natura directus et delectabilis

click on any image to enlarge

small red roots & northern root quartet - mutlimedia wall sculpture by contemporary Native Canadian artist Jude Norris

The 'natura directus et delectabilis' series artworks feature materials gathered from nature and repositioned in fine art formations to create minimalist sculpture or installations. The series includes both freestanding & wall mounted pieces.

These pieces can be enjoyed on a purely visual level, and for the layers of meaning and symbolism they contain, and the cross-cultural navigation they embody.

Placing these natural materials in simple, repetitive patterns emphasizes and celebrates the beauty and grace of their forms. Giving these organic objects a concentrated attention through placements that borrow from Western minimalism expresses traditional Indigenous relationships with the natural world in a contemporary way that is both playful and reverent.

Another dialogue contained within the gathering and placement of these earth-produced objects. As with other series, these works also contain an awareness of historical Native American understanding of the artist as healer, and an exploration of how that role may or may not apply in contemporary society. The natural materials of the sculptures are 'medicine' (a First Nations term for something having power and/or healing qualities). The 'medicine' in these pieces is gathered and prepared for use just as traditional plant medicine and/or foods have been for thousands of years. Yet in a contemporary art environment, their medicine/potential shifts and changes, and in the process questions and re/positions the relationship of the artist within postmodern and postcolonial culture and communities.

In some of the root pieces, the narrative quality of the root is pushed further through their adornment in repeated, hand-written statements and/or affirmations. Similar to the antler series, these words follow the natural twists & contours of the root, collaborating their ‘environment’. In some of these pieces, well know quotes from masters of Western literature are used to draw connections to/with traditional Native teachings. The true root, for example, sports a Shakespearian line – ‘to thine own self be true’ which mirrors Native Elders’ teaching to always follow your heart.

Related artworks include:

antler series

seeds, stick & stone portraits

In the interest of protecting work in vulnerable stages of development, I now keep my newest pieces on a private page until they, and/or other closely related works, have been seen in public venues and/or by my peers in a public context, so that there is a public record of the production & timeline of signature elements and artworks in my practice.

To see new sculpture, interested curators, collectors or other arts professionals may contact me to request access to this webpage at Winter at Winter-Brown dot com.

Hiy hiy,
Pipon ᐱᐳᐣ