September 04, 2015 – October 31, 2015

Silva Part I: O Horizon

Artist Multiple artists

Organized by The Nanaimo Art Gallery

Duane Linklater, Blueberries for 12 vessels, 2012–ongoing. Courtesy of the artist and Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver. 

This fall Nanaimo Art Gallery presents Silva, a contemporary art project that follows a thematic path from the microcosms of the forest floor, to the quantifying and processing of lumber, to the global distribution of forestry products. Silva consists of two exhibitions (O Horizon and Booming Grounds), a publication (The Mill), and a series of public events including artist talks, tours, readings, and performances.

O Horizon is titled after the scientific name for the forest floor. This top layer of soil is made of decomposing organic matter and forms the life support system for trees, sprouting plants, fungi, and countless small animals.

Through sculptural installation and poetry, the artists in O Horizon reflect on the powerful roles language and culture play in the ways that we understand the natural environment. In the exhibition, materials are quietly alive: blueberry bushes grow near a poem that rests on a podium made of Vancouver Island hemlock, waiting to be read. Black elastic cords intricately threaded through the walls vibrate with physical tension. Elsewhere in the gallery new works made from organic matter respond to our local ecosystem.

Before his recent passing, beloved Nanaimo poet and artist Peter Culley was scheduled to read as part of the public programming for O Horizon. In lieu of this, his poem Fruit Dots will be present in the gallery and read aloud each day at the solar noon.

Curated by Jesse Birch

We are grateful for the generous contributions of Marlene Russo, Lawyer and Mediator, Malaspina Printmakers, the City of Nanaimo’s Culture and Heritage Department, Nanaimo Daily News, and the Ecoforestry Institute.