This is a close up photo of some lichen on a rock at the summit where we were enjoying our view. This type of lichen is called Xanthoria which is a type of leaf lichen. Xanthoria gets its nitrogen by growing where small animals and birds regularly excrete. That is why one often sees orange lichens on high points where hawks and eagles perch, on cliff walls below ledges where ravens have nested or anywhere wood rats or chipmunks scurry about the rock.

Lake Cairn

This cairn was built at an alpine lake on a hike up Barnaby ridge near Castle Mountain in Southern Alberta. The group I was with hiked up to the summit while I stayed at the lake and worked on this cairn. Thomas and Jessie made it back down the mountain before the others and were seeking shelter from the wind among the stumpy pine trees in the background.

Reach

This piece was done at Pavan Park in Lethbridge Alberta. When I first came upon this fallen tree I immediately wanted to sculpt a face on the branch of the tree which took the form of a person reaching and looking toward the sky. I used mud from a nearby beaver pond to sculpt the nose and lips beside the knot which looks like an eye. I initially did this work on an overcast day while working on the Pod sculpture below. I wanted to try to recreate this work with better lighting conditions and during this day the sun was in the west and there was a beautiful blue sky to work with.

Pod

Natalie Vandenberg helped to finish this work by rolling grasses into spheres which were then placed inside the Pod.

Pod

A stack of branches were collected and piled into and upward slope on a debris pile from a 2005 flood. I came back the next day and then formed the branches into a pod.

Contemplative Landscapes

Tipi Bundle

I found a nice pile of loose branches that had been deposited near this fallen tree from a previous flood. I like to choose sites like this because of the available materials.

Sounds of Silence

Connecting with the natural world around us allows us time to stop for a moment to reflect and listen. The forest seems silent at first but then as we listen deeper we start to notice sounds of movement and life. We begin to hear the sound of flowing water, singing birds and the movement of bushes from a small critter. We become more aware of what is around us because our senses are not overloaded with noise. We learn to simply appreciate the world around us such as the beauty of the sky, the trees, the water and the animals that inhabit the ecosystem. Out of our experience we can understand the importance of protecting our environment in hopes that future generations can enjoy the same experience. I think by connecting with nature we are connecting to something deep within us, a direct and tactile experience that cannot be provided by technology, media or television.

A New Exhibition at the Lethbridge Public Library

Yellow Field

I used clay collected from the river which was rubbed on the trees in
bands, then attached yellow leaves collected from the field below

Earth- Art- Walk

I will be hosting a slide presentation and working with interpreters to offer a guided walk at the Helen Schuler Nature Center on Sunday the 20th from 2pm to 3 pm. There will be a 15 minute slide presentation and a 45 minute walk through the park to view the site specific works created for the Earth- Art- Walk project.

Earth- Art- Walk

Earth- Art- Walk is a self-guided walking tour through the Helen Schuler Nature Center of site-specific environmental sculptures by local artist Troy Nickle. The numbers on the map correspond to the numbered works listed below.

This exhibition is part of the centennial celebrations for the Highlevel Bridge, but was conceived as an alternative context for the bridge, it’s history and it’s landscape. “Earth- Art- Walk” celebrates the landscape from which the bridge rises, and was created with a philosophy of natural harmony and environmental sensitivity.
This project wouldn’t be possible without the assistance and consent of the Helen Schuler Nature Center.
-Bowman Arts Centre, August, 2009

Artist Statement

Through creating ephemeral and figurative site-specific interventions I hope to explore a relationship to the land that reflects balance, harmony and impermanence. I find wider social relationships can be explored in contexts beyond the gallery walls. For me the landscape is part of the work and provides a greater environment in which to interpret its meaning. Through my work I try to bring a new awareness and expression to a place. I consider each intervention as a marker, which can become a point of interest along a traveled path or simply embrace the site. Much of my work exists temporarily, overtime the work eventually decays, erodes and falls back into the site from which it came. This is part of the overall process of the work, reflecting the impermanence of all living things in a natural cycle both of creation and eventual destruction. Usually the destruction of the material is only a transformation where the material then takes on a new life, providing nourishment for the soil or a habitat for a small creature.

1. Seed

Fallen branches collected and stacked.

2. Populus

Soil collected from ground and mixed with water to create mud which was rubbed on tree and sculpted into face

3. Resonate (before and after)

4. Untitled

Drawing made from charcoal collected from a fire pit.

Populus 2

river clay on cottonwood

6.Untitled

7. Untitled