Photo: Michael Scholz
The festival hosts 17 installations from a diverse group of artists, including community groups, independent artists, and postsecondary students.
Open to artists’ interpretations, these curated installations celebrate the winter season and the unique, diverse experiences and communities of Mississauga.
The festival takes place from December 9-19th at the beautiful, historic Small Arms Inspection Building. The art installations are on display throughout the entire 10 days of the Mississauga Festival of Trees.
We can't be more delighted to introduce to you the artists whose work you will be able to experience at the festival!
Adrian Baker
The Mother Tree
www.adrianbakerart.com
Photo: Sanborg Productions
The Mother Tree is part of an ongoing socially engaged art project called “Net Work”, inspired by the underground webs of tree roots and mycorrhizal fungi that enable trees to communicate, to exchange water, nutrients, and chemical messages.
The Heartwood Moon
D&S Projects
https://dsprojects.org/
The Heartwood Moon, by D&S Projects, made up of Katie Strang & Christine Dewancker, is a wood piling installation crafted with the Norwegian technique of stacking firewood in a circular pile as a framework for a lunar calendar.
A Touch of Diversity
Ebru Kur | www.ebrukur.com
Photo: Sanborg Productions
Ebru Kur's A Touch of Diversity was inspired by the history and nature of Mississauga. In this installation, Kur was inspired by the paper Christmas trees from her childhood memories.
Branches Of Many Dreams
Jungle Ling | @jungle_ling
Photo: Sanborg Productions
Branches Of Many Dreams uses discarded or reclaimed material as it is something that has been assigned as being valueless. Ling chose to work with discarded concrete and steel obtained from dump sites within the region to fabricate art installations, as these were once our proud new factories, towers or bridges that somehow have lost their relevance to be buried and hidden.
Our Great Tree of Peace
Eagle Spirits of the Great Waters
www.eaglespirits.ca
Photo: Lynn Taylor
Our Great Tree of Peace is constructed of a fully lit artificial tree, a special carving from Sawmill Sid, and a large root ball. The Tree of Peace has many teachings associated with it but the main focus is on Hiawatha and the laying down of the weapons beneath the tree. The Tree of Great Peace represents the Iroquois' unity.
Tuckamore
Karen Roberts
www.artistkroberts.wixsite.com/home
Photo: Sanborg Productions
Tuckamore takes its name from a uniquely Newfoundland term, describing the unusual way White Spruce, Pine or Balsam Fir grows. Angled away from the strong, onshore ocean winds, the trees growth is stunted by the salt spray. The twisted trees bend almost sideways, creating dense tangles of branches that make the terrain difficult to traverse.
Make Amends
Kristina Bradt & Fiona Magor
www.kristinabradt.ca| @fionamagor
Make Amends is a sculptural installation utilizing recycled wood, textiles and wire clothes hangers to re-create an olive tree. This project explores pleating and gathering to create surface textures emulating bark, leaves and olives. An olive branch signifies an apology, a helping hand, or a truce.
Mother Tree
Leeay Aikawa, Kristi Chen, Louie Mangialardi
@mostly_louie | @kristi_xy | @leeay
Photo: Sanborg Productions
Mother Tree is the first collaborative project between OCAD U alumni Louise Mangialardi, Kristi Chen, Leeay Aikawa, in response to such an ill culture we face today. As a collective, they reflect on how the consumer culture and destruction of nature directly echo each other.
Wood Piling
The Mossarics Collective
@mossarics_collective
Photo: Sanborg Productions
The Mossarics Collective is made up of a group of Centennial students. They have chosen to represent the moose to bridge the relationships of Turtle Island and “New Canada". A racoon was chosen as the representation of Urban Canadian identity. Their work honours those who were prohibited from hunting moose, deer, and living on the land as a result of the 1923 Williams Treaty.
Memory Nest
Maryam Zaraimajin | @mz_majin
Memory Nest by Maryam Zaraimajin explores the idea of memory. The project is composed of twigs and branches will resemble that of a bird’s nest. Each twig represents an experience in our memory that has shaped who we are.
In a Forest of Trees, We Remember
Noelle Hamlyn
www.noellehamlyn.com
Photo: Sanborg Productions
In a Forest of Trees, We Remember features over 4,500 hand folded butterflies offered in memory of our COVID journey, and in remembrance of those no longer physically present. Butterflies remind us of the fragility of life. At once delicate - gossamer wings tripping lightly through the air, suspended overhead, butterflies astound us with their tremendous strength.
Diversi(tree)
Sheridan Visual Merchandising Arts Students
Photo: Sanborg Productions
Diversi(tree) was created by a group of Sheridan Visual Merchandising Arts Students, and represents the Sheridan Visual Merchandising Arts students and teachers diverse cultural identities; from the representative “root system”, extending to the tips of the “branches”. Six second-year students designed and built the Diversi(tree) art installation at the Hazel McCallion Campus (HMC) Wood Shop.
Twice Blessed
Susan Avishi |www.susanavishai.com
Photo: Sanborg Productions
Twice Blessed by Susan Avishai explores how much of our clothing is worn briefly and discarded quickly. 85% ending up in the landfill, with over 10 million tons of textile waste a year, just in Canada alone. Avishai is intrigued by the utter transformation of something no longer valued, into something entirely different and beautiful.
Enchanted Spaces
Lullaby Tree for the Children
Troy Hourie
www.troyhourie.com/the-wisdom-tree
Photo: Sanborg Productions
Enchanted Spaces, Lullaby Tree for the Children is a continuation of a series of Indigenous artworks created to reflect on traditions of storytelling by inspiring tranquil reflection. The installation is created by Troy Hourie, a Metis faculty member in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, working with four student collaborators: Corinna Rush, Ryan Ahlers, Victoria Brown, and Matthew Ivanoff.
#hopeandhealingcanada Tracey-Mae Chambers
www.traceymae.com
Chamber's #hopeandhealingcanada project began with one installation and then ballooned into over one hundred across the country. At each venue Chambers is afforded the opportunity to communicate with the community about human connections. The colour red as the colour of love, anger, power and is a racial slur. Decolonizing public spaces in Canada is always on Chamber's mind as she creates.
Community Woodpiling Installation
CreativeHub 1352 Volunteers
Led by Richard A. Posa
A Community Woodpiling Installation utilizes different tree species, stumps, split wood, and branches. Representing the “laws of nature” and the breaking and bending of Mother Nature’s laws, the community was invited to join in creating the installation by piling and stacking wood between two large tree “bookends” to create a design.
This Is Not A Pretty Picture
Richard A. Posa
https://richardaposa.com
Photo: Sanborg Productions