The Art & Craft of Nests
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The Art & Craft of Nests explores the tenacity, determination, skill and ingenuity of birds to craft and curate.
For centuries, the strength, fragility and resilience of birds has captured our collective imagination. They play a central symbolic role in our mythology, religion and folklore and have inspired our desire to fly - from science to poetry, art and music. Yet could birds have inspired the origins of our art and textile crafts?
Artist Zora Verona emulates a birds methodology in collecting nesting materials by foraging locally for fauna, flora and found objects, re-envisioning nests that are held in natural history collections around the world. This exhibition of sustainable contemporary art works explores the complexity of nest forms honouring birds as artist and architect.
Birds inhabit the globe and their history of textile use and technique mirrors the diversity of the cultures with which they coincide and intersect. They weave, felt, stitch and sculpt their nests using only beak and breast, yet from splitting, stripping and shaping, to coiling and random weave, these techniques are all echoed in human crafting tradition.
From scientific discoveries to theories proposing the origins of art and craft traditions, the unique stories revealed with each nest, the bird that created it, and the techniques used, are an invitation to awaken an understanding that every bird species is worthy of our wonder, awe and most importantly our protection. This event is part of Craft Contemporary 2022 and is exhibited in a space managed by the City of Melbourne.