Trees, Shrubs and Lianes of Southern Rhodesia - From Lesley Magwood Fraser

[cheryl penn]

There's all sorts of jargon that that only those in the know know - right? 

Ficus Burkei Miq, Natalensis Hechst. Lycium Persum. The good news - they all grow in Selinda and Umtali and Chirinda. Hope that helps????

Seriously - Les has created her own FAB botanical book, published by the author - herself truly - and I am really pleased to have a piece. :-)

Les just said her mojo is back - thats EXCELLENT news - but I would not even have guessed it had left!!! Thanks my friend :-) X

[Lesley Magwood Fraser]

Wow Thom, I find it quite astounding what other people see in my work that I had not even thought about, but thankyou, I am having another look at the work with your thoughts in mind. I grew up in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) so the names and places are all so familiar to me, but I understand when Marie says she thinks it is exotic. As a kid they were just trees to me.....now that I am all grown up I wish I had taken more notice.

[cheryl penn]

Thom Thom Drums - wonderful :-) - for some reason you make me think of the Life of the White Ant by

Maurice Maeterlinck...

[Thom Courcelle]

You’ve probably already had such discussions with others on the topic, and I apologize for any duplication of ideas… interesting to contemplate the “layers” of representation in something like Lesley’s field book or botanical guide.  There is the theory that art is always representational, that it’s never NOT representational.  These astounding sketches-cum-collages, though, are from the perspective of the ocular observer.  One wonders what the botanical species intended to be interpreted as, or how they wished to be represented.  Do they have the conscience to care other than as sufficiently scented so that the bees are drawn near… or sufficiently threatening with thorns to dissuade predators?  I love how Lesley finds a representation of her subject, and then allows us to find representation in her representation… I love the expanding perspectives of what the trees, shrubs, and lianes of her experience can be for other secondary viewers… like me half way around the globe from that area.  A complex biological organism living a non-mobile and “simple” life based on needs of water, soil nutrients, weather, and evasion of predators; becomes a scientific figure study for a [fabulous] artist; becomes a subject of curiosity/contemplation for the ocular admirer; and is transformed/reverted to the “simple” concept of “beautiful” in our excessively complex biological brains.

 

But at what crossroads in that journey does the representation have a different story or life?  If Lesley weren’t Lesley, but a biology student trying to find a cure for blight,..  Or if Lesley had drawn her picture from a slightly different angle of her representational choosing…   Or if Lesley were a corporation detailing the invasive plants that needed to be bulldozed in order to build another mega-mart… never the same words or notion, really, anywhere along the journey.  But all of it, regardless, holds some inspiration, some next-thought-catalyst for each person who is confronted by it.  THAT’S what I think SH talks about with his “hive mentality” and sharing ideas [online].  It’s more piling all those inspirations on top of one-another in a common locale—a sort of compendium, hyper-overload of those inspirations that many people often feel pushes our mental inspiration to new heights and new progressivism. (He might inform me of my misperception on that...)

 

Then there are other folks (like me) who are happy to arrest my ocular observations at a single representational thought and let it rattle around blossoming in the meager pot of brain soil in my own head.  I’m not sure what’s more Zen—being able to absorb all that hive inspiration and still find a single defining purview; or letting a single concept of beauty overwhelm one’s being and accept the world-view change that encompasses the simple act.  I think both have merits.

 

And that's what our simple act of art, I suppose, is supposed to do: represent our inspired "incomprehensible words." 

Sometimes I talk too much.  Sorry for the brain-vomit here.  See all the inspiration you create, Lesley???!!!

[cheryl penn]

Hey Thom - yes, its a beauty for sure.  Was thinking (bearing in mind some of the other things you've written)  that each 'trade' has its own set of incomprehensible words - quite an interesting notion :-)  X

[Thom Courcelle]

Neat-o!  Loving the look of that...

[Lesley Magwood Fraser]

From one wild colonial gal to another! Thanks for blogging Cheryl. :))

[Marie Wintzer]

A home made botanical bookie with her own drawings and text! Wow! And how exotic... That's mojo alright!