Bewildered in the Wilderness

 The Map

The Forest of Kisses

The Entrance

The signpost: "UNscientific research area"

The Thread Trail

 

House of Wild Wood Woman and the two forest attendants

Entrance sticker: "Totally dazed in the plantation"

A forest feast in the alder wood and a chat about our different perceptions of nature

Early spring Wild Wood Woman went east to Rø Plantation, Bornholm, Denmark to host and guide a special trip in collaboration with Danish Nature Agency and NaturBornholm.
Reversing the letters in "Rø", they become "øR", which means bewildered, dazed and confused. The audience was welcomed in the woody VIP lounge by a doormat and two forest attendants handing out entrance stickers.
After a short stroll through The Forest of Kisses the trip continued outside the forest trails following a pink thread for approximately 1½ km. Inspired by Troy labyrinths and the name of Rø the trip went round and round, in and out, up and down, crossing and re-crossing in an attempt to find anOTHER way of perceiving the forest.
Finally House of Wild Wood Woman hosted an end-of-trip celebration in a delightful little alderwood situated in a glade inside a pine forest.
What a plantation! Surely forests ARE made of DREAMS!

Unchopping a Tree

My way of unchopping a tree.....to be continued.........

See also W.S. Merwin's story and Maya Lin's video.

LandScapes, MindScapes, DreamScapes?

Bretaye, Switzerland

Villars, Switzerland

Lake near Havhult, Sweden

Mount Huangshan, China

Hongcun Village, China

New York area, USA

ForesTREEtArt

I went for a walk in my local forest and found many strange signs:

Was it graffiti, forest rangers' marks or simply trees ready for celebrating this months Festival of Trees?

In any case I call it ForesTREEtArt.

I come from (Teddy) Bear Land

I might dress dangerously, but I cannot run away from the fact that I come from Teddy Bear Land and not Bear Land.
My perception of nature is coloured by growing up in a country where the  most dangerous animal is a tick.
I would love to go to Bear Land one day, but I am not sure whether I can get a VISA - bears don't like humans - with good reason!
NB! Where do you come from?

Sense the Sighs!

Not tired

not dead

not drunk

but trying to

sense

the wind

that once

whispered

through the tree tops

The Abject (Christmas Tree)

Every year around this time I have the opportunity to study numerous variations on the topic of The Abject.

The concept of the abject is developed by the Bulgarian/French feminist and philospher Julia Kristeva whom I find fascinating but cumbersome to dance around the Christmas Tree with.

However, I think I grasped this much:

The abject is placed outside of the available categories of definition and exists as

an intermediate state

 between the concept of an object and the concept of the subject,

something alive yet not.

The object is situated outside the symbolic order from where it threatens the order and augurs the end of meaning

and at the end of (the) day(s):

death.

Face it or photograph it!

1. 1. 11.

On the first day of the year, the sky is gloriously fresh and spring mists hang in the air. It’s quite special and delightful the way people everywhere have taken particular care over their clothing and makeup, and go about exchanging New Year felicitations.
Somehow I feel these words are mine (as much great art do), yet they are more than 1000 years old, belong to Sei Shoonagon and are originally written in Japanese.
I am reading The Pillow Book and find great inspiration - the apparent random mix of nature descriptions, diary entries, character sketches, lists of awkward things and anecdotes come forward as being very post-post-modern indeed!
My N.Y. resolution 1. 1. 2011 is to make 'a mossy' version of a pillow book - inspired by journeys off the beaten path.
Happy Now!

Baby It's Cold Outside

 Baby, it's co*LD* outside!

 Far too* cold to put up a tent.

   Stiff, blue fingers are not suitable for tying knots.

Let's

go
 INDOOR

celebrating
sOlstice
and
finding
 recipes for making yourself a(t) home -

 it's time for mbaking

 a

Christmas Cookie Cabin

Happy X***

Recipe for making Yourself a(t) Home

Do you fancy a recipe for making yourself a(t) home!
Well, I don't have the exact recipe for YOU, but I am happy to disclose, how I did.
Last summer when I was reading Anne la Bastille,  I stumbled upon this statement about her tent: .....All my equipment has been tested, retested, simplified, and refined with every camping and backpacking trip....

I knew exactly, what she meant, having participated in numerous outdoor trips myself, but this time my mind turned round and came up with the idea: Why not make a tent that is the opposite of this: impractical, untested, in process and with a high ceiling? More feminie, more spiritual, more me!

I might have been influenced by the 15th century tapestry, from which I have painted a never finished transposition for my dining room.
Nevertheless, this is how I did: First I walked around in circles trying to sense the dimensions of my personal space; then I put in the dimensions in the equations for making an octagonal tent.
From then on everything has been a journey.
I am the happy owner of a homemade home, a House of WildWood-Woman and my own travelling museum and gallery all in ONE.

DIY!!!

A Girl with a Gun and a Dream

I am a girl with a gun, but contrary to these ladies, I am not much of a good shot.

I load my (plastic) rifle with rowan berries and dreams -

and who knows -

some day I might harvest my own bullets in a FOREST of fulfilled dreams

:-)