OUR PERSONAL NATURE (IT)

In the summer of 2025, I was invited by Rachel Moore, Executive Director & Director of Exhibitions at The Current: A Center for Contemporary Art in Stowe, VT, to be a visiting artist-in-residence for one month in Fontecchio, Abruzzo, Italy. The invitation was part of a project The Current was partnering with called ARCA: Art – Regenerations – Community – Living. The primary goal of the ARCA project was to bring 11 international artists to small communities in Abruzzo to help revitalize and reconnect these areas through the arts. This kind of initiative has been especially important following the devastating earthquakes of 2009 and the resulting depopulation.

I enthusiastically agreed after preliminary meetings with Todd Thomas Brown, founder of the Fontecchio International Airport—a center for creative residencies—and Silvia Di Gregorio, Director of the ARCA program.

I arrived in Fontecchio on October 1, 2025 and immediately began meeting people, exploring the area, and figuring out what I would do with the community. I was instantly drawn to the beauty of Fontecchio and the surrounding region: small, concentrated towns—many dating back to medieval times or earlier—scattered throughout a stunning mountainous landscape filled with national parks and historic stone architecture. I found that many residents had a deep connection to the land, to seasonal and agricultural rhythms, and to the mountains and forests. I also discovered parallels with where I live and work in the foothills of Vermont’s Green Mountains. As I walked, I was struck by how the feeling of this place echoed the atmosphere of Northwestern Vermont, with its agricultural and environmental heritage.

This direct experience of walking and exploring, deepened by conversations with residents, led to the creation of a project titled “Our Personal Nature: A Community-Generated Portrait About Our Relationship with the Ecology of Fontecchio and the Surrounding Area.”

Our Personal Nature is based on a previously unrealized exhibition project of mine called My Personal Nature, combined with elements of the work I do with students in a course I teach at Saint Michael’s College called Art & Ecology.

The project began with me leading three workshops at Palazzo Galli, with translation by Sebastian Alvarez.

Workshop 1: Talking and Shared Learning
Participants wrote responses to questions I posed in a small hand-made “personal nature” notebook. We then discussed terms and ideas related to nature, wilderness, the human ecosystem, biophilia, and the Anthropocene.

Workshop 2: Walking and Shared Exploring
After a brief introduction on what to observe, participants joined me on a walk through Fontecchio, searching for plants and animals. We also looked for objects or images that were human-made but resembled natural forms, or places where natural and human-made elements had merged.

Workshop 3: Making and Preparing Materials for Exhibition
I gave tutorials on how to prepare and mount pressed plant specimens. Participants were also given watercolor paints and pencils for drawing, along with prompts for adding labels and other writing. They were encouraged to continue working in their “personal nature” booklets. I asked participants to label a hand-drawn map of Fontecchio I created from a satellite photo. I also interviewed participants on video about their idea of “nature,” which I later used in the project video.

Once the workshops were complete, I began the final process of preparing and curating all materials for the exhibition.

I edited and curated photos from the walk, printing some and using others in a video slideshow projected in the exhibition space.

I asked participants to bring one object from home that represented “nature,” and one that was a human-made representation of nature. I transcribed their label notes to create printed labels for the objects they contributed.

I used video footage from the walk, additional shots of places we visited, and the interviews to edit the project video, which was projected in a room adjacent to the main exhibition space.

The final elements of the exhibition were twelve 1-meter-long models of the ubiquitous cranes that tower over towns throughout the region. I learned from locals that these cranes have been a constant presence for more than a decade, helping rebuild communities after the 2009 earthquakes. I mounted the crane sculptures on the wall just above head height and hung “natural” objects from them. The objects were collected by participants and myself.

I designed the installation to be a complex, multi-sensory experience—combining a broad, macro view of the project with many intimate moments for visitors to explore the formal and metaphorical meanings embedded within.

-Brian Collier