as significant habitats for a number of
endemic plant species and threatened
animals. Yet, due to their sporadic and
small geographic distribution, these
Left: Annee Miron, Borrowed Time (detail), 2015, found cardboard and gouache.
Photography: Brent Edwards.
PAGE 11

Above: Sally Blake, Seed Baskets (detail) 2015, Plant dyed wool and silk, silver wire. Image courtesy of the artist.
ecological communities are easily
threatened due to exotic weeds, clearing
of land for pasture work or residential
development, sphagnum moss-industry
(yes, really), erosion from livestock tread
and grazing, wildfires, and domestic
human waste such as discarded rubbish.
I recently discovered that to see a ‘before’
and ‘after’ shot of a bog and fen system
trampled by hard hoofed herds is – once
you’ve appreciated the life-cradling role of
the bog and fen – more unnerving for me
than remembering when my phone gave
a final, personal-information-eclipsing
wink last year. I see this as a hopeful sign.
To resurrect and reconnect the
environment to the human conscience,
MacFarlane, in his article, called for
English language speakers to ‘re-wild’ our
vernaculars. He asked readers to consider
the beauty and environmental detail
of old English, Welsh and Irish words.
The most stunning example MacFarlane
gave, of a word tied to a complex and
old environmental meaning was the
Gaelic, ‘èit’, which refers very exactly to
“the practice of placing quartz stones in
streams so that they sparkle in moonlight
and thereby attract salmon to them in
the late summer and autumn”.
PAGE 12

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
Here in Australia, I’m not particularly
comfortable with the idea of ‘wilding’ or
‘wildernessing’ anything, because in a
colonial context, wilderness has been a
tool for separating ourselves from what
humans supposedly cannot tame. In
othering ourselves from the landscape
we dismiss our responsibility to the
land. We also dismiss the first languages
that describe the country we now live
in custodianship of, with such ancient
intimacy: languages that are as much
about describing a bog or a fen as they
are describing the human relationships
and responsibilities to them.
Craft ACT artist-in-residence Annee
Miron, beautifully advocated for this
connectedness we all have to the
environment, and reminded me of the
ways our language so easily unfurls
to complement and draw close to our
understanding of an environmental idea.
She observed:
‘Adrian Brown, a Ngunnawal man, told
me that in Ngunnawal country the alpine
bogs and fens “are the beginning of
everything.” These acid-etched cataracts
in the mountain bushland each hold and
slowly release vast volumes of water.
Above: Satoshi Fujinuma, seed series – Journey, 2015, sheoak, paint, lacquer. Image courtesy of the artist.
PAGE 13

At ground level they are plain looking and
undramatic, though burst into diversity,
colour and life when explored up close
and over time and with the knowledge
shared by others: traditional owners,
rangers, scientists and archaeologists.’
Her portrait is sharp and visceral, an
homage to the time spent learning in
and around Namadgi National Park,
that her residency afforded her. And
it is in her experience and reflection
that we can begin to consider how,
in modern Australia, we can renature
our vocabularies to grow more
environmentally capable and aware. Craft
ACT’s artist-in-residence program offers
us this most enjoyable and engaging
message: that we must give one another
and ourselves opportunities to talk, make,
and live with our environments more
often than we already allow ourselves to.
Through Craft ACT’s artist-in-residence
program, held in partnership with ACT
Parks & Conservation Service and the
Australian National Botanic Gardens,
three artists – Annee Miron, Sally Blake
and Satoshi Fujinuma – were invited
to spend a sustained period of time in
Namadgi National Park, and after some
research, interpret the theme of ‘the
environmental protection of bogs and
fens’ in their making. What these artists
produced was a renaturing of their
creative and expressive vernaculars. They
have produced work that incorporates
traditional European, personal, cultural
and contemporary interpretations of
these marshy ecosystems. Through
their artistic languages of reflection and
creation, we are offered detailed and
diverse meanings for and incarnations
of ‘bog’ and ‘fen’. These artists have
made beautiful definitions of nativeness
Above: Sally Blake, The Ecological Thought (detail), 2015, Crocheted paper yarn. Image courtesy of the artist.
PAGE 14

