REMEMBERING THE FOREST

REMEMBERING THE FOREST
From the cave walls we have come to the canvas, but in this journey many of us have forgotten how to create from the abundance that Nature provides; how we first began. ‘Remembering the Forest’ is an unusual art offering -in its tones and colours, its content, its variety and its soul. When an artist looks at the forest and land searching for colours and brushes to paint her canvas, she forges a deeper connect; she grows new eyes and her hands move in unseen ways, while inside, something comes alive. The art that Nature creates is the art our minds absorb and reflect. When we see, we are touched and transformed by the magic of the fallen autumn leaf caught in the spider’s web, the butterfly’s blue wing against the yellow petals, the dewdrop shimmer held by the new leaf.
The practice of natural art is slow and unpredictable. It invites curiosity, experimentation and surrender; a different way of living, observing, co-creating and receiving grace. The muted colours used here are natural pigment paints derived from rocks, earth, ash, pollen and other organic matter; the art implements/brushes are sourced from the forest, and the plant-based dyes of black, ochre, green, pink and brown hues infuse the botanical prints and shibori on calico. The only purchased materials used in producing these artworks are paper and natural cotton fabric.The practice of natural art is slow and unpredictable. It invites curiosity, experimentation and surrender; a different way of living, observing, co-creating and receiving grace. The muted colours used here are natural pigment paints derived from rocks, earth, ash, pollen and other organic matter; the art implements/brushes are sourced from the forest, and the plant-based dyes of black, ochre, green, pink and brown hues infuse the botanical prints and shibori on calico. The only purchased materials used in producing these artworks are paper and natural cotton fabric.

The art exhibits are a selection from some of the work produced by 16 women artists during the residential Natural Art Courses held by the Mountainwind (MW) Himalayan Ecoversity located in Bhuira village of Himachal Pradesh in 2024-25. These Courses were facilitated by Bettina (Bina) Van Haeften, a Wild Art artist from Australia, who is a part of the MW faculty. The MW Ecoversity offers 3 different kinds of Natural Art Courses - wild art, botanical printing and eco-dyeing with Shibori techniques. In these Courses, the participant artists learn how to make natural dyes and identify, collect, and make their own natural paints or pigments and implements from stone, earth, wood fire ash, dried bark and other organic matter.