Visual Strolls

seasonal residency

Visual Strolls is a residency space for artists who share an affinity for landscapes and wilderness, inner and outer. Foresta is changing with every season as the real forest does. In cyclical circularity it celebrates changing seasons of nature and of our lives. As snow melts away, as days grow longer, as leaves change colour, as they fly with the wind, as stillness settles in, as warmth returns, as birds cross continents — at the turn of each seasonal moment we invite a different artist to bring a new time of the year to Foresta by creating a portrait of time that later becomes part of the permanent Museum of Seasons.

The author of winter 2016/2017 portrait of Foresta is Britta Teckentrup. Britta is an illustrator and picture book maker from Berlin. Much of Britta's recent work is dedicated to landscapes and the changing seasons, to the cycles of nature and of human life. Below you will find a selection of images from her books dedicated to the inner and outer landscapes. 

Winter Portraits by Britta Teckentrup: pre- and post- Christmas time

"In my work I am trying to capture emotional, fleeting moments often reflecting childhood memories. My art seems to be rooted in the tension and connection between the outside and the inside world and the forest is a reoccurring theme. Some of my books that probably show this approach best are: ‘Alle Wetter’ and ‘ Worauf wartest du?’ (both published by Jacoby& Stuart) and ‘Before I Wake Up ...’ (published by Prestel).

At first sight ‘Alle Wetter’ might look like a straight forward non-fiction picture book about different weather phenomena but I also wanted to convey the emotions we feel when we experience rain, snow, storms, fog, wind and the sun etc.. To me weather is strongly connected to childhood. I can still remember experiencing my first thunder storm, being mesmerised by snow, going for a walk on a windy day or running through the pouring rain...

‘Worauf wartest du?’ is almost like a continuation of ‘Alle Wetter’ but this time I wanted to focus on people and their inner landscapes, questions and searches in life.

In ‘Before I Wake Up ...’ a little girl travels through her inner worlds in search of the place where all creativity is born. A place that needs to be nurtured and listened to so it doesn’t get lost..."

About Visual Strolls

Visual Strolls is not only an online gallery, an exhibition room, a portrait into the work of the invited artist. It is also a part of our long-term research, understanding arts and creativity as forces that change human states of attention in manifold ways, as forms of cognition and perception, divergent perspectives and poetry of vision, access to intuition and imagination, and empowerment for conscious creation of culture. You can read more about Art into Life research here.

Cover image: Britta Teckentrup