For me, the highlight of this fall has been to attend the virtual Wild Wonder Nature Journal Conference in October. John Muir Laws and a bevy of brilliant and accessible teachers blew my socks off with about 10 hours a day of sessions for five days. I filled a whole sketchbook, went on virtual field trips, laughed, learned, focused, and forgot for a moment all about the troubles of the world.
This week Jack Laws made a keynote from the conference available and it alone is well worth watching. A conversation between Jack and British artist Tony Foster focused on how the two of these energetic outdoorsmen have been coping with COVID-19.
I think you’ll be inspired.
Tony Foster is a celebrator of the world’s great wildernesses, places of exquisite beauty that aren’t accessible to most of us. His plans, obviously, came to a screeching halt with the advent of the pandemic.
Here is a brief intro to Tony’s work, pre-COVID, and the museum, The Foster, in Palo Alto, California, that is dedicated to him:
Wild Wonder Keynote: A Conversation with Tony Foster
What does someone so attuned to the spectacular do in a lockdown?
Can he go on making art and stay sane?
The good news for all of us: it doesn’t have to be spectacular to capture our attention.
In this more lengthy talk, you will get a detailed look at Tony Foster’s Lockdown Diary–56 Days, a simple daily project.
Highlights include:
an overview of Tony Foster’s way of working
curiosity and humility
wonder and beauty
learning to see micro beauty and micro mysteries
a detailed look at Lockdown Diary–56 Days
Possibly the smallest gallery in the UK: in a former phone booth in Tony’s village. When he exhibited his Lockdown Diary there, village children began sketching too.
““I have come to realize that anything studied intently enough will offer insights into the extraordinary variety and beauty of our world.” ”
Go Deeper
A limited-edition print of Lockdown Diaries is available from The Foster.
A good read, Explorers’ Sketchbooks: The Art of Discovery & Adventure, which features Tony Foster as one of many adventurous journalers.
A video pass for the entire five days of the Wild Wonder Conference is now available for just $45, with access until April 2021.
I can’t recommend the entire conference enough if you are at all interested in adding nature journaling to your life, or enhancing your practice if you’re already on that path. There are numerous sessions for beginners.
Understandably, you might not feel able to replicate a project on the scale of Tony Foster’s Lockdown Diaries. But any attempt at noticing the small moments of wonder around you brings light and joy to the present craziness. The conference is one way to begin.
In another post I’ll show you around in the sketchbook I threw down in those five glorious days of drawing, writing, and learning!
Header image: courtesy of Birmingham Museums Trust