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
and modern suffering, of fragility and
interconnectedness articulated through
spindling cardboard, and the robust
life‐giving mechanisms presented in the
form of seed-pods thick with colour.
Miron, Blake and Fujinuma have formed
their own illustrative ecosystems of
meaning that connect, strengthen,
and interplay with one another on the
exhibition floor. They have given us a
modern dictionary from which to graft
our own understanding of bogs and fens.
Moreover, their work reminds us that
definitions are, by nature (and in nature),
multiplicit. Each piece celebrates the
diversity of human that is welcomed by
country: to relate to and interpret it, so
long as that environment or landscape
remains the creative message or priority.
It is through this lens of environmental
understanding that artist-in-residence
Sally Blake continually looks to,
‘develop a deeper understanding of
the interconnections between nature’s
pattern and processes, and humans
place in the whole.’ It is also through the
language of environment that Japanese
artist-in-residence Satoshi Fujinuma
can still draw on his passion for finding
an usual element of the landscape that
prompts him to ask, ‘how does that work,
and why?’ and through environmental
questioning can draw an environmentallyreflective
answer and aesthetic.
In forming this creative bond to the
environmental experience – whether
as a maker or an exhibition patron –
we are reminded that each of us has a
responsibility to country. Each of us has
our own connection to the inescapable
ecosystems that make our place exactly
what it is. We host our own ability to talk
and think about what we see, or feel, or
smell – both in the exhibition space and
outside, with the grass crunching beneath
our feet. It’s easy to forget this, or forgo
that responsibility, but in the exhibition
environment, we are offered an encounter
with nature, and willingly, we step in. We
meet ecology face-to-face. By engaging
in the 2014 Artist-in-Residence program,
we are invited to renature our vernaculars
in a wholly international, yet very personal
way. We are invited to orient ourselves
by reading a dictionary of meanings
about bogs and fens and by engaging
with these aesthetics, each of us might
develop a deeper understanding of the
environment so immediately influenced
by and near to us.
Despite this, to the eye, a bog remains
perhaps a little unflattering. The sound of
the word might take on deeper meanings
with the guidance of these three fine
makers, but just as an immediate glance
at the word warrants a slightly distorted
face, it takes time and immersion to
appreciate the word’s beauty. Talking
about the bog and fen system, Satoshi
Fujinuma admitted with the most subtle
humour and graceful reflection:
‘The bogs and fen appeared very little,
and it was only scenery of a boring
wetland. However, a precious thing
is hidden there.’
PAGE 15

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
From the artists
Satoshi Fujinuma
I am interested in nature and this
influences my work, therefore the Craft
ACT Artist-in-Residence program was
very significant for me. I observed the
peculiar Australian flora and fauna
of the Australian National Botanic
Gardens and Namadgi National Park.
I enjoyed and admired the environmental
protection and preservation of bogs and
fens. I stayed alone in the Gudgenby
Ready‐Cut Cottage at Namadgi National
Park and walked around the bush feeling
the Australian nature deeply. This was
a very fulfilling time for me as I live and
work in busy Tokyo. I am a foreigner,
so the specific theme of bogs and fens
was thought provoking, and I was also
very impressed with Australian nature.
It was a wonderful experience.
The exhibition works are abstract
sculptures of rebuilt fragments taken
from memories of my experiences in
the park. The memory changes and
becomes abstract as time passes.
Thank you to all the people from the
Australian National Botanic Gardens,
the National Parks, Craft ACT and the
conservation volunteers.
Left: Satoshi Fujinuma at the artist-in-residence open day, Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage,
Namadgi National Park. Photography: Art Atelier Photography.
Above: Satoshi Fujinuma discussing his work during the artist-in-residence open day,
Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage, Namadgi National Park. Photography: Art Atelier Photography.
PAGE 17

