2017

We move forward from two successful exhibitions in 2016 in Prague and in the USA to the challenge of an exhibition in the Netherlands in the Autumn. We continue to work on A2 sized pieces in portrait format and will be producing four pieces over the year with the theme of 'Freedom'. An essential part of our art is working in series to a common format which does give us all a framework for our creative endeavours.

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Gaia's Blessings - Taiwan





I neglected to post a photograph of my quilt for the Taiwan show.  Here is the photograph together with my artist's statement about the piece.




          My quilt, “Gaia’s Blessings”, was inspired by the Gaia Theory (or Gaia Hypothesis), which was formulated by the chemist James Lovelock and co-developed by the microbiologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970’s.  The Gaia Theory proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet.  The theory suggests that organisms co-evolve with their environment.  In some versions of Gaia philosophy, all life forms are considered part of one single living planetary being called Gaia.  In this view, the atmosphere, the seas, and the terrestrial crust would be results of interventions carried out by Gaia through the co-evolving diversity of living organisms. 



Lovelock believed that the increase in human population and the environmental impact of their activities, such as the multiplication of greenhouse gases may cause negative feedbacks in the environment and that this could bring an extremely accelerated global warming.  He and Andrew Watson developed the mathematical model “Daisyworld” in which temperature regulation arises from a simple ecosystem consisting of two species whose activity varies in response to the planet’s environment.  “Daisyworld” examines the energy budget of a planet populated by two different types of plants:  black daisies and white daisies.  The color of the daisies influences the reflection of light by the planet such that black daisies absorb light and warm the planet, while white daisies reflect light and cool the planet.  On “Daisyworld” competition between the daisies (based on the effects of temperature on growth rates) leads to a shifting balance of daisy populations that tends to favor a planetary temperature close to the optimum for daisy growth.



          Look around the next time you take a walk in nature.  Do you notice an abundance of white flowers?  

Frances

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