Eden Unearthed Preview Peak

It’s so exciting to see some sneak peaks from artists as they create their works for Eden Unearthed 2022.

During our Daffodil Day activities we had two artists come and start on their works.  Ro Murray and Mandy Burgess have been wrapping branches with love and yellow bandages to create their Bouquet for Anne and visited Eden Gardens for a performance prelude piece as they worked on some of the bushfire damaged stems.  Another artist taking learnings from the bush fires of 2019 is Aaron Marsden.  He visited Eden Gardens and is seen here with a model of his work Regenerate explaining it to Eden Gardens owner and philanthropist Simon Ainsworth.

Andy Totman has also been inspired by the garden, and his work Garden Treasures in well underway. Andy is not only creating this work but will also be running a printing workshop at Eden, which we are thrilled about.

Jan Cleveringa has been Listening to Trees again and is outside under the canopies creating these works in collaboration with the trees themselves.  Another artist who has immersed herself with nature is Clare James.  She has been using plants from her garden to create a flowery masterpiece called I Made This For You from natural inks and dyes. This full-scale piece will be hung in the garden and gradually decay, returning once again to the garden from which it sprung.

Alison Thompson is saying Thankyou! to the earth for caring; the flowers for calm, the air we breathe and for the sense of wellbeing it fosters.  She is seen here with a bunch of Billy Buttons she has made from pompoms and passion.  Can’t wait to see the rest of the bunch come together. 

Local artist Basilios Papaioannou popped into Eden Gardens with some of his incredible Ibis installation.  Known affectionately as ‘bin chickens’ these birds are made from rubbish: recycled coat hangers, piano components and other bibs and bobs.  These will ultimately end up placed down in the garden along the creek in there ‘natural habitat’, but a few are pictured here with Basilios, who will also be creating another work titled Butterfly Banquet located on the corner of Lane Cove Road and the M2, like his previous dragonfly and cicada installations.

We are also thrilled to have the opportunity to display a new work by Nicole De Mestre called Stem the Tide.  This examination of plant stems under the microscope has been crafted from flotsam and other debris Nicole gathers and will be displayed vertically in a giant grid on the wall.  Nicole will be running mini basket making workshops for Eden Unearthed too.

Of course, there are 35 installations in this coming exhibition, and these are just a few of the ideas as they evolve.

To book your ticket to the launch with Costa Georgiadis (on October 30), or to any of the workshops, head to Eden Unearthed– Eden Gardens. Tickets start at $20 and include drinks and nibbles.  The exhibition itself runs for 6 months from November 1 and is free.

Stem the Tide WIP 2022, by Nicole De Mestre

 I Made This For You WIP 2022, by Clare James