By Natasha Tourish
The Tree Museum Collective was formed in 1997 in response to an opportunity to create site-specific artworks in a relatively remote region of Ontario, and includes both waterfront and forest. For the participating artists, this opportunity represents a rare occasion to realize major outdoor artworks in an uncultivated environment, with the physical support essential to execute works on this scale.
The Collective's first exhibition was held in October 1998 and to date more than 50 artists have created works on the site. Some of the works are permanent while others are of a transitory nature, with the elements and nature determining their life span. Collectively, the projects explore concepts of identity, memory and territory in respect to nature and natural processes, while underscoring the imbalance that characterizes our current relationship to the environment.
Since that first exhibition The Tree Museum Collective has continued to explore the relationship between Art and Nature. This month Landscape talks to Anne O’ Callaghan, Co-founder of the Tree Museum which is situated on Ryde Lake close to the town of Gravenhurst and Lake Muskoka in central Ontario, Canada. The region is fondly known as ‘cottage country’ by the locals and has nearly two million visitors each year.
“Ej Lightman and I have been running the tree museum for 14 years, in this time 66 artists have created 73 unique projects relating to the site of the Tree Museum. Object makers, photographers, video artists musicians respond to nature and to the site. These works engage the complex reality of the relationship between man and nature, the adoration, reliance, and exploitation,” explained Anne.
She continued: “There is an artist residence on site, and the artists stay at the Tree Museum, as they create the work. We are also conscious of our responsibility as conservators of the land where the work is created. 80% of the pathways are temporary and as the work disappears or is removed, so too is all evidence of its presence.”
The site covers 400 acres and is part of what is known as the Canadian Shield: “The rocks that form the Canadian Shield were formed about four billion years ago during the Archeon Eon of the Precambrian Era. Erosion of this extremely rugged, mountainous landscape deposited enormous quantities of clays, silts, sands and gravels into the surrounding waters. Compressed by their sheer cumulative weight and the heat of the shifting Earth's crust, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks formed during the Proterozoic Eon of the Precambrian Era.
“These rocks while amazing, at times present installation problems because no matter where you want to install works, there is rock underneath. Even in the meadow, when you dig you hit rock. We have installed two works on the water, but the lakes freeze, so using the lakes creates logistic problems. Taking the work out of the water in the late fall, can be an extremely cold experience.”
