A walk down orchard lane

Five years after appearing in Wodonga’s public art lightboxes, Alpine artist Natalie Malseed has returned with her latest work featuring life on a chestnut farm.

“It takes you on a journey for the 12 months, the four seasons, and there’s eight images in the original series,” she said.

“The three works you see here are carved into wooden board and painted with watercolour.”

Natalie was inspired by artist Cressida Campbell, who does woodblock paintings, after visiting one of her exhibitions in Canberra.

“I am really pleased how these have come together and it’s an honour to once again feature in the lightboxes,” she said.

Natalie's artwork was selected as part of the council’s Ephemeral Art Program, which aims to create inspiring temporary public art that supports community identity and increases the cultural vibrancy.

The three artworks are taken from her current solo exhibition, In the Orchard, at the Bright Art Gallery and Cultural Centre which is sponsored by the Australian Chestnut Association.

            Current artowrk: Fairies live here                      In the Orchard                                     Falling Chestnuts

Natalie works for Chestnuts Australia, looking for blight at many properties around the Alpine region and beyond.

“I could walk 14km a day and look at 200 trees or walk 5km and look at 1000, it depends on the terrain and how old the trees are, so I really have been immersed in this whole industry,” she said.

A full-size chestnut tree has been included in the gallery exhibition which also highlights chestnut blight and hopes to start an important conversation around the disease found in the Alpine region.

“We had a chestnut tree die on my partner’s Porepunkah property from a different illness and it was cut down and I have hand stitched every leaf on the 3m tree,” she said.

“On this tree I did an artist interpretation of blight, so it’s a little larger than what blight actually is to show people what to look for.

“I want to improve education around blight, creating awareness about farm hygiene to prevent the spread.

“The exhibition also talks about how to manage blight, you identify a tree and then burn it.”

The Bright exhibition will be on display until November 6 while the lightboxes will be on display until December 15.

To purchase or view more of Natalie’s artwork, visit her website here.

Above: The lightboxes featuring Natalie's mushroom artwork in 2018.

Above: Natalie's exhibition titled In the Orchard on display at Bright Gallery and Cultural Centre until November 6.