LA CONNER, WA.- The Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA, presents Silva Cascadia: Under the Spell of the Forest starting as of today. This exhibition features paintings and sculptures by Northwest women artists inspired by forests and trees. From immersive environments to documentary portrayals, from lush expanses of innumerable, layered greens to individual black-and-white winter trees, each expression conveys the subtle, deep presence of these giant entities we often take for granted.

This exhibition addresses women’s critical role in shaping the discourse around artistic, political, and environmental action vis-a-vis the current ecological concerns for a viable future.

Guest curator Kathleen Garrett has put together an outstanding roster of artists: Maria Cristalli, Linda Davidson, Kathleen Faulkner, Patty Haller, Laura Hamje, Hart James, Claire Johnson, Donna Leavitt, Karen Lené Rudd, Juliet Shen, Kimberly Trowbridge, and Suze Woolf.

With themes ranging from philosophical contemplation and history to the impacts of climate change and deforestation in our region, Silva Cascadia: Under the Spell of the Forest promotes awareness and inspires conversations around the relationship between humans and nature.

The forest provides deep, sustained, and varied inspiration for these artists, who portray trees from perspectives including the aesthetic, forensic, metaphoric, and ecologic. While the assumption of interconnectedness and interdependence of trees in forests may have long been held, it wasn’t until the dedicated research and practice by a female scientist proved that forests are akin to families. “Mother trees” act as social beings that communicate with one another and provide sustenance and protection to surrounding smaller and younger trees.

Since her 1997 doctoral thesis in which forest ecologist Suzanne Simard identified and named the “wood-wide web,” she has expanded her research by conducting far-reaching, long-term fieldwork to empirically prove that trees communicate through subterranean networks of roots, fungi, and bacteria, and that trees are more cooperative than competitive with each other. In 2015, Simard founded The Mother Tree Project, which aims to identify and develop more resilient and diverse practices to ensure healthy future forests.

Is there a female sensibility, an artistic awareness that resonates with the “matriarchal” nature of woodlands? Under the spell of the forest, each artist in Silva Cascadia is attuned in her own unique way to trees, as evidenced by the range of scale, styles, and mediums on exhibit. Yet there is an essential, shared through line of nuance, gravitas, and attention—a quiet devotion to their subject that provides respite, awe, and inspiration to them and offers the same to us.

Silva Cascadia: Under the Spell of the Forest features two- and three-dimensional works by Northwest women artists inspired by forests and trees. From immersive environments to documentary portrayals, from lush expanses of innumerable, layered greens to individual black-and-white winter trees, each expression conveys the subtle, deep presence of these giant entities we often take for granted. With themes ranging from philosophical contemplation and history to the impacts of climate change and deforestation in our region and beyond, Silva Cascadia aims to provide contemplation, promote awareness, and inspire conversations.

At the Seam: The Museum of Northwest Art’s Permanent Collection is an ongoing engagement with the collection as the place of contact of the many artistic identities of the region. The exhibition asks to look not only at the individual works but also at the ‘seams,’ where works representing different artistic trends and cultural identities come in touch with each other. When they come in contact with each other, these works tell stories of coexistence, contrast, and difference within the social fabric of the Northwest region, past and present.

Museum of Northwest Art
Silva Cascadia: Under the Spell of the Forest
February 3 – May 12, 2024