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Grounded
photo fiber art by Elia Woods
May 2 - 30, 2008
Merging environmentalism,
photography and fiber art, Elia Woods’ exhibit Grounded
begins May 2, at the Individual Artists of Oklahoma gallery.
The exhibition centers around Walking Home, an
installation artwork composed of panels of translucent silk
fabric, digitally printed with images from the artist’s own
garden. Visitors can walk through the installation, taking in
the views on the panels which shift and blend depending on one’s
viewpoint.
 Also
included are a series of photo art quilts entitled Vegetable
Prayers, which pay visual homage to the diversity and
splendor of ordinary vegetables. Woods’ three dimensional
photo/fiber constructions are also featured in this exhibit,
including her latest, entitled Kindred, shown here.
Woods combines
digital printing, photo heat transfer, hand dyeing, and machine
and hand quilting. Her art has been included in state and
national exhibits, including Fiber National 2007 and Quilt
Visions 2006.
In a savory
synergy with the exhibit, the reception on Saturday, May 17,
will feature appetizers that highlight the taste and beauty of
locally grown foods.
IAO hours are Thursdays and
Saturdays, noon to 5:30 pm, and Fridays noon to 8 pm. |
What Can Happen When You Plant a Seed?
Living Art Environment
Central Park Community
Garden
Ten
years ago, Elia Woods co-founded the Central Park Community
Garden in Oklahoma City. The small team of committed volunteers
turned a trashy, abandoned, chlordane-contaminated site into a
healthy community garden with vegetable beds, fruit trees and
wildflowers. Last year, Woods began to dream of transforming one
area of the community garden into an ongoing art process, with
plants as the medium and people as participants rather than just
viewers. A collaborative process emerged involving children and
adults from the neighborhood and students from the local high
school.
Elements of the living art environment include a spiral
wildflower path, earth chairs formed from leftover sod, a living
willow cove, a human sundial, a visitor-friendly worm bed, and
an herbal “smelly path.”
The Living Art celebration on
Saturday, May 24 will include A Taste of Gardening free
workshop from 4-6 pm, followed by food, garden tours, “meet the
worms” program and kids activities from 6-9 pm. More information
may be found at the online journal,
www.centralparkcommunitygarden.org. |
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Grounded
Artist Statement - Elia
Woods
I am an artist, a gardener, and a
neighborhood activist. Working with the soil and the life
cycles of plants grounds me. Community, sustainability, real
food, and spiritual sustenance are central themes in my art and
my life. My own gardens and neighborhood provide me with the
imagery to explore these themes. My primary medium is
photography on cloth.
The connection between what we
eat and how it is grown has profound implications for us as
individuals and for our planet. I believe that cultivating our
connection with the living world is vital in changing our
current dangerous course of environmental destruction. My art is
a form of conversation celebrating our
sources of sustenance and the sacred
trust we have with the natural world.
Walking Home
Elia Woods
Many years ago, I worked at a
natural foods store. One spring day, a customer wanted to buy
some of the herb seedlings we had for sale outside. Most of them
were unlabeled, and I had to admit that I didn’t know which was
which; they all just looked like a bunch of little green things
to me. A regular customer, Jeff, happened to be in the store at
the time. He walked outside with me and began to point out
characteristics of each plant. “Look at the shape of the leaves
on this one; see how the edges are serrated. And look at these
leaves, how fuzzy they are. Now this plant here has a square
stem, and this one has leaves that alternate at the stem. See
how this plant grows straight up, and this one branches out from
the base.” And so I began to learn how to see what was in front
of my eyes.
Growing a plant out from seed to
harvest each year gives me a chance to really get to know it.
Photographing plants, especially in close detail, is another way
of deepening my knowledge and appreciation.
In my art, I am not trying to
recreate the outside world. Best to just go outside for that. I
am inviting viewers to take a closer look at the vegetables,
fruits and herbs that sustain us, and to which we often don’t
pay much attention. Gaining a new friend, or getting to know an
old one better, is a pleasure and a gift. This growing intimacy
can give us a sense of gratitude and of belonging in this world;
of coming home. |
