Veil of Trees is an art installation within the grounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney. The work was designed by Janet Laurence and Jisuk Han as part of the Sydney Sculpture Walk Program in 1999, to highlight the indigenous botanical history of the site. It consists of 21 glass panels among one hundred red forest gums (Eucalyptus tereticornis) which run along a one hundred metre grassed ridge between two parallel roads. [1]
It’s trees I look for nowadays,
year after year
adding their rings. Recording
this month’s frost, that season’s
burning, the arrival
and departure of leaves, birds,
mice, barefoot invaders,
and applecore wars
in the kingdom of twigs.
…the tree
is dreaming our lives.
Its dust-thick shadow reaches
the road…
David Malouf — from Evergreen~Trees were their thoughts:
peppermint gum black-sally,
white tea-tree hung over creeks…
There is
there was
a country
that spoke in the language of leaves.
Judith Wright — from Falls Country~There are five different Scribbly Gums, like five
brothers in mythology, each bearing a significant
name: sclerophylla, signata, rossii, racemosa
and see the red rim of its fruit – haemastoma.
Murray Bail — from Eucalyptus~New trees step out of old: lemon and ochre
splitting out of grey everywhere, in the gum forest.
In there for miles, shade track and ironbark slope
Sky sifting, and always a hint of smoke in the light;
you can never reach the heart of the gum forest.
Les Murray — from The Gum Forest
The panels are made of glass edged with Corten-steel containing LED lighting. Some panels enclose historically native seeds, ash, honey and resin, while others have verses from poetry written by Australian writers and poets. The play of light on the translucent glass create a passage of reflection, and memory. [2]
The work aims to highlight the native natural environment and indigenous history, as well as the importance of historical preservation through botanical conservatories. The red gums refer to the forest of original gums axed as a result of early European settlement with hopes to rejuvenate the site with its native trees and grass plants. [3]
The collaboration was between two artists Janet Laurence and Jisuk Han. Janet Laurence is a Sydney-based artist whose work examines the interconnection of life forms and ecologies. Jisuk Han has worked in interpretive design, art and architecture for more than twenty years and collaborates with artists, architects, curators and museums throughout Australia. [2]
Eucalyptus is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of Eucalyptus are trees, often mallees and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including Corymbia and Angophora, they are commonly known as eucalypts. Plants in the genus Eucalyptus have bark that is either smooth, fibrous, hard or stringy, the leaves have oil glands, and the sepals and petals are fused to form a "cap" or operculum over the stamens. The fruit is a woody capsule commonly referred to as a "gumnut".
Eucalyptus pauciflora, commonly known as snow gum, cabbage gum or white sally, is a species of tree or mallee that is native to eastern Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to elliptical leaves, flower buds in clusters of between seven and fifteen, white flowers and cup-shaped, conical or hemispherical fruit. It is widespread and locally common in woodland in cold sites above 700 m (2,300 ft) altitude.
Eucalyptus camaldulensis, commonly known as the river red gum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to Australia. It is a tree with smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers and hemispherical fruit with the valves extending beyond the rim. A familiar and iconic tree, it is seen along many watercourses across inland Australia, providing shade in the extreme temperatures of central Australia.
Red gum or redgum may refer to:
Eucalyptus viminalis, commonly known as the manna gum, white gum or ribbon gum, is a species of small to very tall tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has smooth bark, sometimes with rough bark near the base, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three or seven, white flowers and cup-shaped or hemispherical fruit.
Corymbia calophylla, commonly known as marri, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a tree or mallee with rough bark on part or all of the trunk, lance-shaped adult leaves, branched clusters of cup-shaped or pear-shaped flower buds, each branch with three or seven buds, white to pink flowers, and relatively large oval to urn-shaped fruit, colloquially known as honky nuts. Marri wood has had many uses, both for Aboriginal people, and in the construction industry.
Janet Laurence is an Australian artist, based in Sydney, who works in photography, sculpture, video and installation art. Her work is an expression of her concern about environment and ethics, her "ecological quest" as she produces art that allows the viewer to immerse themselves to strive for a deeper connection with the natural world. Her work has been included in major survey exhibitions, nationally and internationally and is regularly exhibited in Australia, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong and the UK. She has exhibited in galleries and outside in site-specific projects, often involving collaborations with architects, landscape architects and environmental scientists. Her work is held in all major Australian galleries as well as private collections in Australia and overseas.
