Tree Talk: Artists Speak For Trees
Thursday, October 28
United States: 10am PT, 11am MT, 12pm CT, 1pm ET
EUROPE: Scotland/Ireland/England/Belgium/Germany/Portugal: 18:00 BST
Catherine Chalmers, Katie DeGroot, Jimmy Fike, Karey Kessler
The entanglements of a forest are vast, complex and mysterious. Today artists seek to understand and express the interconnectedness of trees with all living beings. Members included in the online exhibition and book Embodied Forest will share their diverse artworks and ideas about our human relationship with trees and forests.
For our October 2021 Tree Talk, Catherine Chalmers will present her newest project focused on bark beetles and fire, an ecological system out of balance in the conifer forest of the American West. Katie DeGroot will speak about her recent artwork based on found trees and branches which serve as muses for her watercolor paintings. Jimmy Fike will share his photographic archive illustrating North America’s rich trove of wild edible flora. Karey Kessler will discuss her paintings about the interconnected ecosystems of the world; the slowness and wisdom of trees; and the delicate balance that exists between trees, air, water and soil.
Tree Talk is moderated by Sant Khalsa, ecofeminist artist and activist, whose work has focused on critical environmental and societal issues including forests and watersheds for four decades.
Co-sponsored by Joshua Tree Center for Photographic Arts
Members and one guest are free. General Public can attend for a $10. Capacity is 100 participants. All participants MUST REGISTER.
Presenters
Catherine Chalmers' newest project focuses on bark beetles and fire, an ecological system out of balance in the conifer forest of the American West. Working in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Chalmers gathers images and material to create a body of work that explores the visual remains of an environment under stress from years of fire suppression, clear-cutting and climate change. Chalmers holds a B.S. in Engineering from Stanford University and an M.F.A. in Painting from Royal College of Art, London. She has exhibited her artwork around the world, including MoMA P.S.1; MassMoca; Kunsthalle Vienna; The Today Art Museum, Beijing. Two books have been published by Aperture on her work: Food Chain and American Cockroach. She won Best Experimental Short at SXSW Film Festival in 2008 and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010. catherinechalmers.com
Katie DeGroot will speak about her recent artwork based on found trees and branches which the artist brings back to her studio as "Muses" to be featured in her watercolor paintings. The artist celebrates the beauty of the dead and dying trees with their finery of moss and mushrooms and their perceived personalities while exploring her interests in contemporary painting. DeGroot attended New York University and Illinois State University before living and working in New York City for over twenty years. She now resides on her great grandparent’s farm next to the Hudson River in Fort Edward, NY. With the help of her corgi Elis she searches for her "muses" along roadsides and in woods. katiedegroot.com
Jimmy Fike has been creating a photographic archive since 2007 illustrating North America’s rich trove of wild edible flora. By employing a system that makes it easy to identify both the plant and its colorized edible parts, his images function as reliable guides for foraging. Beyond utility, the images offer a richly contemplative experience, opening a space to engage with symbiotic evolution and transformation while forging bonds to local ecosystems. Fike was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1970. He earned a BA in Art from Auburn University and an MFA in Photography from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. His photographic work has been featured in the L.A. Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Mother Jones, and Atlas Obscura. His book, Edible Plants; A Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of North America will be published by Indiana University Press in February 2022. jimmyfike.com
Karey Kessler’s painting, A Slow Wisdom, included in Embodied Forest, is about the interconnected ecosystems of the world; the slowness and wisdom of trees; and the delicate balance that exists between trees, air, water and soil. Kessler is fascinated by the world-wood-web and how the mushrooms that connect the forest floor are releasing not only nutrients but also messages and warnings for the trees and plants. She is deeply concerned about vanishing old growth forests and the effect that will have on all living beings. Kessler is a Seattle based artist. Her work is in the flat files of the Pierogi Gallery in New York City. Her art is also included in the book: The Map as Art by Kitty Harmon and in the summer 2021 issue of Orion Magazine. Kessler has shown her work widely, including exhibits at the Katonah Art Museum in New York, the Weatherspoon Art Museum in North Carolina and in 2020 her work was included in Time Sensitive, at the Broto: Art-Climate-Science convention. In 2019 she was a resident in the SciArt Initiative Bridge Residency. kareykessler.com
Image: ©Catherine Chalmers, Whitebark Pines, Sawtooth Mountains, ID, 2021, sap on pigment print, 15 x 20 inches; ©Katie DeGroot, Cocktail Party Vlll, 2020, watercolor on paper, 50 x 60 inches; ©Jimmy Fike, Eastern Hemlock, 2020, archival pigment print, 20 x 40 inches; ©Karey Kessler, A Slow Wisdom, 2016, watercolor on paper, 12 x 16 inches.