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
Annee Miron
Borrowed time, 2015
Adrian Brown, a Ngunnawal man, told me
that in Ngunnawal country the alpine bogs
and fens “are the beginning of everything.”
These acid etched cataracts in the
mountain bushlands each hold and
slowly release vast volumes of water.
At ground level they are plain looking and
undramatic, though burst into diversity,
colour and life when explored up close
and over time and with the knowledge
shared by others: traditional owners,
rangers, scientists and archaeologists.
Living off the grid in Tidbinbilla Nature
Reserve at the Nil Desparandum
Homestead I realised that my usual
urban life, affordable and convenient,
leaves me oblivious to our destructive
culture and nature. My consumption,
wastes and production wear pathways
around the earth through a heavy
dependence on international trade.
Used cardboard boxes map this empire
of consumption and unseen waste so
I collected samples from Tidbinbilla, the
Australian National Botanic Gardens and
the streets around my Melbourne studio.
I have hand-cut and woven them into
forms inspired by the bogs and fens. Each
is underpainted with the colours drawn
from an already depleting inventory
of indigenous bog and fen plants and
animals. They draw attention to the
intricate, chaotic beauty beneath our feet
and how heavily we now tread across the
country. Across the world. To our own
destruction. I express my deepest thanks
and gratitude to all who have assisted and
talked to me about the bogs and fens,
concepts of environmental protection and
my art works in progress.
Left: Annee Miron with her preliminary work, Nil Desperandum Homestead, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
Photography, Art Atelier Photography.
Above: Annee Miron, rope and twine preparation material (detail), Nil Desperandum Homestead,
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Photography, Art Atelier Photography.
PAGE 19

Sally Blake
Working on the conservation of bogs
and fens project has been a creative and
intellectual challenge in understanding
how these natural systems work and the
important role they play in the overall
environment. Working in the space
between art, science and conservation
has been particularly rewarding, and all
the partners were generous in sharing
their knowledge and expertise.
At Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage
I focused my field research on the
collection of plant materials from the bogs
and fens to use for plant dyes. A plant’s
rootedness means the colours it produces
indicates aspects of the environment in
which it grows. At the Australian National
Botanic Gardens I was moved by the
work that is done by staff and volunteers
to conserve seeds from these vulnerable
communities in the seedbank.
In Seed Baskets I used the threads
coloured by plants and silver wire to make
a collection of symbolic vessels to hold
the precious seeds. Like the bogs and fens
these baskets possess a tension between
fragility and resilience. In my second work,
The Ecological Thought 1 I have crocheted
a large piece from 4,500 metres of yarn
to represent the entangling mesh which
connects all living things.
1 Professor Timothy Morton writes, “…the ecological thought
is the thinking of interconnectedness.” Timothy Morton,
The Ecological Thought (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 2010), 7.
PAGE 20
Above: Sally Blake with ACT Parks and Conservation staff, Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage,
Namadgi National Park. Photography: Art Atelier Photography.
Right: Sally Blake at work during her residency, Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage,
Namadgi National Park. Photography: Art Atelier Photography.

