TREE TALES reflects individual responses to the contemporary condition of the natural world, especiallytrees and their ecosystems, and includes film, photographs, sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking and installation.
CURATED BY Bernadette Smith, Sue Stevens and Jan Garben
FEATURING WORKS BY Louise Nade, Louise Fowler-Smith, Jan Garben, Bernadette Smith, Sue Stevens, Zorica Purlija, Terhi Hakola, Kit Hoisington, Amanda Farquharson, Elizabeth Gervay, Jane Green, Danja Derkenne, Jade Gunn, Hobart Hughes, Jude Fowler-Smith, Penny Simons, Mark Elliot-Ranken, Marie Geissler
2 – 12 NOVEMBER 2023 OPENING: 6 – 8 pm Wednesday 1 November CHRISSIE COTTER GALLERY: 31a Pidcock Street Camperdown GALLERY HOURS: 11am – 4pm, Thursday – Sunday
Members of TVS were excited to be invited to participate in a Temple Tree Day at the Nan Tien Temple, the largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere, on Saturday 7 October
As a way to celebrate the trees and bring out their beautiful forms, Kassandra painted their limbs and roots with turmeric. Turmeric is not harmful to the tree – on the contrary, it’s a natural fungicide and antimicrobial agent often used in horticultural practice to heal tree wounds.
About Turmeric – People of ancient India believed that turmeric contained the energy of the Divine Mother, helped to grant prosperity, cleanse the chakras (energy centers in the body), and purify the channels of the subtle body. Its antimicrobial and antifungal effects are world renowned in eastern and western medicine and horticulture.
Whether you’re a nature enthusiast, a garden lover, or simply looking to explore the Nan Tien Temple, this event offers a range of nature inspired activities and workshops that are fun for the whole family. Lots of free events for this tree – mendous day 🌳
Highlight: Buddhist Tree Blessing ceremony | Free to attend or you may wish pay $10 to receive your Buddhist blessed bottlebrush native seedling to take home to plant.
Program Details & Timetable
Nan Tien Temple has teamed up with the Tree Veneration Society artists to bring you Temple Tree Day. Immerse yourself in a day of tree celebration. Take time out to create a day for Buddhist practice to honour trees and your creative well-being at the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere. By taking home your Buddhist blessed tree to plant, together we will create a ‘Field of Commitment’, an interconnected expanded art practice originated from Emerita Professor Shelley Sacks, UK.
Details on the day
You will love this day if you are:
Nature lover, gardener, bee protector
Looking to learn more about Buddhism for daily practice
1. Buddhist Blessing Tree Ceremony – Main Shrine | Free – $10 | 🪴
Join us for a monastic-led short ceremony. Free to attend or pay $10 to receive a Buddhist blessed native tree seedling (bottle brush) to plant at home and has a yellow band symbolic of your commitment to nurture nature. Experience the expanded art practice called ‘field of committment
2. Tree Veneration Society Temple Garden Tour | Free | 45 min 🌳
Part storytelling, part performance, join this informative guided walking tour with professional artists and committed conservationists from the Tree Veneration Society. Sharing their expertise, you’ll discover the secrets behind the symbolism and significance of the designs within a Chinese Buddhist Garden.
3. Giant Bodhi Tree Chalk Mural | Free | Drop in 9am – 4pm 🎨
Work alongside artists from the Tree Veneration Society to help draw the giant mural of a Bodhi Tree. Perfect photo opportunity and great creative fun. Soft matts provided.
4. Tree Meditation | Free | 45 min 🧘🏽10am – 10.45 am
Tree Meditation is a profound practice that involves immersing yourself in the presence of trees to cultivate a deep connection with nature, the wisdom of trees and absorb their tranquil vibrations. A very grounding experience. Join us amongst the tranquil grove of trees and bird songs
5. Tree Creature Workshop + Listen to the recorded inner sounds of a Tree| Free | Drop in 9am – 2pm 🌱
Bind, weave and twine interesting tree elements to assemble imaginative creatures with Tree Veneration Society artist Amanda Farquharson. A workshop suited to all ages (< 12’s with parents). Listen the recording of the inside of trees with headphones.
6. Backyard Beekeeping with Rachel Peedom from BeeInspired | Free | Drop in 9am – 2pm 🐝
Take another step towards sustainability and help the natural world thrive. Planting trees helps our pollinators. Why not take the next step to becoming a backyard beekeeper. Highly educational and hands on, you will see inside the hive and learn loads more about this delicious hobby.
7. Mindful drawing classes with Kathy Karas | $10 | 11am – 11:45am 🖼️
Enjoy another form of meditation and experience the temple gardens in a new way. Take your pencil for a walk. You will learn new techniques and approaches to produce several sketches of the gardens. Experience the temple gardens in new ways.
8. Tai Chi | Free | Drop in 9.30-10.00am
Start the day with the gentle movements of Tai Chi, one of the most effective exercises for a healthy mind and body. Join the group at the Nan Tien Health & Wellbeing Markets, Nan Tien Institute side.
TVS Member Amanda Farquharson was invited to run one of her wonderful Tree Creature-making sessions over the weekend, as part of ‘Second Nature’, a Waverley Council sustainability initiative.
Members of the public swapped between Tree Planting and Tree Creature-making sessions, resulting in a hugely enjoyable day out, celebrating community, art and nature.
Through walking in nature, noting and gathering curious and interesting elements to selectively assemble, bind, weave and twine into sculptural works, so developing empathy & veneration for trees. Nature nurtures, as we contemplate our interconnection with nature.
With the latest round of UN climate talks wrapping up recently, it’s a good time to ask a fundamental question: Who are we, in relation to nature? What kinds of relationships bind us to other beings, like trees?
WRITERS ARE INVITED TO ENTERSTORIES (max 2500 words) inspired by the theme of Tree, along with at least one (1) copyright-free image that reflects and enhances that story.
Tree – tree of life, family tree, trees, tree network, tree diagram, decision tree.
Stories can be non-fiction, fiction, or fiction inspired by true events. All genres and styles welcome. Multiple entries also welcome.
