Fence

The first stage of the fence protection system is up. We now need to decide on whether to paint the exposed fence before we begin the planting along the fence line. Overtime the plan is that the plants will use the fence sculpture as a support to grow up, so adding a further barrier to stop the graffiti vandalism. Also if we can raise further funds we will begin adding more sculptural elements to the fence reflecting the biodiversity of the region.

Resonating Bodies

"Resonating Bodies” is a series of integrated media installations, community outreach projects and educational initiatives which focuses on biodiversity of pollinators indigenous to the natural and urban ecosystems of Canada, with special focus on the city Toronto.
From their blog . Lots of interesting information and ideas.

Pestival

From the Pestival website

Pestival is a mobile arts festival examining insect-human interactivity in bioscience, through paradigms of contemporary art, cinema, music and comedy as well as direct scientific demonstration and educational projects.

Pestival brings together eminent international artists and scientists, along with local and global communities, to collaborate on cutting-edge interdisciplinary art projects, placing the natural world under the microscope in order to further public understanding of our place within the biosphere.

Visit their website for loads more information, videos etc. about Pestival. One day we may have an exciting event like Pestival?

Fences

I have been working on designs and ideas for work to go on the fences over the last couple of months. The ideas have  developed from work with students at Dargaville High School. We have been looking at the area and comparing it with a healthy ecosystem at Waipoua Forest. Using this as a starting point we are looking at ways to improve the areas biodiversity along with protecting the fences from graffiti vandalism.

Ideas so far include making insect hotels, encouraging birds and providing birdhouses and developing an extensive planting plan. The ideas to protect the fences have come from looking at the natural defence system of insects, birds and plants. The fence defence system design will be completed after we have done a detailed survey of the area. I am in the process of trying to find someone who can come and help us photograph what we find, including some of the microscopic soil and water creatures. We shall then use these images to make the finished designs.


The images below are some artist impressions of the above ideas.