On most days VanDusen Botanical Garden is known as a lush and calm oasis, but lately its tranquility has been interrupted by chainsaws and hammering all in the name of art.
But what looks and sounds like a construction project at the Vancouver attraction is actually the creation of Earth art. Environmental artists like Chris Booth are using the garden as both their palette and their canvas.
"It's all about trying to make a piece of work that's relevant to the site and relevant to the nature around it, using natural materials,” Booth said.
Booth, who is from New Zealand, has been an Earth artist for 40 years. He’s taking the opportunity to build an extremely creative display.
"We've propped these magnificent rocks up in two concentric circles. A bit like petals of a flower,” he said describing his work.
"And we've just piled in 18 cubic metres of cut wood, all the way around, between all the stones to keep them in their vertical way."
The stones were ones left over after the construction of the seawall.
The art is designed to keep changing over time.
"As it breaks down, these stones start to open up very, very slowly, like the petals of a flower,” Booth said.
Vancouver’s Nicole Dextras wanted to create what she calls “an army of green dresses.” In total, she put together 28 made-to-measure gowns with leaves, flowers and branches.
"The basic design of the dress is based on the iconic little black shift dress,” she said. "I decided that every woman (should) have something in their closet that's made sustainably, that’s actually green.”
"The fact that it's not going to last for very long is also a comment on the fashion industry. How it recycles itself all the time, but we have to consume more all the time,” she said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Aamer Haleem
