Main fundraiser photo

One Seed Thousand Dreams

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"Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking."

             Wangari Maathai  Kenyan environmentalist and political activist. Noble Peace Prize winner 2004


One Seed A Thousand Dreams – The Artists’ Woods is a dream to create wild woods for the future, returning the land
to nature and creating a place for people to connect.


This project is to raise funds to buy land and to plant thousands of trees. 

With the money we raise, we will buy land that will be immediately placed into trust, in perpetuity. It will be owned by all of us.

And we will buy trees, chosen with consideration for the predicted climatic changes ahead, and plant them in a way that
will create the greatest opportunity for natural re-wilding.

The Artists' Woods will create a new woodland, a habitat for wildlife. We will protect  the land and the trees  for ever,
allowing the trees to grow and mature, creating a woodland that will provide a rich habitat for wildlife. 
It will be a
woodland for everyone to use and enjoy.

It will also provide creative opportunities for Artists' Residencies, collaborations and for exhibiting work focused broadly on the human/nature relationship.  It will also provide education on the vital role of woodlands, the importance of
biodiversity and re-wilding, as well as opportunities for tree planting and care of the woodland.

The Artists’ Woods will be protected forever in trust. 

This is your invitation to be part of this exciting collaboration.

WHAT YOUR DONATION WILL SUPPORT:

£10 covers the cost of one tree

£25 covers the cost of the land for 1 tree, the tree, the planting and care of the tree for 2 years.

£100 covers the cost of the land for 4 trees, the trees, the planting, protection  and care of the 5 trees for 2 years until they can care for themselves.

£1,000 covers the cost of the land for 40 trees, the trees, the planting, protection  and care of the 40 trees for 2 years
until they can care for themselves.

All woods will be professionally planted and managed with the support of volunteers. There will be a small team working alongside me, who will oversee the planning, planting and care of the trees and be responsible for managing the funds.
As the funds increase, the search will begin for the land. 

DONATING AS A GIFT? A PRESENT FOR SOMEONE?
Please see some options below.
Message me directly if it is a gift,  with your name and email address, what you have donated  and I will send you a
downloadable Tree Certificate or a print.  This is for gifts of £25 upwards.

£25 covers the cost of the land for 1 tree, the tree, the planting and care of the tree for 2 years.
If you donate an additional £15  they will receive a print from my photo series 'Melt Rise Fall'.



£100 covers the cost of the land for 4 trees, the trees, the planting, protection  and care of the 5 trees for 2 years until they can care for themselves. Donate an additional £50 and they will receive a 10 x 8 limited edition print from my photo
series 'Viral Landscapes' printed on fine art paper. 



Don't forget!
Message me directly if it is a gift,  with your name and email address, what you have donate  and I will send you a downloadable Tree Certificate or a print.



WHAT YOUR DONATION WILL SUPPORT:

£10 covers the cost of one tree

£25 covers the cost of the land for 1 tree, the tree, the planting and care of the tree for 2 years.

£100 covers the cost of the land for 4 trees, the trees, the planting, protection  and care of the 5 trees for 2 years until they can care for themselves.

£1,000 covers the cost of the land for 40 trees, the trees, the planting, protection  and care of the 40 trees for 2 years until they can care for themselves.

All woods will be professionally planted and managed with the support of volunteers. There will be a small team working alongside me, who will oversee the planning, planting and care of the trees and be responsible for managing the funds.
As the funds increase, the search will begin for the land. 


An introduction from the creator Natalie Koffman One Seed A Thousand Dreams The Artists Woods 



MORE ABOUT THE IDEA

In 2009 I made a photo book One Seed A Thousand Dreams. The book told the story of my brother, who inspired by the wonderful story, The Man Who Planted Trees, by Jean Giorno, raised money to buy land and planted over 200,000 trees in Devon. I have witnessed the transformation of this bare land over the last 20 years, to the emergence of beautiful woodlands. This project seeks to find new ways to inspire us to work together to continue the planting of trees, to have a relationship with the trees that we plant and to understand the vital role each of us has to shape the future. 

This project is an exploration of the power of networks, connections and collective actions.  By acting together, sometimes in the simplest of ways, we can all be agents of change. We can create the world we want, and make the unimaginable happen.

