MEMORY PALACE OF TREE STORIES _ THE PAINTINGS EXHIBITION
Xu Liaoyuan Museum opened with the exhibition “The Memory Palace of Tree Stories” as part of the Chengdu- Europe, Culture Festival on May 24th.
Officiating the event were Mr Huang Tao from the Foreign Affairs Office Chengdu , Ambassador Dr Ann Derwin and deputy head of mission Mr Barry Mulligan and Ciaran Breen from the Embassy of Ireland in China and Mr Wu Bin from Jinjiang District and Director Xu Liaoyuan XLY museum.
Mr Huang Tao , Ambassador Derwin , Mr Wu Bin and Museum Director Xu Liaoyuan
Tree Climber 120 x 100 cm acrylic on canvas 100x 120cm 2020
Although these days I gather one minute Tree Stories on video, back in 2020 the tree stories were in written form. The Story for Tree Climber came from the 2020 earlier written stories . The story was from forest expert Anna Finke as she reveals her quirky side and her passion for tree climbing .
https://niamhcunningham.com/june-tree-climber/
The perfect black mat walls of Xu Liaoyuan Museum absorbed all surrounding wavelengths apart from the colours in the saturated paintings.
Barrow Trance, oil on canvas 130 x 160 cm 2020
Piyo’s view （blue） Acrylic on canvas 50 x 60cm 2020
Synopsis on Tree Story for Piyo’s View:
This story (was in written form and not on video format ) came from Joshua who wrote about his young son White Horse and they took in an old stray dog Piyo to take care of him. Sometime later the dog Piyo died and was buried under a hawthorne tree in their yard. The father consoled his son by showing him what a beautiful view the dog had under the Hawthorne Tree.
https://niamhcunningham.com/august-the-hawthorne-tree/
Detail of Barrow Trance oil on canvas
Stone Forest Sky, acrylic on canvas , 100 x 120cm 2023
Banna Overstory, acrylic on canvas, 100x120cm 2021
The Meeting Place , acrylic on canvas 100x120cm 2023
Electric Chestnut, acrylic on canvas 100x 140cm 2021
We had a special collaborative installation using organic branches and leaves with Teacher Yu and his partner Roki who specialize in working on organic matter sculptures. He was working with a team from his workshops which he held that week . I brought several hundred washed pressed and dried ginkgo leaves from Beijing. The work is called ‘Replacement’ reflects the cycle of life over the seasons. The core of the structure has fresh green Ginkgo leaves suspended on branches with an outer aura of yellow Ginkgo leaves . Guests were invited to add their own Ginkgo leaf.
Mr Huang Tao adds a ginkgo leaf to the organic installation.
With Ambassador Dr Ann Derwin
Many of these paintings have been matched with tree stories by people over the years. And some paintings are still waiting for the right story. If you have a tree story that might match one of these paintings please contact me . I am currently gathering Tree Stories on one minute videos perhaps you might like to participate.
https://memorypalaceoftreestories.com/tree-story-videos/
Strawhall Chestnut 120 x 100cm oil on canvas 2023
As well as paintings on canvas the exhibition displayed original sucrose works and some process prints from the Sucrose Series.
Olympic Park Original Sucrose mixed media 40 x 30cm oval 2018
Olympic Park Curved path (dark yell) Sucrose Series on print (1/3) 90 x 65 cm 2018
Gingko Palace Sucrose print (1/3) 90 x 65 cm 2018
Detail from Gingko Palace print
A huge thank you to our hosts The Foreign Affairs Office of Chengdu in particular to Eva Yan. A special thank you to all at the Embassy of Ireland in China in particular to the cultural officer Jiali Luo at the embassy who was instrumental for getting this project running.
JialiLuo， Niamh Cunningham Ambassador Dr Ann Derwin
With Yang Ge /Gaia
A special thank you to the wonderful people at Xu Liaoyuan Museum particularly Director Xu Liaoyuan and Zhang QunYing , Mr Wang，and to Miss Yang Ge 杨 戈 who assisted throughout the preparations and was also MC for the opening reception. Layout Installation and other preparations such as brochure, posters, media for this exhibition were the smoothest experience I have ever had with the impressive support from XLY Museum and the Foreign Office of Chengdu and the Jinjiang branch for meticulously taking care of all of these aspects .
Gallery Director Zhang Qunying
Thank you also to all the members of the Ireland – China community in Chengdu who came to the opening.
This exhibition will continue at XLY MoMA museum , Chengdu till June 14th .
Exhibition Media Links:
- https://static.cdsb.com/micropub/Articles/202405/8f8ed8ac120991d6ab51e5355ac1e69c.html?wxopenid=oBCTzjrmb6dwfcQLhDN72zCDLPNo
- https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Yka1vZWccC5lSZ6-9QNv2Q
- https://img.zai-art.com/bfc7a5cbbfcd4798900e57168e9cd425.html?id=bfc7a5cbbfcd4798900e57168e9cd425
- https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/e-R0vUuiYThY46dTkbiqqw
- https://www.yidianzixun.com/article/0v6AsH84?share_count=2
- https://wap.cditv.cn/newsDetail?uid=14660896b80cc8e197ecd9e9540d6e67&app_id=1&v=4886%3B%3B1830827&t=official_account_new
- https://v5share.cdrb.com.cn/h5/detail/normal/5813161819554816
Media Video Links :
Jinjiang District Converged Media Centre
The next blog will take a brief look at the Tree Story workshops which took place (May 25th ) at XLY museum and also (May 26th ) at the Sancheng community centre.
