Nature-based art on display in Holden woods

HOLDEN – Artist Kris Sader of Orono invites the public to take a walk on the Ravine Trail at the Fields Pond Audubon Center to see her site-inspired, nature-based art, created in October. Her art will weather with the seasons as all things in the natural world do.

As Sader searched for inspiration over the last three years, she found that the needles of white pine, Maine’s state tree, create patterns as they fall from the trees and coat the ground. They hang in branches of other trees, catch in crevices in rocks, interlace with each other and line up along eddies of the brook. The tree branches of the cedars are very curved, in some cases forming half circles.

Sader created pieces of art in, and from, the forest at the Fields Pond Audubon Center. She interwove pine needles that fell from the trees in 2004 and 2005 with fresh green pine needles. This woven piece, strung between two trees, holds the passage of time – three years.

She wove little windows into it to symbolize the promise of future. The warp of the weaving is 100-percent cotton, so it will decompose like the natural material it holds together. Sader placed this piece so that it is lit up by rays of the morning sun.

Another mat was woven from twigs and hung from a tree across the brook, barely touching the water. When the water rose in one of October’s deluges, it tore the hanging mat away. Sader found the twigs and cotton thread downstream, a reminder of the enormous force of water around the world.

Sader also wove a round window into the forest. Branches of just the right curve, length, strength and flexibility created a type of tension scaffolding to weave other branches into. It creates a peaceful passageway for the eyes.

The piece was aligned with the sun going down over the knoll behind it to the west. It invites the viewer to look through to what it frames. The piece has the element of surprise, positioned so it can be seen along a number of places on the trail, but made of non-intrusive materials.

The pieces will be left to weather over the winter.

The Fields Pond Audubon Center is located at 216 Fields Pond Road, Holden. It is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays. To obtain more information, call 989-2591.