Ecological Thinking and Collaborative Learnings
Nestled Inside (3-J) Joseph Stewart , Chen Chen, with ISB students, families and staff , Niamh Cunningham 2025
The exhibition NEST （June 10th -20th ） explores pathways in search of our deep connections with the natural world by working with groups of people and the environment .
On June 14th 2025 we had a reception with artist/art educators Yvette Stride and Joseph Stewart saying a few words. It was a small gathering as it had been raining heavily an hour beforehand yet we still had special guests including Leader Chang Shuqing and also Prof Liu Bin from CAFA and other art educators .
NEST exhibition takes a look at collaborative learnings when making artworks in groups such as works made during the ISB school residency. Collaborative works include the giant Nest, Wall of Whispers, Nestled within and also of course stories from the Memory Palace of Tree Stories.
NEST: Nurturing Ecological Stories Together Sycamore and poplar branches, with willow twig network, Niamh Cunningham, ISB operations team, highschool students , teachers and parents. November 2024- June 2025
NEST is a vibrant testament to community spirit, born from the creativity of the operations team, students, and parents at ISB school. During the ISB artist residency in November 2024, Niamh Cunningham worked with elementary, middle, and high school students. Together, they enthusiastically wove willow twigs into circles, forming a collaborative willow web over the nest structure. This network symbolizes the protection of the natural environment within.
In June 2025, at the Dongyue Art Museum, a fresh network of willow twigs was carefully gathered with the help of high school students, parents, and teachers. NEST represents an internal landscape, a nurturing haven where we cultivate the skills and connections needed to protect and uplift our greater community of life fostering a supportive environment for all .
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Wall of Whispers Fiber art with river stones and willow branches, Yvette Stride and ISB Art 1& 2 Students, Niamh Cunningham, November 2024
This delicate wall hanging is the result of a collaboration of artists, helpers and students all working together to weave a network of connective braids and knits falling from supporting willow branch structures. The work was conceptualized in an inductive manner through mind maps and discussions between all parties. Resources were selected with sustainable art practice in mind, recycled materials were selected, and no glue has been used in this work.
You are invited to step inside the wrapped rock circle and unravel a paper scroll hidden inside the hanging woven yarn network. The work is inspired by underground mycelium networks (how the trees talk to each other) and more broadly references communication via social networks. Students were encouraged to consider the types of messages that might be beneficial when considering interactions with each other and nature itself.
The Wall of Whispers led by Yvette Stride was a collaboration of two of her classes. She has written the Unit Plan (Lesson plan) and how the collaborative ideas and plans were carried out . There is very little teaching material available on collaborative art making and Yvette said that this document was the most important document she has written. You can see that document in English and Chinese. Sections of this will be published in EARCOS East Asian Region Council of Schools.
This Unit Plan is available on request for educators (niamh@niamhcunningham.com)
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Nestled Inside 7 G Joseph Stewart , Chen Chen, with ISB students, families and staff, Niamh Cunningham 2024
The Nestled Inside portraits feature a range of community members from the International School of Beijing inside a human sized nest created during Niamh Cunningham’s artist residency at the school in 2024. The portraits represent sleep or awakening to morning light to communicate the importance of our ongoing connections with nature even when living busy urban lives. The portraits feature subjects of diverse ages and ethnicities to represent the universal importance of connecting with nature. The portraits were staged and directed by Joseph Stewart and photographed by Chen Chen.
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Memory Palace of Tree Stories
A selection of one minute Tree Stories on video from China and Ireland. Niamh Cunningham in collaboration with tree story tellers from Chengdu , Yunnan and Ireland 2020- 2025
The Memory Palace of Tree Stories is a global storytelling initiative that gathers short video reflections about trees — as companions, symbols, witnesses, and sources of wisdom. It invites individuals from across different cultures, disciplines and generations, to share their stories and explore their relationship to nature and each other, creating a living archive that blends ecological awareness, cultural memory, and artistic expression.
