Chelsea Baker turns native seedpods into colourful art
For Australian artist Chelsea Baker, seedpods are her canvas. She shares why her focus is to uncover these often discarded treasures in the environment and turn them into pieces of art.
“Searching, foraging and collecting seedpods is one of the most exciting parts of my process for me. I focus my energies on first finding trees during my travels with seedpods I can use and make a mental note of their location,” says the artist from Toowoomba, regional Queenland.
The trees that the seedpods are from are ordinary Australian natives, passed every day by many people, and may not seem like anything special.
“I love when people comment that my seedpods are refreshingly unique.
“They can come from trees that they often overlook due to habitual blindness.”
Most of Chelsea’s “more unique and challenging to find seedpods” are sourced from a husband and wife team in Western Australia with a sustainable harvesting licence.
However, her favourite pods to paint are Black Bean seedpods which can be found near her home.
“They are the best and easiest seedpods to paint onto – the design options are limitless. The Black Bean tree sheds its seedpods anywhere from July to September, depending on the weather, so I make sure to collect them from the ground.”
So where did this creative idea come from?
