Solar Essence No.1 and Solar Essence No. 3 (2,024)
$$400.00
In recent years, the idea of belonging has become an important thread in both my life and my artistic practice. Having resettled in Northwest Arkansas at a young age, I have often questioned what it means to belong to a place, to a community, and as someone who once arrived as an outsider. I find myself asking what belonging looks like and what it means for a community to cultivate a sense of belonging for others.
When I encountered the prompt centered around Spring Creek, I was drawn to the creek as more than a natural resource. It is a source so integral to this place that a town was shaped and named around it. Spring Creek has helped shape the landscape and the community around it, and I believe the ways we honor, respect, and care for the natural world reveal something about how we care for one another.
This piece is a collaboration between myself and the natural resources Using locally grown flowers, plants, weed—gathered and pressed by me alongside sourced imagery— I created cyanotypes through exposure to the sun’s UV light. The resulting forms become a visual meditation on cultivation, the act of tending, nurturing, and creating the conditions for something to grow.
Through this process, I think about belonging not as something we simply find, but something we cultivate within ourselves, within our communities, and within the places we call home.
Tram Colwin
Siloam Springs, Arkansas
Painting, Other (Please specify)
What is Spring Creek to you?
Like most waterways, I am drawn to Spring Creek through the senses. I find myself listening to the water as it moves through rocks and sediment, watching light dance across its surface, and listening to the wind move through the trees. I notice the birds and small creatures that make their way there, each adding to the quiet life of the creek. Together, these moments call me to slow down, be present, and simply be.
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