| |
Dancing Wych Hazel Series
Dancing Wych Hazel
This group of paintings circle around a uniquely looking bush I had found in a secret garden above Inverness on Point Reyes in 2020. Three years later, during my residency at Montalvo I had an early morning sighting of yet another Wych Hazel … dancing in a clearing in misty sun light. The bush was bend and worn - all elbows and knees - so full of life and resilient energy that it inspired me to translate my vision into drawings, experimental film footage, a handmade book and finally paintings.
(The Wych Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana, Zaubernuss) is a native to North America with a rich cultural and botanical history. For centuries the plant has been used by indigenous people as well as the European settlers for not only its medicinal properties, but for cleansing rituals, dowsing and shamanic practices. The Wych Hazel is one of the few plants that flower during fall and winter when most plants are dormant and thus provides pollen for insects which are active during the colder seasons.)
Christel Dillbohner, Berkeley, CA, 2023
|
|