Jennifer Woodin and Ruth McKinney Burket
Both Jennifer Woodin and Ruth McKinney Burket use ceramics to bring awareness to the environment and to the spectator's relationship to the natural world. Burket and Woodin encourage community building through their socially-engaged practice and foster an awareness of environmental issues, such as the endangered bee population, in their works.
Jennifer Woodin's Bee Habitat
Our ceramic bee habitats are designed to provide a nursery space for hyperlocal solitary bees to have a safe, clean, dry place to lay their eggs and for humans to have a beautiful and easy way to encourage bees into their backyard. These forms are also designed to work with the needs of community-designed pollinator gardens and ongoing social engagement series along a network of urban rail trails.
About Jennifer Woodin: Jennifer Woodin is an artist, bee habitat designer, art educator, bee-keeper, meditation teacher and co-founder of the artist collective called the Hudson Valley Bee Habitat. She is also the Executive Director of Sky Lake Shambhala Meditation Center, which is part of a global community aspiring to awaken kindness, goodness, and wisdom within society. Jennifer’s creative practice works to reconnect us to our natural world, each other and ourselves, through socially engaged art practices and contemplative social innovations, helping to foster a vibrant awake society.
Ruth Burket's Branch and Twig
Branch: These images document the collaborative social practice-based project entitled Branch featured in the The Nature of Things exhibition at the Salem Art Association’s A.N. Bush Gallery in Oregon November 12th-December 24th, 2016. The work consisted of 160 handmade pin-vases, which were cast in porcelain and contain a redwood tree cutting. When worn, the pin-vases allow one to hold a fragile living thing close to the heart, prompting attentiveness and careful movement to catalyze mindfulness and serve as a reminder that we are part of and will always be entwined with the natural world. Over the course of the exhibition viewers became collaborators by taking the pin and tree home, nurturing it and planting it. In exchange, visitors were asked to share their personal connection to a tree(s) through writing or drawing. Documentation photos of participants wearing their trees were posted in the gallery and shared via instagram (@secondnatureproject) and twitter (SecondNatureProject@jodydunphy).
“A garden is a place where people can learn to use nature without harming it.” -- Michael Pollan
Twig Tussie Mussie: Named after the 15th Century Victorian brooch, this jewelry piece is a tiny porcelain vase that can hold water and be filled with the treasures of the earth. The Twig Tussie Mussie brooches were crafted with the intention that the wearer would move with a heightened awareness of our connection with the natural world.
About Ruth McKinney Burket: Ruth McKinney Burket received her MFA in ceramics in 2011 from the State University of NY at New Paltz. She is a mom, an artist and the ceramic studio manager at the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosedale NY. Her art practice is fueled by a desire for social engagement, community building and creative collaborations. As she examines the role that objects can play in shaping our interactions, behaviors, and habits she aims to inspire people to be socially proactive and use creativity as a catalyst for change.