Snow Drawing on Cottonwood at the Helen Schuler Nature Centre

I went down to the Helen Schuler Nature Centre in Lethbridge Alberta and found this dead cottonwood that would work well for an intervention. It was minus 12 degrees celsius. Snow began falling as I packed snow onto the surface of the tree. The snow was reluctant to stick but with some time I was able to get it to stay. The drawing process was an organic response to the limitations of the snow adhering to the tree and to line, form, context and space. The drawing evolved from simple lines and modular shapes that I refined with a stick to eventually become a connected form.

Nuna

The word Nuna is a native name for a woman that means land. I am not certain what tribe or nation this First Nation name comes from, but I thought it suited the work since the First Nations have occupied this land for thousands of years and the work itself is of a woman that is made from the land. The face was sculpted using a garden hoe to carve into the clay embankment located in the coulees along the Oldman River in Lethbridge Alberta.