(These flags are installed on the north side of the Heritage Orchard)Cultivate By Nicole Dextras
Biography:
Nicole Dextras is a graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art in Vancouver, BC Canada, where she has been a sessional teacher at ECI for the past 8 years. She has created ephemeral art installations in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. This summer, her sculpture Shelter from the Storm will be on view at the Sculpted Green Exhibit in Bellevue WA, while photographs of her ice installations: Palimpsest, will be exhibited at 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland OR. Dextras will also be creating new eco-artwork for the VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver until the fall. Her artwork has been featured in Canadian and American publications and she has been the recipient of national and provincial grants. Upcoming projects include ice installations at the Klondike Institute of Art in the Yukon and with Galerie FMR in Montreal, Quebec. Dextras’ environmental art focuses on the ephemeral aspects of nature and her practice follows the seasons, with ice in the winter and organic materials in the summer.
Artist Statement:
This project was realized during an art residency in Connecticut, where the country side is strewn with old rock fences. Many of these go back to the early settler’s first cultivation of the land. The installation consisted of letter forms that were filled with soil and planted with grass seed and then left to grow. I then created other words with the letters from Cultivate and placed them in various locations. This work reflects on man’s false assumption that he can dominate and control nature. Today we are faced with whole generations who grew up on this false premise and are so disconnected to nature that they do not realize even where their food comes from. The UBC farm is a vital part of our urban landscape as it helps reconnect us to nature’s cycles and reminds us that at the end of the day, nature always has the final word.
Copywright 2008, Nicole Dextras
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