by Autumn Rozario Hall
Part One
This is a proposal for the creation of a series of constellation-based paintings intended to accompany the KHOI grant project. The constellation images are intended to provide a visual part to accompany audio clips for the BeWild ReWild website.
The first part of this proposal covers the creation of nine paintings inspired by constellations and featuring animals that make their home in Iowa. Each painting has been created with acrylic paint and white ink.
BeWild ReWild will have permission to use the images on its website, as part of the grant agreement. As the project evolves the possible creation of more constellation-themed images may be necessary to accompany evolving web content. The grant funds will go towards the creating of the first set of paintings as well as the documentation and editing of the images to make them web-ready. It will also cover the creation of 5-8 additional paintings or related content.
The goal of this grant project is to invite others into the rewilding conversation through visually engaging images that connect to other rewilding projects in the community. The images are intended to be a collaborative part of a larger series of recordings for Iowa ReWild BeWild.
Requested grant funds are $2880 to cover the first portion of this proposal. As many of the paintings are already completed, the timeline depends on the KHOI grant timeline.
Part Two
The second part of this proposal covers the creation of a collection of illustrated works and writings exploring themes of urban rewilding in an imaginative context. Requested grant funds are $2,000 to cover the second portion of this proposal. Grant funds went towards the creation of this work with approximately 15% for supplies, 85% for creation.
For this project, I have completed seven short stories and essays and 30+ paintings and illustrations that explore a place I call the Scraggle Wood. The scraggle wood is what I call those bits of reclaimed woods existing within urban settings. This is the woods of my childhood. It’s an unmanaged product of neglect where the forest has rewilded itself. Scraggle woods are a place of magic, broken bottles, weeds, woods and wildness. The stories center around these forgotten places and their importance to imaginative play for early childhood development. I wanted to explore the idea of finding wildness and wonder within urban settings vs. the idea of wildness being ‘out there’.
Here’s my inspiration for the art and writing.
There are old growth forests where the trees have never known the buzz of a chainsaw, or the crush of booted feet. Places where the air is full of enchantment and honeyed sunlight.
This is not one of those forests.
This wood is closer to home.This wood is persistent, patient, growing up between fence posts and old tires. It is a bottle littered, plastic bag choked scraggle of a wood, but a wood just the same. These pockets of nature unkept are where stories happen. They are the places that nourish wildlife, and if we let them, our wild selves.
This is our wood.
I collected the art, writing and musings together in a book so I could share them.
About the book:
Tales from the Scraggle Wood is an illustrated collection of short stories inspired by urban wild places by artist, Autumn Rozario Hall
The Scraggle Wood pushes into the neglected areas of town. Reclaiming. Rewilding. These pockets of nature unkept are where stories happen. They are the places that nourish wildlife, and if we let them, our wild selves.
Journey with a tiny girl who collects Moss as she helps the forest spread in The Tale of Tiny Moss Collector…
Discover what awaits at the top of a crumbling stair in Stairway in the Woods…
Learn what happens to a newly planted tree once twilight has fallen and most are in their beds in The Planting of the Oak...
Meet the Mosslets, the Ink Maker, and Grandmother Duster and many others in the art and stories of The Scraggle Wood.
