Artists in the Wetland

One of my favorite things about nature is that it fosters creativity and passion. The natural world has a way of sparking imagination and fostering new ideas. Being in nature allows us to clear our minds, meditate, reflect, and tap into our internal sources of inspiration.  I love seeing art created through experiences people have at Heckrodt.  It gave me an idea to share some lovely art from a few Heckrodt visitors.
-written by Andrea B (Heckrodt staff)

 

Poems by Janice DiNardo

~ Good Morning October! ~

Month of gold and amber leaf

With ruby veins aflame ~

The mushrooms with their last farewells

As leaving flocks take wing ~

And still the River flows and swirls

Around the glistening stones ~

I pause to breathe the amber air

From earth’s sweet mossy throne ~

~ An October Frost ~

This morning in the shadows,

the secret alchemy of frost,

had turned every leaf, flower & blade of grass,

into an exquisite work of art!

What a wondrous magic happens

when water becomes so still within,

that everything becomes crystal-clear,

bringing beauty to all it touches!

 

Fall Poem by Casey Jones

Change Easy Mother Nature

With such a noble aim

I’ll change with the seasons

So I can stay the same…

 

Fall at Bart’s Pond
by Jason Fowler

As the leaves turn a wide array of beautiful fall colors, a rich, warm, and earthy palette that includes shades of red, orange, yellow, purple, and brown, the songbirds finish the final chorus to their success or sorrow of the breeding season. As the bugs begin to disappear, so do the birds flutter away.

I was sitting on a bench listening intently to all around me at Bart’s Pond. I hear a mouse chewing loudly on the dead grass at my feet. The last of the crickets hopping. The last of the mushrooms popping up. I can see small fish under the surface, creating tiny ripples as they feed on the green algae. The snakes are slithering back to their hibernaculum, and the frog’s and toad’s metabolism is slowing, preparing them for hibernation.

I noticed a man walking across the bridge with a banjo strapped to his back. He stopped in the middle, repositioned the instrument, and slowly started to play. As the notes and chords began to build, they floated across the air and filled the pond with a melody. As a young couple with a stroller started across the bridge  with a thu dunk, a dunk-dunk, from the wheels of the stroller rolling over the wooden planks, the leaves are falling all around me, adding to the growing symphony of nature‘s collaboration of sound. Then, adding some light percussion to the mix of the crackling sticks, a couple of young bucks walked along and started sparring the sounds of their rattling horns, now joining the mix.

The barred owls joined as they angrily scolded one another about entering their territory. But the Great Horned Owls kept asking, WHO WHO WHO?

The owls have become more accessible to spot as the canopy is thinning, revealing all that has been hiding. Fall has come.

(Click the photos to enlarge them)

 

Wetland Inspired Art 

Fall Wildlife Photos Taken By James Overesch