Preparing for Gardens of Earthly Delights

The Garden of Earthly Delights - 2-Day Arts Festival 11th and 12th November.

The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden will become a spectacular stage for a weekend of artistic flamboyance November 11 & 12 from 9.30am-5.30pm. In celebration of its 30th Birthday, it will be transformed into the Garden of Earthly Delights, a two-day festival featuring talented artists and performers from the Greater Blue Mountains region (includes Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury and Lithgow Local Government Areas).

I'm delighted to extend my love of designing for the the stage to include participating as an installation artist at this charming event.

The Botanic Garden at Mount Tomah is an iconic venue, nestled within the Blue Mountains World Heritage National Park. Its extensive grounds contain a diversity of cool climate gardens, lawns and pavilions which, for a brief moment in time, will become sites for ephemeral installations, poets, musicians and entertainers, in a harmonious blending of nature and culture. This is a major new cultural event for the Greater Blue Mountains region and the excitement is already mounting.

The opening event, a Welcome to Country and performance, will be presented by Darug cultural leaders, recognising the living traditions of the past and present custodians of this country.

Honoured guest exhibitors include Jenny Kee and Michael White, while the art exhibition Botanica and Birdlife (running from November 1-30), showcases exciting, newly created art by 15 selected artists - expect the unexpected!

Between performances you can also enjoy the creations of 13 installation artists’ works making the most of the breathtaking backdrop and created specifically for the Garden and the Festival.As well as enjoying the 21 soloists, music ensembles, choirs and circus acts a day and being able to feast on local food, there will be creative activities for children of all ages as part of the fun and festivities.

My submission is one of 13 installation artists and it's called Love in Bloom.

I'll also be at the Gardens on Sunday 12th, as event MC, so come along and say hi !

LOVE IN BLOOM is an interactive, immersive, spatial installation inspired by blossoms, wonder, inclusion and equality. The creation was previously a floral offering for a long-life celebration of a Tibetan Monk as a canopy and then evolved into use as a backdrop. It's been re-imagined with twice as many flowers, in its new incarnation as a tunnel. It's made in honour of the site-specific tradition of weddings at Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens and it's a comment on the topical. A rainbow of acrylic blossoms descending in multiplicity from the transparent nature of the net which is mounted on an arched structure. Participation is also encouraged with an opportunity for you to adjoin flowers. It's a personal, and public affirmation of the RITE to love, or walk down the aisle regardless of identity, or preference.

So far, I have mounted a few thousand flowers on my net which will be transformed into a tunnel along a path. I'm in need of another few hundred flowers- so if you have any unwanted fake flowers lying around, perhaps you can email me on meg.musichunter@gmail.com. and tell me where to pick them up from. CHEERS MEG