Haruko Okano: Arboretum Arborescence

Curated By Deborah Loxam-Kohl

Touchstones is hosting an exhibition of her past work, entitled Arboretum Arborescence, an installation of flue forms comprised of collected natural detritus that combine to offer a visual, odiferous and tactile sensory reference to the natural world. A strong supporter of the grass roots movements of a community, Haruko engages in community developed art practices, mentors those in the arts and engages in instructing teachers in the value of art as a catalyst for social change. To this end, Haruko will be hosting workshops while in residence at Oxygen, and the exhibition at Touchstones will feature Commontree, a community-engaging component that invites the community to respond to Arboretum Arborescence by adding personal commentary – the result being a smattering of
spontaneous poetry on the floor beneath the piece.

Haruko Okano

Haruko Okano (born March 26, 1945) is a process-based, collaborative, multidisciplinary, mixed-media artist, poet, community organizer, and activist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She will be in Nelson this summer as the 2007 Artist-in-Residence at the Oxygen Art Centre, where she will be creating new work during her one-moth residency.