ATHABASCA — The woods south of Colinton were filled with forest nymphs and art enthusiasts alike July 11, as a fantasy-scape came alive before them with the works of multiple local artists.
The Mossy Trails Boreal Gallery, the site of this art walk, is run by Marilyn Johnson and her family whose “mutual interest is in the arts and creativity,” she says.
About 25 people gathered at Mossy Trails to take in the many works on display throughout the forest by Johnson, her son Nickelas, the gallery’s artist-in-residence Jovi Klak and others.
While all of the works are unique in their own right, they share a common theme — that being nature and decomposition.
“Each piece is either inspired by or created with elements from the nature around us. It's not our intent to shelter and preserve the original piece, although some protective measures have been taken to slow down the process,” Marilyn said when discussing the inspiration behind the gallery.
Along with the heavy inspiration from nature, the family has put an emphasis on the beauty of decay.
“Collectively the space becomes an ever-changing singular work of art that perhaps changes our concept that decay is negative or bad,” Marilyn explained.
“It causes us to consider that it is a beautiful part of the cycle of life.”
Marilyn’s ideas for Mossy Trails have been brewing for over 30 years, although it wasn’t until 2012 when the family first moved to their current residence that the idea began to come to life.
“I was drawing sketches and I was checking out different resources and looking into other outdoor galleries in Canada and Alberta,” Marilyn said, describing how the idea solidified after their move.
In 2018, the first piece, done by Marilyn’s son, Nickelas “Smokey” Johnson, was brought to the property. Over the course of the following years the family was able to accumulate the other works that now reside on the property.
While Smokey’s work was only brought to Mossy Trails in 2018, he has been working on his “Unnamed Gods” series since 2015.
His first piece, done in collaboration with his wife, was “made initially for a gallery installation.”
Since then, the collection expanded to four pieces throughout the trails.
“It's a very exploratory, ongoing, curious, art installation,” Smokey said.
As for Klak, much of her residency at Mossy Trails included working on a large, botanical mural for the gallery.
When asked about her reason for partaking in the residency, she said, “I just thought it was such an amazing idea and I really wanted to do it because I haven't heard of too many other artist residency centres nearby.”
Klak said she also felt creating the mural for the gallery was a great opportunity as it took her outside of her comfort zone.
“Going from really tiny to really big, considering I'm so used to using these tiny little brushes, and really agonizing over little details … was a completely different experience,” Klak said. “Having to move your body, and climb up and down a ladder, you felt small against the big piece, I really enjoyed it.”
The Johnsons have big plans for the future of Mossy Trails including their artist-in-residence program, which allows artists typically more familiar with the urban art world, a chance to come out to the country and soak in the inspiration of a more rural environment. They also hope to include the work of many more artists, some of which may be more traditional, some perhaps, not so much.
“We're obviously in our infancy, but our hope is to provide space for an increasingly diverse group of artists in every medium — visual and performing arts, writing, film and music. Our goal is to allow every artist to be immersed in nature,” Marilyn said.
“The next project slated for this season is to build a recording studio that will operate within the confines of our solar power system, and opening up the trail in the forest gallery specifically for youth art, the artists of tomorrow.”
By working with these diverse forms of art, Marilyn hopes to offer inspiration through nature to any artist who seeks it.
Smokey too, sees great things for the future of Mossy Trails.
“I want to see it be a place where the land has an opportunity to speak through the people who come here,” he said, adding that programs for youth will also be a focus in the near future. “I'm so stoked to see what kind of things that kids can come up with out here.”
He envisions them working on their own small pieces inspired by the surroundings as well as more daring projects such as stop-motion animation using inspiration found in the wilderness.
All in all, the family at Mossy Trails has many goals and aspirations, but each keeps in mind a greater purpose.
“Our focus is to continually bring greater awareness to the art community,” Marilyn said.
Smokey agreed, also placing an emphasis on the family’s hope to bring art into the community.
“It's very exciting to see the response and how people want to jump in,” he said.
“We're making this thing happen and [the response] is deeply exciting and gratifying to me and the rest of my family.”
