Nature Quest is a project inspired by Columbia Land Conservancy’s Nature Quest booklet. The subject matter uses the quests suggested in this booklet for visitors to explore at each conservation area and the features of its natural environment. The artworks will be stencil painted using natural pigments extracted from rocks collected at each location, so that not only the subject matter represents the sites but so do the colors.
Some say it’s wonderful to collect materials from nature, others say it’s disruptive to the environment. This was confusing to me at first, then I came to realize that, just like anything in life, the answer is “it depends.”
We can be quick to judge and criticize others based on our idea of what’s right. The truth is what’s ok in one situation can be different in another. We must develop tolerance for being in the uncomfortable gray area where we don’t know the answer. As Thomas Merton wrote, “To renounce more and more the temptation to give definite answers and to be more and more humble and honest in the search for the relevant material, which may suggest here and there good ideas or possibilities of new approaches.”
What needs to happen is to learn what’s right in this particular landscape in front of me. For this project, I seek guidance from Geo Beck, a local geologist and science communicator, to source rocks responsibly. She has educated me on some basic rules to get me started, and I hope to learn more along the way and be corrected when I do something wrong. At each location, I search already disrupted areas (such as the trail and stream) and collect rocks that are not embedded in the ground. The ones sitting on the surface are likely to move around by people walking on them, so I aim for those. I pick small fragmented ones (otherwise I’d kill myself trying to grind them anyway.) I learn what these rocks are, and see what colors they produce.
