The artwork ‘Building Nature’ was created by artist Felicity Gordon for the Practically Green Festival 2014. The work celebrates the use of natural materials by local builders and artists in the Nillumbik area (see image gallery above).
Felicity said:
“In the mid-twentieth century, local builders began to look to nature and the earth for inspiration. Alistair Knox often spoke of using found things instead of buying everything.
Saving old leadlight windows and timber from demolition sites was a way of beautifying and repurposing. Aesthetic considerations were as important as sourcing things at low or, ideally, no cost.
In those days mud brick homes weren’t considered valuable or beautiful in the way they are now. Many Nillumbik residents created their homes bit by bit over years - plans were changed and refined as part of an organic process.”
The striking relief mural, created on highly-finished marine ply, depicts the flow of the Diamond Creek around Edendale and is constructed of thousands of hand-cut slices of timber and seed pods gathered in the local area and beyond.
'Building Nature’ is situated on the galvanised outer wall of the propagation shed at Edendale.