My first project: East/West Fir
This project was conceived in Canada and then adapted to the Mongolian landscape. It consists of three rings, which represent the diameter of old growth Douglas Firs. The smallest ring represents the size of Douglas Firs today and the second and third outer rings serve as a reminder of the giant forests, which were logged a hundred and fifty years ago when the white man first set eyes on the shores of Vancouver. By contrast the smaller the Siberian Fir tree native to Mongolia is symbolized by a series of circular felt pieces in the center. My aim with this work is to speak to the long-term effects of industrial logging. Even though this area of the Northern Gobi is a natural desert, it serves as an example of the erosion and eventual desertification of soil caused by clear-cut logging.
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- East/West Fir The circles were made with rocks. I was helped by all the artists as an exchange for helping them with the English translation of their texts for the catalogue. I was elected the native English speaker as most other artists were not that familiar with English. Because of this i was only able to install my piece one day before leaving and so everyone chipped in to help me.
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- east/west fir detail the inner circle is made of felt that has been dyed black. The middle circle has been racked to create circular lines resembling tree rings. The outer ring is filled with grass as an offering to the goats and also as a positive sign of the landscape re-balancing itself.
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- felt detail The felt made from sheep’s wool, is very coarse, .
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- Making Dye I used a small wood stove and a metal bucket to heat up the dye mixture. Then i immersed the pieces of felt individually.
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- cutting the felt The felt was very thick in parts and we used a blade knife and then scissors to cut out the circles.
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- cutting detail This photo shows the thickness of the felt.
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- Negative Space As soon as i started cutting the circles out of the felt i realized that the resulting negative space was very interesting. This became another piece in itself.
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- fibre detail The wool in the felt is very loose in the sense that you can pick out strands from the surface but the felt itself is very dense and cannot be torn apart and is very strong.
