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

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

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