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
Public program
Forum
Bogs and Fens: the interplay
between craft, science and the
environment
In 2014, the Bogs and Fens: the
interplay between craft, science and the
environment forum united three diverse
but interweaving sectors and with it,
a wealth of knowledge and varying
perspectives. Held at the Australian
National Botanic Gardens, it brought
together members of the community,
artists and leaders in the fields of craft,
design, environment and conservation.
Keynote speaker, Professor Geoffrey
Hope, focused on bogs and fens as
archives of environmental change.
He discussed the longevity of bogs
which have been around for more than
10,000 years and the recording of
changes in vegetation and fire regime
that reflect changing climates and even
human use. Looking at records from
subalpine moss bogs and the montane
sedge fens around the ACT, the audience
discovered how these communities reveal
major growth over 3000 years ago.
The three artists-in-residence spoke
about their work in the context of their
research and residency experiences whilst
allowing the audience to interact with
works-in-progress. Program partners
gave insights into their organisations’
individual involvement in and commitment
to the program.
ACT Park Ranger, Dave Whitfield,
contributed his experiences managing
the restoration of sub-alpine Sphagnum
peat bogs following the 2003 bushfires.
It was defined that of these communities
affected within Namadgi National
Park, between 55 to 100% of the
surface burnt on all bogs. Following an
on‐ground assessment it was decided
that a restoration program should be
commenced at selected bogs to aid their
recovery. Whitfield highlighted the unique
and valued ecological nature of the bog
communities, conveying their importance
as part of our water catchment regime.
The audience was enlightened by the
presentation of Seed Conservation
Biologist, Lydia Guja, where she discussed
her specialised work at the Botanic
Gardens. Guja monitors the strategic
direction and scientific goals of the
National Seed Bank and the expanding
existing seed banking and research
activities. Most pertinently, however, Guja’s
work is currently focused on the ecological
drivers of seed germination in species of
endangered Alpine Sphagnum bog and
fens. In this talk, the biologist exposed
some of the inner processes surrounding
the conservation biology and germination
ecology of these communities.
Left: Sally Blake’s preliminary work made during the residency period (detail), Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage,
Namadgi National Park. Photography: Art Atelier Photography.
PAGE 23

Above: Nil Desperandum Homestead, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Photography, Art Atelier Photography.
Enthusiastic engagement with the
audience during the panel discussion
brought further awareness to and
interest in bogs and fens, as well as the
cross‐sector interplay between craft,
science and the environment. Ideas and
information were shared freely across
disciplines on current environmental
protection and conservation initiatives.
As Judy West stated, ‘the program
has highlighted the different and
complementary ways that an artist and
an ecologist/botanist might interpret the
same features of a bog – bringing together
two very different conservation stories.’
Gwenyth Macnamara
Curator of Public Programs
Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre
Forum speakers
Welcome presentations
Avi Amesbury, Executive Director,
Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre
Brett McNamara, Regional Manager,
National Parks & Catchments,
ACT Parks & Conservation Service
Judy West, Executive Director,
Australian National Botanic Gardens
Master of Ceremonies
Andrea Ho, ABC 666 Local Radio
Content Manager
Keynote speaker
Professor Geoffrey Hope, BSc (Hons),
MSc (Melb), PhD (ANU), DSc (Melb)
PAGE 24

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
Geoffrey Hope is an Emeritus Professor
in the Department of Archaeology and
Natural History; Visiting Fellow, Fenner
School of Environment and Society at
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.
At present, he is studying the recovery
of the mountain bogs since the SE
Australian fires of 2003 and the long
term history of large sedge fens in the
ACT in relation to archaeology and
climate change. Hope recently mapped
the peat-forming bogs and fens in the
ACT and the Snowy Mountains.
Speakers
David Whitfield
David Whitfield has been a ranger with
the ACT Parks & Conservation Service
for over 20 years. In 2005, he became
responsible for the continuation of the
on-ground works to restore selected
sub alpine Sphagnum peat bogs, that
had been affected by the dramatic
bushfires of 2003.
Above: Satoshi Fujinuma with visitors at the artist-in-residence open day, Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage,
Namadgi National Park. Photography: Art Atelier Photography.
PAGE 25

Lydia Guja
Lydia Guja is the Seed Conservation
Biologist at the Australian National
Botanic Gardens (ANBG) and Centre for
Australian National Biodiversity Research
(a CSIRO and ANBG collaboration).
This involves developing and monitoring
Uriarra Road
the strategic direction and scientific
goals of the Cotter National Dam Seed Bank, and
expanding and existing reserveseed banking and
research activities.
Satoshi Fujinuma
Satoshi Fujinuma’s practice as a
contemporary Japanese wood
turner is grounded in Gungahlin bio-mimetic
explorations Belconnen of nature. Born and raised
in Tokyo, Fujinuma has a background in
environmental chemistry and is mostly
Canberra City
self-taught. He is only one of a small
number of artists in Japan employing
the wood turning technique.
North
Canberra
Canberra Deep
Space Tracking
Complex
Paddys River Road
Cotter Road
Nil Desparandum
Homestead
Murrumbidgee River
Tuggeranong Parkway
Woden
Quean
Drakeford Drive
Tidbinbilla
Visitor Centre
Tuggeranong
Tidbinbilla
Tidbinbilla Road
Point Hut
Birrigai
NEW
Corin Road
Corin forest
mountain
resort
Woods Reserve
Namadgi
National
Park
Tharwa
SOUTH
WALES
N
To Cooma
Above: Map of Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
PAGE 26

