Art / “Earth Canvas”. At the National Museum, until October 22. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.

SHOWCASING good land management, the exhibition “Earth Canvas” at the National Museum of Australia captures the results of farmers who practise sustainable agriculture.

Artists including Alexander Boynes, Ros Atkins, Jenny Bell, Jo Davenport, Janet Laurence, Tony Nott, Idris Murphy and John Wolseley all had immersive contact with farmers and landscapes to create their works for “Earth Canvas”. Each artwork reveals an appreciation for and understanding of the natural forces that sustain us.

In an immersive exhibition of paintings, drawings, photography, design and video, these artworks show the regenerative farming processes that are happening between the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers in southern NSW. Linking artists with regenerative farmers is a unique method of capturing the holistic and beneficial effects of not just land care but livestock management and farming practice on the environment.

The always special results in the artworks of Janet Laurence feel like they inhabit her subjects. While not positioned in the best manner because of light reflection, her “Notes from the Land: Habitat”, 2019, which are images printed on Duraclear transparency floating above a mirror surface within an acrylic box, visually represent the minutia and beauty of nature.

The studies of “Bibbaringa”, by John Wolsely, watercolours on paper, resemble maps and a soft alluring retelling of this countryside. Wolsely is deeply immersed in the country through his artworks and where he lives.

And this shows in his responses to the natural world through his use of colour and design. There is a mirroring of the surrounding landscapes, but he also captures the shades of the land around these landscapes, telling more of the earth’s story than a simple landscape does.

“Listening across Time”, by local artist Alexander Boynes is a multi-dimensional work consisting of a painting and video artwork accompanied by a score from the cellist Tristen Parr. This artwork astounds as the forces of the different media come to life before a viewer.

It responds to the working property Milpost in Bungendore. Laid out over three panels, this large-scale work positions the viewer not just in the landscape, but also in its history.

Two small works by Rosalind Atkins titled “Yammacoona 1 and 2”, are wood print blocks, with the actual woodblocks underneath the artworks. They are so detailed, they look real. It’s possible to feel the earth when seeing these works.

The large highly coloured artwork titled “Lifeblood” 2019, by Jenny Bell, is a personal response to Mt Nara Narra near Holbrook. Its medium is Lefranc and Bourgeois flashe vinyl paint on hoop pine plywood. The highly stylised graphic designs in the artwork seem to represent odd creatures, or perhaps the moon and the sun, too.

It had a bit of a 1950s sci-fi movie feel to it. Taking up almost one entire wall, the narrative was a mystery, but it certainly grabs the eye.

The digital photography of Tony Nott looks closely at patterns, colours and forms found in the biodiversity across properties. The fungus, the grass, the wood and the cycle of life represent one small slice of the beauty of nature up close.

This “Earth Canvas” project shows the significant effects that human activity can have on the environment. It shows how we can help the earth if we all come together.