White Rabbit Arts Festival – one artists experience + photos

August 15th marked a new event on Nova Scotia’s art calendar – in Upper Economy on the Bay of Fundy, the 70 acre farm Red Clay invited audiences to go down the rabbit hole and experience wondrous installations and performances happening in the vast domain’s ponds, streams, orchards, fields and forest.

The festival was organized as part retreat, part residency for 15 invited artists who camped on-site for one week, participating in skill sharing activities, group performances, radio shows, workshops, lectures, hikes and much more. Each artist picked a site on the property to explore ideas and create artworks that were then presented during the festival.

Fest night included Pamela G. Parker (New York) and artist\organizer Janna Graham’s “Jump!” a 4-channel audio-video piece around a pond where viewers were invited to spontaneously strip and jump in the water, as well as pond performances and installations by White Feather (NB). There was also a giant “Swing” over a pond made with carefully rearranged trees by artist Tom Young, also one of the organizers. Other works included Toronto artist Keith W. Bentley’s “Shrouded Tree”, a tree covered in black for mourning; and Emily Jones’ “Home to Stay”, a secret twisting maze of a path in the woods that freaked out many a visitor, including myself during my nocturnal trek.

Artist Rachel Ni Chuinn (Ireland) took audiences on a sound walk through the woods and Cerrucha projected movement onto the landscape. Geoff Tanner contrasted nature with city in 25 little boxes cut into the ground, while John Marshall (N.B.) installed a hidden miniature fisherman’s village on a stream bank complete with its own church, and Michael Waterman (ONT) presented “5 Moons”, an eerie forest installation featuring moving lights and sliding sound pitches triggered by motion sensors. Various bands got everyone moving throughout the day including Construction and Destruction and AV. Also notable was a fire spectacle in which 6 tall scarecrows burst into flames, and popped up suddenly with fireworks filling the sky.

As a participating artist, I was excited to see what happens when you ditch the studio and gallery for the forest to make environmentally themed art. My resulting work “Fallings” was a commemoration to the birds that have been suddenly dropping from the sky due to pesticides and pollution in many cities around the world. The installation – a path and archway leading to a sanctuary-like clearing, and hanging bird effigies – was entirely made with the elements with which birds build their nests. On fest night, it was transformed into a performance involving a torch-lit audience-wide procession into the forest to collect the birds, and then a ritual burning in a bonfire.

I miss the pond-bathing, the red mud, the awesome artists, the organic food, the raccoons and the wine tree. I hope these rabbits hop to making another amazing festival next year.

www.whiterabbitarts.ca