Showing the importance of nature and celebrating it. That’s what artist Sara Vrugt did in 2020 through organising a community-embroidery project, called 100.000 bomen en een bos van draad (100.000 trees and a forest of thread). Volunteers from all over the country (the Netherlands), embroidered a fabric forest of 100 square meters, in respons to nature stories told by visitors and participants. Later a forest would be planted in the city of The Hague. This project is art as a form of restistance. So inspiring, the combination of creating beauty and awareness at the same time…
The first fase, Sara drawing and designing
The second fase, stitches, stitches and stitchtes …
The third fase, exposure to visitors
The fourth fase, planting lots of trees
Sara’s goal was also to plant a real forest, existing of 100,000 trees. This year already 99,000 trees were planted in the tropics through the organization TreeSisters. The last 1,000 trees will be planted throughout the Netherlands. In November 2022, the first section was planted, in a spiral formed forest.
The sixth fase, more forest to come
At the very end of the project, the earlier embroidered fabric forest, will be installed in a construction in a park. In the hem of the fabrics, are seeds stitched. Overtime, the fabric will perish by forces of nature and the seeds will fall onto the ground. Plants will grow and a new forest will exist. Such a genius idea!
More fases to come?
If you haven’t read anough about all these fases, you can create your own next fase:
Read further on Sara’s website or at honderdduizendbomen.
Or watch this short documentary.
Or listen to this podcast.
Or you can donate a tree, that’s also a possibility. Read more about that on Sara’s website.
One last thing
Thanks! To all the partictpants in this project and especially Sara. For giving nature a stage and speaking out. Using a soft and accesible craft like embroidery, to do so. I applaud. Do you?
Wanna see more arty embroideries?
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Enjoy creativity!