Bogs and Fens: a rtist-in-residence
Above: Group photograph taken at the artist-in-residence open day, Nil Desperandum,
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Photography: Art Atelier Photography.
Sally Blake
Canberra-based artist, Sally Blake, works
primarily with woven textile techniques
including basketry, woven tapestry and
loom weaving but also produces works
on paper. Additionally, she employs
piecing, stitching and plant dyeing in
her delicate and intricate work. As well
as exhibiting within Australia, she has
been involved in group shows in France,
Britain, Japan and New Zealand.
Michael Doherty
Michael Doherty is a plant ecologist with
CSIRO Land and Water Flagship, based
in Canberra. For the past 25 years he
has worked on a range of vegetation
conservation and management projects
at local, regional and national levels
both in Australia and overseas.
Annee Miron
A weaver and sculptor from Melbourne,
Miron has exhibited throughout Australia,
most recently at the Lorne Sculpture
Biennale, Victoria and the Northern Centre
of Contemporary Art, Darwin, and has
undertaken residencies in Paris and Rome.
PAGE 27

Acknowledgements
Bogs and Fens: artist-in-residence is presented
in partnership with ACT Parks & Conservation
Service and the Australian National Botanic
Gardens and is supported by artsACT through
their Arts Residencies ACT initiative.
Craft ACT thanks: ACT Parks & Conservation
Service for their support in producing the
Bogs and fens: artist-in-residence catalogue.
Australian National Botanic Gardens for
their support in the artists undertaking a
research component within their facilities
and the exhibition of the artists’ research
in the Visitor Centre Gallery.
The Australian National University School
of Art for facilitating workshops and providing
accommodation for Satoshi Fujinuma.
Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre
Avi Amesbury, Executive Director
Gwenyth Macnamara, Curator of
Public Programs
Mel George, Curator and Exhibitions Manager
Thea McGrath, Communications and
Marketing Manager
ACT Parks & Conservation Service
Brett McNamara, Regional Manager,
National Parks and Catchments Region
Lisa Hogan, Visitor Services Manager,
National Parks and Catchments Region
Louise Emberson, Visitor Experience Manager,
National Parks and Catchments Region
Simon Tozer, Ranger in Charge,
Namadgi National Park
Deb Melaluca, Partnerships Coordinator,
Indigenous Programs
Adrian Brown, Ngunnawal Traditional
owner and the many wonderful Rangers
and staff involved in the program at
Namadgi National Park, Tidbinbilla
Nature Reserve and Mount Stromlo
Australian National Botanic Gardens
Judy West, Executive Director
Peter Byron, General Manager
Stephen Speer, Assistant Director,
Communication and Visitor Services
Lydia Guja, Seed Conservation Biologist
Julie Akmacic, Manager, Media and Marketing
Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre is supported
by the ACT Government, the Visual Arts and
Craft Strategy – an initiative of the Australian,
State and Territory Governments, and the
Australia Council for the Arts – the Australian
Government’s arts funding and advisory body.
Photography: Art Atelier Photography
Graphic Design: 2B.com.au
Printing: Addcolour
© Craft ACT: Craft and Design
Centre 2015
PAGE 28
Right: Anne Miron and a visitor chat during the artist-in-residency open day. Nil Desperandum Homestead,
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Photography, Art Atelier Photography.