Antikmarkt in Bamberg: Ein zelebrierter Bummeltag, in dem die ganze Stadt mit Antiquitäten aller Art gefüllt ist, und alles von Trödel bis zu echten Kunstschätzen zu finden ist. Dieses Jahr besonders schön im noch fast spätsommerlichen Sonnenschein.
Thoughts about Lichens
Today, I’m reading about lichens. How they cover as much as 8% of the earth’s surface (more than is covered by tropical rain-forests), how they are ancient composite organisms made up of fungi, algae and cyanobacteria, how they can exist in the extremest conditions. Merlin Sheldrake calls them “small worlds” in his book Entagled Life - How fungi make our worlds, change our minds, and shape our futures. “Lichens are places where an organism unravels into an ecosystem and where an ecosystem congeals into an organism.”
I’m very interested in this miracle of symbiosis and collaboration, not to metion the aesthetic versatility they display. On my recent travels to South Africa, I encountered them everywhere - pink lichen growing directly on the red hard earth in the Cederberg mountain range, bright yellowish-green ones on coastal rocks, exposed to sun and Atlantic sea-spray and salt. What happens when mosses and lichen are neighbours?
I’m thinking about how to build an impression of organisms-growing-on-other-organisms in my work, how I can play with these soft-hard surfaces, how I can use these textures, colours to create a sense of encrustation, composite beings, colonies (as you can see in my recent experiments below).
My 40 Day Autumn Challenge: 29.09.2023-07.11.2023
These images and thoughts below are fragmentory on purpose; they are intended to capture different snapshots of this season, being edited and expanded with each passing day.
Meadows. Currently one of my biggest joys: exploring the meadows that slope around the Altenburg hill above Bamberg, spending time in that infinite and ever-changing ecosystem, bending down and looking at life up close, moving between grassland and hedges teeming with insects, wildflowers, birds, rosehips, berries. Every season paints these hills in new colours. Right now, a large variety of pale pinks and bluish purples are complemented with creamy white dabs of Queen Anne’s lace flotsam. The meadowflowers’ evocative German names are like poetry; Wiesenflockenblume, Herbstzeitlose, Wiesenschaumkraut, Gamander-Ehrenpreis, Schafgarbe …
Read MoreGOLDEN HARVEST - OR MY 40 DAY AUTUMN CHALLENGE
So, I am embarking on an #autumnchallenge for myself. Here is an experiment: For the next 40 days, or until this year’s autumn craft show season starts on the 9th of November, I want to create and post something new every day. A thought, a photograph of my autumn meanderings, a snapshot of my jewellery bench, or a drawing.I will not post these daily snippets on any social media platforms I don’t own, but rather on this blog.
Read More