From the Forest is a celebration of the beauty, bounty and resilience of forests. Set in the grounds of the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden, the two-week festival is rich with exhibitions and storytelling, music and workshops.
The celebrations begin at 10am on Saturday 9 April with the opening of the Wattle Walk, and outdoor art installation featuring thousands of hand-knitted wattle flowers, followed by a sausage sizzle and great live music.
Garden Manager Michael Anlezark said the Wattle Walk was a powerful community art project – created in partnership with the University of Wollongong – that really packed a punch.
“Wattles represent resilience and regeneration. This exhibit is all about recognising the immense and ongoing impact of the Black Summer bushfires,” Michael said.
“That’s just the start. From the Forest will deliver all kinds of treasures and memories for visitors to take home.”
Other festival highlights include local bands The Phil Cullen Ensemble, The Catalina Clarinet Collaborations, THUGS Ukulele Band, Driftwood, and Deep River Choir. Free art workshops give both children and adults the chance to express their own response to the unfurling leaves and plants around them. Or go behind the scenes with Michael to learn what actually happens at the propagation nursery, seed bank and Wallace Herbarium.
Michael said the Visitors Centre Banksia Room would be given over to the exhibition Natural Resources, with more than 100 works by 19 of this region’s best artists.
“Inspired by our life giving forests, this exhibition reveals the partnership of resourceful creativity with beautiful natural materials – wood, textiles, paper and ceramics,” he said.
“We also have some great talks, walks, displays, kids’ activities, and information about the importance of forests to Indigenous culture and local early-settler industry. Creating native gardens and creative public art workshops also feature. The festival ends with a talk by popular local author John Blay.”
