Dear friends & strangers alike,

Welcome to the project Heartwood. I’m incredibly grateful you’ve chosen to participate in this project alongside me. I believe that collaboration leads to a more wholistic view of our world & lives. Shared experiences are venues for empathy & relationship building. It pays to look to nature for examples of what this can look like:

Within nature, trees function as complex & intelligent communities. In particular, during storms, groves of trees rely on one another for support during the fiercest of winds. in a healthy forest, When a strong gust comes along & begins to bend a tree, its neighboring tree will act as a buffer That prevents its kin from bending too far & breaking. And when the wind relents & the tree snaps back, its neighbor on the other side braces its fall back so the snap is not too violent either. So too we can help support one another as we weather these contemporary storms.

For heartwood, I’m asking each of you to participate in a collective experience separately. The prompt for this work is:

1. think of a nearby tree with whom you are in relationship with or would like to be.

2. when you have a good chunk of time (an hour or so), pack up the materials I mailed to you, along with mark making devices of your choosing, a camera [a smartphone is fine], an audio listening device & an open heart.

3. go to the tree. Take a photo of the tree (composition is up to you).

4. lean your back against the tree’s trunk & sit down on the ground.

5. Begin the audio recording here (earbuds optional). www.heartwoodsoil.com/audio

6. record the feeling onto the provided piece of paper. This doesn’t have to be directly after the exercise, but it might be nice to have materials nearby in case you decide that then is the right time.

7. please make sure to write these items down on the back of your piece: your name, location of tree (species if you know it), time, date & materials used.

8. mail back the work to me using the self-addressed envelop I provided.

9. email me at colleenrjcbratton@gmail.com the photo of your tree. I will be printing off a copy to go alongside your piece for the gallery show.

thank you so much for being willing & open to participate in this unorthodox collective art experience. I hope to see you at the opening on the 2nd of October at SOIL Artist-run space. I’ll be in touch over the next few months with more info & any pertinent updates & reminders.

all my love,

-Colleen RJC bratton

p.s. These works will be returned to you in November <3