Tree Planter – For Mi protoype June 2022
Tree Planter Protoype is a Socio Eco Art practice engaging and forming people on local tree planting initiatives .
The tree for this installation at For觅 （June2022） was donated by Beijing Forestry Society , after the exhibition the origami leaves will be flattened and prepared for legal tender, deposited to a bank for a tree planting donation to the Beijing Forestry society .
The Original Tree Planter used Origami One Yuan Notes , The workshops do not use this material but instead artists unsucessfull artworks on rice paper
Here Below are links to different workshops in Beijing 2022
For Mi Gallery – Tree Planter workshop August 2023
Courtyard Institute Ancient Trees of Beijing October 2023
Paper Makes Trees
Tree Planter uses a bank note that is decreasingly being used in circulation to raise awareness of our material world. All material matter has a physical permanance although some matter such as water can change its state such as to ice or steam . Like water, physical cash also has transformative power and in this case the physicality of paper notes will be transformed into planting new saplings. .. paper is used to grow trees.
There will be workshops provided by the artist at the For Mi gallery during the Summer months.
The artist hopes participants engaging in this project will experience
An awareness of our material world
*This generation of youth might be the last generation to experience physical cash . Folding and creating the leaves gives a tangible experience to supporting tree planting.
*Everything produced has to go somewhere, the wrappings of our food don’t disappear just because we throw them away , they are put somewhere and continue to exist and continue to affect the surrounding soil or water.
*The paper folding participants know that treated carefully the note retains legal tender and will be unfolded carefully and flattened and will be deposited in the bank to a tree planting program .
*Visitors are invited to return to the gallery with their own leaves to add to the tree.
*The artist has a limited supply of these “precious art materials “ and therefore visitors are also welcome to contribute one yuan rmb notes to the workshops,
The artist will post on her blog how much “fruit’ was harvested and how many trees can be planted because of that yield.
The tree for this installation at For觅 （June2022） was donated by Beijing Forestry Society , after the exhibition the origami leaves will be flattened and prepared for legal tender, returned to a bank for a tree planting donation to the Beijing Forestry society .
The public are invited to return to the gallery with their own leaves to add to the tree.
In addition there will be workshops provided by the artist at the For Mi gallery during the Summer months.
The artist will post on her blog how much “fruit’ was harvested and how many trees can be planted because of that yield.
Note : this prototype is adaptable for use in schools and youth groups. The artist can be contacted here : niamh@niamhcunningham.com
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Shake the Money Tree
The money tree is a magical tree in Chinese folklore. In ancient times, just as a fruit tree would bear fruit people hoped that money could produce money. They hoped that there were trees that could bear a lot of money, and with a little shaking all the money would fall.
Long ago, people were afraid of snakes and wild animals. A hero (He’s called Youchao Shi, one of the ancestors of the Chinese people) taught people how to make houses from trees and roofs from leaves. So they could have a house and shelter. Therefore, in ancient China, about 2000 years ago, trees in some respects were considered as related to the gods.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, in the area of Sichuan, people were buried with copper trees with copper coins on it. This is a form of presenting a prayer to the gods. The tradition lasted about two hundred years.
Later, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the pattern of “money tree” often appeared in New Year pictures and paper cuts.
Folklore:
A man named Bing Yuan found some money on the road. He couldn’t find the owner, so he hung the money on a tree. Later, people passing by thought it was a magical tree, a tree that could made people rich. So they all hung their money on the tree, hoping to bring more money to them.
Chinese paper folding – Zhongguo Zhezhi
The Chinese began to make paper in the Han Dynasty. However the original paper was soft and not suitable for folding. Later with the development of different kinds of paper , paper folding was first used in China for ceremonial purposes. However there was no record of paper folding in Chinese literature and unearthed relics.
In 1948, Maying Soong published The Art of Chinese Paper Folding. This book was important because it helped popularized paper folding in the 20th century while distinguishing Chinese paper folders from their Japanese counterparts.
Chinese paper folders in the 20th century often focussed on inanimate objects such as boats or small dishes. Japanese paper folders favoured living things such as cranes or flowers.
Paper folding has many functions in todays modern world of industrial design , it has been used in designing expanding panels in space equipment , in making stents in medicine , in robotics , architecture ect …
Golden Venture Folding
Golden Venture folding, also known as 3 dimensional origami is a special type origami invented by a group of Chinese refugees in the early 1990s. The refugees were held in an American prison after illegally trying to enter the country on a cargo ship named Golden Venture.
They invented a style of paper folding that involves joining together hundreds of identically folded triangular units to make swans, pineapples, and other shapes. The refugees would spend many hours folding these models, which were given as gifts those who worked to obtain their freedom or sold at charity fundraisers to help pay their legal expenses as they applied for the right of asylum.
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Ecosystem services are the benefits provided by the natural environment to human beings. For much of human history, this relationship was symbiotic; our direct reliance on the natural world required us to preserve it. Since the industrial revolution, eco services have devolved into a one-way linear route where natural resources are extracted at an unsustainable rate. Though we may sometimes forget it , we are still very much dependant on the natural world, and the damage we cause it is damage to our future.
The installation at the For 觅 gallery imagines a more balanced relationship with nature. Carefully folded origami renminbi bank notes signify financial investment in eco services, securing the ecosystems we all rely on.
The ecosystem of the planet is contained within the functionality of leaves, the cyclical processes of photosynthesis and respiration，exchange of gases , production of cellular energy , the sequestration of Carbon ….a priceless currency . The one yuan bills have a fixed value, however a commitment to green economy and what can be accomplished in the preservation of life is truly priceless.