The Australian National Botanic Gardens and artist Julie Ryder will tempt visitors into the astonishing and beautiful world of Australia's second largest plant group with the exhibition, Art and the bryophyte. The multi-media project is the result of the Synapse Art and Science Residency Program, managed by the Australian Network for Art and Technology as part of the Australia Council New Media Arts Board. Artist Julie Ryder teams up with Dr Christine Cargill.

Bryophytes, which literally translates as "moss plants", are an ancient group of plants that have been described as the "geo mat" of the Earth forming a protective carpet and helping to ensure many ecosystems remain in balance.

Through the microsope they are revealed as complex, colourful and beautiful.

Now, through a unique artistic lens, they can be appreciated on a larger-than-life scale.

Australian National Botanic Gardens artist-in-residence Julie Ryder joined forces with scientist Dr Christine Cargill to provide an artist’s view of the inherent beauty of bryophytes.

The exhibition reveals the results of their six-month collaboration. It examines the history of botanical science, the culture of collecting as well as the systems of naming and identifying plants. It showcases the stunning and surprising sculptural shapes, form and texture of bryophytes through textiles, digital prints and three-dimensional objects.

The artist - Julie Ryder

I am a Canberra-based designer and the first artist in residence for the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

For the past 15 years, my focus has been in the medium of textiles and I have had work in more than 70 exhibitions nationally and internationally. I have qualifications in microbiology and in 2004 completed a Master of Arts (Visual Arts) in Textiles at the Australian National University School of Art. A recent solo exhibition was Microcosm, as part of METIS at the CSIRO Discovery Centre.

Since 1995, I have researched the innovative technique of fruit fermentation directly on fabric, placing fruits onto cloth and allowing fungi, bacteria and moulds to colonise in a semi-controlled environment. After several months the fabric is harvested, sterilized and washed, leaving indelible biological imprints. I call this process "Nigredo", after a transformative stage in ancient alchemy. The marks and colours obtained using this process transferred permanently onto silk, and these fabrics were then used for scarves, and constructed to make larger wall hangings. This was an innovative means of mark making onto cloth, which I used in conjunction with more traditional methods of surface design such as screen-printing, monoprinting, applique and stitch. Examples of this work are represented in many public and private collections in Australia and overseas.

The artist in residency has provided the opportunity for me to expand the area of my crafts practice of textile design to include digital design, immediately contributing greater potential for creative and artistic freedom. The works have used scanning electron microscopy and digital software to explore the history of the collection, classification and taxonomy of bryophytes as well as their ecological importance.

The scientist - Dr Christine Cargill

I fell in love with bryophytes in my third year of university while completing a project on Wyperfeld National Park in northwestern Victoria. This love affair continued into my honours year when I worked on the spectacular moss Hypnodendron in the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne. After obtaining my Honours degree in Botany in 1978, I worked as a laboratory assistant at a Melbourne secondary college later becoming a technician and research assistant to the well-known Australian bryologist Dr George A. M. Scott at Monash University.

While working with Dr Scott on one of the liverwort groups, Fossombronia, I changed direction from mosses to liverworts.

I later took up a position as a technician in the First Year Biology Laboratories at Monash University, eventually becoming senior tutor for one year and then supervisor of the lab. During this time, I continued research work on the liverworts, later branching out into the hornworts after receiving a grant to revise the group for Australia.

In 1997, I moved with my family to the United States to complete a PhD at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

I completed my postgraduate degree in 2001 concentrating on a revision of the liverwort group Fossombroniineae for Africa, Southwest Asia and the subcontinent of India.

On my return to Australia from the US in 2001, I obtained the position of Curator of the Cryptogam Herbarium for the Australian National Herbarium, situated at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra.

I am continuing my studies into the hornworts of the Australasian region in a collaborative project with colleagues in the US, as well as work on particular groups within the liverworts.

The exhibition

The exhibition Art and the Bryophyte runs from 10 August – 11 November 2005 at the Australian National Botanic Gardens Public Gallery, Clunies Ross Steet, Canberra. The Gardens are open daily from 9.00am - 5.00pm

Suzanne Mostyn
Communications and Media Coordinator
Australian National Botanic Gardens