The greater Brisbane area of Queensland Australia, has many species of indigenous flora. This article links the flora to its geography with:
Eucalyptus saligna, commonly known as the Sydney blue gum or blue gum, is a species of medium-sized to tall tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, flaky bark near the base of the trunk, smooth bark above, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, nine or eleven, white flowers and cylindrical to conical or cup-shaped fruit.
Angophora costata, commonly known as Sydney red gum, rusty gum or smooth-barked apple, is a species of tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. Reaching 30 m (100 ft) in height, the species has distinctive smooth bark that is pinkish or orange-brown when new and fades to grey with age. Its lance-shaped leaves are arranged in opposite pairs along the stems, with white or creamy white flowers appearing from October to December. The flower buds are usually arranged in groups of three, followed by ribbed, oval or bell-shaped fruit.
The Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest (STIF) is wet sclerophyll forest community of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that is typically found in the Inner West and Northern region of Sydney. It is also among the three of these plant communities which have been classified as Endangered, under the New South Wales government's Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, with only around 0.5% of its original pre-settlement range remaining.
Eucalyptus largiflorens, or black box or river box, is a tree that is endemic to Australia. It has rough, fibrous or flaky bark, dull greenish-grey, lance-shaped leaves, oval to club-shaped green to yellow flower buds, white flowers and hemispherical, cup-shaped or barrel-shaped fruit.
Eucalyptus robusta, commonly known as swamp mahogany or swamp messmate, is a tree native to eastern Australia. Growing in swampy or waterlogged soils, it is up to 30 m (100 ft) high with thick spongy reddish-brown bark and dark green broad leaves, which help form a dense canopy. The white to cream flowers appear in autumn and winter. The leaves are commonly eaten by insects and are a food item for the koala. It is an important autumn-winter flowering species in eastern Australia and has been planted extensively in many countries around the world. Its timber is used for firewood and in general construction.
Angophora floribunda, commonly known as the rough-barked apple, is a common woodland and forest tree of the family Myrtaceae native to Eastern Australia. Reaching 30 m (100 ft) high, it is a large tree with fibrous bark and cream-white flowers that appear over the Austral summer. It grows on alluvial soils on floodplains and along watercourses. Much of the land it grew on has been cleared for agriculture.
The Central Gardens Nature Reserve, also called Central Gardens, is a protected nature reserve located in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1976, the 12-hectare (30-acre) reserve, garden and fauna and wildlife park is situated in the suburb of Merrylands and is managed by Cumberland Council. The park is regionally important and it attracts visitors outside the Cumberland local government area. The bushland contains remnants of Cumberland Plain Woodland and is approximately 3.5 hectares.
Edge of the Trees is a collaborative installation artwork created by artist Janet Laurence and Fiona Foley. The artwork is a site-specific piece located at the forecourt of the Museum of Sydney, Sydney since its opening in 1995. The artwork is constructed with 29 vertical pillars made from different materials such as wood, steel, and sandstone collaborating with other organic materials and sound elements. This public art installation has won several awards as it evokes the cultural and physical history of the site.
The Cumberland Plain Woodland, also known as Cumberland Plain Bushland and Western Sydney woodland, is a grassy woodland community found predominantly in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that comprises an open tree canopy, a groundcover with grasses and herbs, usually with layers of shrubs and/or small trees.
The ecology of Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia, is diverse for its size, where it would mainly feature biomes such as grassy woodlands or savannas and some sclerophyll forests, with some pockets of mallee shrublands, riparian forests, heathlands, and wetlands, in addition to small temperate rainforest fragments.
The Blue Gum Forest is a forest located in Blue Mountains National Park within the Grose Valley of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales west of Sydney, southeastern Australia. It is one of the best-known bushwalking sites in Australia. The forest is located within the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Greater Blue Mountains Area. The forest survived through the efforts of early Australian conservationists.