Cherry Fall, Courtesy Fermynwoods. © Stephen Turner

Exhibition Preview - Stephen Turner's Tree Rings at Fermynwoods - running until November 2 2008.

Stephen Turner has always been interested in how we are affected by, and connect with, our external environment whether we are in familiar or unexplored terrain. At Femynwoods he returns to this fascinating exploration of our partnership with nature.

For ‘Tree Rings’ he explores the passage of seasons with large circular canvases that have been left under cherry trees and are filmed to record marks made by the surrounding environment.

Larch Circle, Courtesy Fermynwoods © Stephen Turner

Turner says “I’m amazed that the shadows cast by a tree onto a rectangle of canvas, when observed in a time-lapse film are never the same twice.”

The canvases will remain in situ while they provide a physical record of each individual tree’s unique ecology and symbolise the cycles of growth, decay and rejuvenation.

A view of Stephen Turner's studio. © Dylan Woolf

For another aspect of his exhibition Turner has boiled down brittle dry leaves and cherries for six hours, forming a golden brown substance which he has then daubed onto paper to create elegant fluid forms that resemble the trees that he originated with.

This organic and pain-staking process is testament to an artist who uses his knowledge of the complex relationship between humans and nature to breathe life into his work.