Helen Hunt - Thoreau's Room

Helen Hunt - Thoreau's Room
At the Mile End climbing wall,  next to Regents canal, London

Welcome to the Dwell exhibition and book. For a whole month we will be taking each artist's page and transforming it into a 3 dimensional dwelling. Each one of these small sculptures will be exhibited in public on the London streets.

Henry David Thoreau's cabin

Today on the London streets we have a little piece of Massachusetts on the streets of London. Artist Helen Hunt has brought a replica of Henry David Thoreau's cabin to our attention with her fabulous net from the Dwell book. Hunt has been exhibiting with us since our south coast magnet exhibition on the gates of the pier in St Leonards and Hastings. She has a growing reputation on the wider UK scene for her delicate painted moths on the pages and covers of antiquarian books.

Wood-tiger by Helen Hunt
Courtesy of http://www.helenhunt.co.uk/

Hunt's art is inspired by the changes that the seasons bring to the natural world and this is evident in her net for the dwell project. It is inspired by Henry D. Thoreau’s hut at Walden where he lived simply,  surrounded by nature and wrote many beautiful pieces on what he observed in this place. His hut was a rudimentary dwelling (noun) itself but the act of observing, pondering and writing on Nature could also be considered to be dwelling(verb).

She was keen to combine a quote from Thoreau’s writing done while living at Walden with many visual references to the animals and plantlife that were around him. Helen Hunt's dwelling gives you the sense that Thoreau was completely immersed in his surroundings and that Nature worked its way into interior space as much as he went out in search of it. On the outside of the built net we can see this quote from Thoreau journal (3rd January 1853), "I have a room all to myself; it is nature."

Page 23 Dwell Book
Helen Hunt

Here Helen Hunt presents us with something to dwell over in our minds, Walden is one of the most challenging books for us all in the 21st century because it rocks the very foundation of our consumerism. When I read it in my formative years I was shocked by the fact that you could own but one pair of trousers for all your adult life. I tried and failed with my pantaloon experiment but you'll not with this net which received an Average difficulty rating from the book's author Dean Reddick.

"I have enjoyed working in this way and am satisfied with the end result. The real proof of the pudding will be to see whether people are able to follow my instructions and make ‘Thoreau’s Room’ - and most importantly, whether they enjoy doing so!"
Helen Hunt (2015)

Well that's a challenge to you, time to get making! Maybe afterwards you'll take Thoreau's room back into it's natural habitat. We placed ours beside the climbing wall in Mile End, next to Regent's Canal, London.

Regent's Canal at Mile End, London

Don't forget to have a look at the next Collect Connect project, 'The Art of Caring' exhibition at The Rose Theatre in Kingston-upon-Thames. The theme is Caring/Care and it is FREE to enter.

 To buy the Dwell Book for £6 then follow this LINK.

AL.

Dwell artwork at the printers

Its taken longer than we thought but the dwell book is now finished and out of our hands for a few days. The artwork rests on the printing press of our publishers Sampson Low Ltd so it's just a waiting game. The final list of artists can be found below and on our designated Artist's page. Thank you to Dean Reddick for his idea and hard work in reaching this milestone.

The Dwell book cover art

From the 1st February keep an eye out for the dwellings on the streets of London. We'll be placing one a day in interesting places throughout the capital. Then posting information about the artists and creators here on the CollectConnect website, facebook page and twitter.

Artists and their nets.....

3. Alban Low - Scrunchy Shed
5. Beth Davis - Hofbauer Castle in the Sky
7. Bryan Benge - City Scape
9. Catherine Wynne-Paton - Raft at Sea
11. Dean Reddick - Shelter One
13. Dean Reddick - TreeHouse
15. Eleanor Bedlow - Container
17. Ella & Fausto - House by the Wild Sea
19. Eve Allsop - Home
21. Gavin Blackhurst - 46 Malbet Park
23. Helen Hunt - Thoreau’s Room
25. Holly Daniels - Fairy Dwelling
27. Jane Hellings - Shipping Container
29. Jay Snelling - Pyramid
31. Jessamy Low - Ocelot Villa
33. J Masson - Abri
35. Keziah Reddick - Dream dwelling
37. Kim Reddick - Crates
39. Lisa Howes - Flat Pack
41. Malc Dow - Escape Dwelling
43. Melanie Ezra - Caer Hecsagon
45. Mike Russell - Negated Obstacle
47. Natalie Low - Dwellow Submarine
49. Nick Gammons - Castle
51. Rajaa Khalife Paixao - Confessions of an artist
53. Sabatin Bascoban - The Caravan
55. Sara Lerota - Table as a place..
57. Steve DT - The Sistene Chapel
59. Stuart Simler - Trojan Horse
61. Tamara Jelaca - Little house in Prairie