Every contributor to The Artists' Woods is a co-creator of the woodland, and every person's contribution and participation is vital to creating something for  present and future generations of humans and other than humans.

WHY NOW?

Change is possible. The drastic and urgent changes that are needed to address our Climate Emergency – changes that we have been told for so long cannot happen – are within our grasp. 2020's global pandemic has shown that we can change our work and leisure practices, cut car and air travel, and radically reduce carbon emissions. Wildlife in our towns and cities can recover. The natural world can re-emerge. Communities can help and support each other. 

Things can be different. 

Together, we can make that difference. 

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

One Seed A Thousand Dreams – The Artists’ Woods has been a dream for many years. My art primarily focuses on the human/nature relationship and on the impact of humans' disconnect from nature. I have often sought to collaborate and create actions that address the destruction of the natural world, and continue to investigate and explore the mechanisms of how change happens. 

I am choosing this time of social isolation and uncertainty to create a collaborative action. By reaching out to a community of people, in this instance the community of artists, I want to connect through a shared passion for creativity and the drive to make change. 

I want to explore  what it means for us to collaborate. 

“I think art is the only political power, the only revolutionary power, the only evolutionary power, the only power to
free humankind from all repression."


Joseph Beuys, the artist and original founder of the Green Party,  believed that artists can change the world, that our lives are continual acts of creativity and that we are constantly shaping society – something he termed Social Sculpture. He believed that we are all artists. 

I want to show the value and importance of the imagination in creating a more socially and ecologically viable future for all of us. I am seeking to reach out, showing how we can connect and work with each other: calling out to humanity for the benefit of the earth.

WHAT THIS PROJECT MEANS TO ME:

To see this project succeed would be a dream come true. I want to visualise and plan and watch the establishment of a woodland and to be there with  many of you who contribute to plant the first trees, and to know that it will be there for future generations. 

I believe the world is changing. There are hundreds of thousands of people working towards a kinder, fairer future. This future needs to put at its centre the wellbeing of the planet: the woodlands, the forests, the jungles, the oceans and the rivers, the soil, the air and all the elements that have made life on this earth possible. 

One Seed A Thousand Dreams – The Artists' Woods is just the start. It's part of a bigger dream, a project that will expand from artists to include and involve other people in the creation of more woodlands, a network of them. Together, one tree at a time, we can take back land and create beautiful, wild and free space for all of us – humans as well as other-than-humans – to enjoy. This is only the beginning.
 
"Every human being is an artist, a freedom being, called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and structures that shape and inform our lives." Joseph Beuys

WHAT NOW

And finally, if you have read to here and you are deciding to be part of this collaboration. Thank you.
This project is not just for Artists, it is for everyone. Whether you define yourself as an artist or not I would ask you to please do the following to support the success of the project:

Invite others to join the collaboration. Share  this page or the email you received with artist friends or anyone else you think might want to be part of this project (6 to 8 people is optimum!)

FOLLOW and/or Join  1Seed1000Dreams on
Instagram:  1Seed1000Dreams 
Facebook:  One Seed A Thousand Dreams 
For updates on the project, artist opportunities, tree planting and open days.

SHARE Write a maximum of 40 words or share an image that explains why you are collaborating in this project / what this project means to you: email it to [email redacted] and share it on Instagram (if you use it) with hashtag  #1Seed1000Dreams

Sunset over a woodland planted 20 years ago in Devon ( Featured in the book One Seed A Thousand Dreams).

"Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking."

Wangari Maathai  Kenyan environmentalist and political activist. Noble Peace Prize winner 2004


What will happen if the target is not met?

I truly believe that we can collectively reach the target. However, if  the target is not met, the money we raise will be donated to another woodland planting scheme, which protects woodlands in perpetuity,  with a request that the trees planted are named The Artists' Woods where there is open access to the woods.


If you still want to know more, and would like to hear more about my work and inspiration for this project please click on
the link below for a podcast interview.

An interview with Natalie Koffman by Artist Emma Freeman 






Donate

Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • £70
    • 2 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • £50
    • 2 yrs
  • Pascal Rodriguez
    • £50
    • 3 yrs
  • Catherine Riley
    • £76
    • 3 yrs
Donate

Fundraising team: The Artists' Woods (2)

Natalie Koffman
Organizer
Ana Escobar
Team member

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