A 42-Acre Blank Canvas

It’s been a while since I’ve written a new blog post, and in fact, it’s been a while since I’ve made new art. Here’s why:

These are roughly 2 acres* out of 42 that represent our current blank canvas. (*“roughly”, because after living all of our lives in city-scale spaces - our house in Toronto was 600 square feet - we still have no idea what an acre looks like). Most of the rest is forest, so it’s not exactly “blank”, but definitely holds much potential for whimsical and wonderful projects. The garden on the other hand, feels vast to me. I love the vista, but also long for more intimate vignettes within the whole. Early last spring, we planted the first 4 fruit tree saplings to start to build a small orchard. So far we have apple, plum, cherry, and pear. They are currently not much more than glorified twigs, but I can imagine them 5 years from now.. full of blossoms, and then later full of fruit. We also planted 21 lilac shoots, in the hopes that some of them will survive and provide a beautiful perfume to our walks.

So where is all this headed? What does it have to do with my art practice? It’s an admittedly ambitious long-range project: a multi-year, multi-acre, collaborative immersive art installation. I’m planning the garden as I want to be able to photograph it over the years to come. To create art as a landscape, and as a physical space to occupy and embody. To invite others to come spend time in it, creating community along with the garden. We envision hosting small artist residencies, where artists of all kinds from around the world will be able to sink into this magical landscape and be inspired. And we are currently working on a sleepover immersive art installation (in a tiny vintage camper trailer!), with the hope that it will be up and listed on AirBnB by late spring of 2023. I’m so excited. It’s going to be amazing.

Stay tuned..!