Tree Stories are recorded as one-minute videos — poetic or documentary, spoken or silent, shared in solitude or collected during organized events hosted by local partners, festivals, or educational institutions. These stories are then archived and shared through exhibitions, eco art festivals, digital platforms, and learning environments.
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There were some new paintings completed from the Chengdu residency such as Plant Hunters . This highlights some of the details shared by field researcher Dr Jun Hu who came to one of the workshops at the A4 residency . His tree story is about finding a small flowering plant eunonymus aquilifolium that had not been recorded for over 100 years and where he made corrections to the records stored in Harvard Museum …
Plant Hunters ， 100x 120 cm acrylic on canvas , Niamh Cunningham 2025
When he showed the image of the Sichuan native Dove Tree Davidia involucrata or as my own mother called ‘the handkerchief tree’ which she had in her front garden for about 15 years in Carlow Ireland but then unfortunately it died. The two outer leaves (bracts) surrounding the centre turn white resembling the wings of a dove or like a handkerchief fluttering in the breeze.The other detail included in plant hunter was the Dove Tree or as my mother called it the Handkerchief tree. She had this tree in her garden for over a decade, Dr Hu told us it was native to Sichuan …
Lifelights ，on UV, Whitbox and Black background, White M, E coli, GFP , Kocuria Rosea Luria Bertani， archival print on Hahnemuehle 33 x 95 cm, Niamh Cunningham in collaboration with the Institute of Process Engineering， Microbe Art 2020 limited print 1/3 2024
Other interdisciplinary work include the prints from Microbe Art which come from collaborative work with research scientists from IPE and resulted in a couple of workshops at 101 middle school back in 2020
see blog What is Microbe Art
https://niamhcunningham.com/what-is-microbe-art/
Bamboo Chengdu,120 x100 cm acrylic on canvas, Niamh Cunningham 2025
And also the painting Bamboo Chengdu which began in Chengdu but has only just been completed a few weeks ago ( 8 months later )
With artists/art educators Joseph Stewart, and Yvette Stride and also with the wonderful support of Shasha.
The following day on Sunday 15th there was a guided tour where we gave introductions to each artwork . Huge thank you to friends Kangling, Mengying, Li Jing, Eva Zhao , Yishou Chen, and others who have sent in special photos of the weekend events .
Special thanks to Joseph Stewart and Yvette Stride who allowed this collaboration to happen with the School as part of the November Residency .
Thank you also to curator Mr Yuan QiuLai of Dongyue Art Museum with whom I have had a long working relationship and to Yishou Chen for her constant help.
I have had additional help , my assistant Dom Messerschimidt who has been very valuable help over the past couple of months and also to Shasha for her amazing energy and grace while introducing artworks and translating the live floor talks.
Finally A big thank you for all those students and teachers and grounds people at ISB school who have made those collaborations possible . Special thanks to those who have kindly offered extra help such as educator Mona ( fusen 付森 ) who designed the poster at a time it was most needed and also to those people who contribute Tree Stories to the Memory Palace of Tree Stories.
Exhibition Essay
The exhibition “NEST” by artist Niamh Cunningham explores ecological themes through collaborative art and the greater community of Life. This rendition features interactions with groups such as tree storytellers from the Memory Palace of Tree Stories, bridging narratives from China and Europe. Also included are 3 collaborative works created during her three-week residency at ISB school in November 2024. The collaboration with ISB school features “NEST,” a human-sized installation, alongside “Nestled Within,” a series of portraits directed by Joseph Stewart, and the “Wall of Whispers,” led by Yvette Stride. The creation of these artworks will be documented in pedagogic materials, showcasing the collaborative process。
Niamh Cunningham , an Irish artist who has been rooted in China for more than ten years, using her brush to tell her deep affection for the land of China. Her approach not only reveals trees as an artistic reproduction of natural trees, but also a vivid portrayal of cultural trees. In her paintings the colors of trees reflect the vitality and vigor of the Chinese land, exploring the harmonious coexistence of nature and humanity in the video collection “The Memory Palace of Tree Stories “. Their creations all contain praise and eulogy for life
Yuan Qiulai, Curator
