The smell of earth, planting seeds, watering and watching leaves unfurl and grow: this is the inspiration behind Madeleine Wood and Don Cunningham’s upcoming show at Studio Connexion in Nakusp.
With their return to rural life after living in the city for years, the two well-known painters rediscovered the joys of gardening, and those joys inspired their work. From the Ground Up, their current show, is the result of moments spent just being among the vegetables, fruits and flowers.
“The use of garden imagery in art has a long history. Over and over the theme of selecting and ordering nature and then recording the results has produced countless works of art,” Cunningham writes in his artist’s statement. “And of course a garden is much more than a garden. It is probably the oldest metaphor we have for birth, growth, harvest, decay, death, and then, rebirth.”
For him, the question of how to bring a fresh perspective to an old metaphor meant a new start, and led him to abandon brushes and freely play with materials.
Wood discovered the natural rhythm of growth, learning which plants grow well and where, and the surprise of volunteers popping up from times gone by.
“Volunteer tomatoes and potatoes dominate our veggie garden, but I painted my absolute favourites that nourish me,” said Wood, and spirit-feeding irises and tulips find their place on canvases next to kale and lettuce.
Like the volunteers’ disregard for order and place, the simple joy of being in the garden grew without concern for metaphor or meaning, leading to relearning and simplifying for Cunningham and Wood.
“I hadn’t thought of meaning or metaphor, just aware of a growing sense of well being, and redemption, being this close to the ground,” said Wood. “Simply being.”
From the Ground Up will be showing at Studio Connexion in Nakusp from August 9 to 31, with a reception on Aug. 9 between 5 and 8 p.m.