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The Stillmoreroots Group was founded in September
of 2002 by five artists residing in southeastern Georgia.
The group originally formed with the purpose of having an art exhibition
in the unique setting of a managed pine forest. A hallmark of a
managed pine forest is that all the trees are of similar age and
height and are planted in rigidly calculated rows. This manufactured
environment doesn't support and sustain the typically healthy biodiverse
relationships found within a standard forest. Many birds and wildlife
can’t live in a managed pine forest; this makes the environment
unseasonably quiet and solemn. In 2003, the exhibit was held on
one such farm within the community of Stillmore, Georgia.
Challenging the artist and the viewer by taking the art into this
environment, the Stillmoreroots group decided to add new elements
to the art viewing experience. Each of the members of the group
invited one artist that inspired them to exhibit in Stillmore. On
March 21, 2003, the spring equinox, the Stillmoreroots group invited
members from surrounding communities to share and celebrate a gathering
known as "Art in the Woods."
Since the inaugural show, the Stillmoreroots group has collaborated
on twelve shows throughout the southeast in alternative and traditional
art venues. The members exhibit and create art events in communities
across Georgia but reunite each year in the community of Stillmore.
Here, the annual “Art in the Woods” exhibition has not
only become a celebration of art and community, it has become a
tradition.
The last year and a half has been an especially important time
to Stillmoreroots as we have dedicated ourselves to a number of
tasks and goals. After two years of working with communities all
across this country as social workers in Oregon, as working artists
in New York, as teachers in Statesboro, Athens, and Savannah, we
decided that our time can be better spent affecting under-served
art communities in the rural south as a focused and dedicated group.
To that end, five of the Stillmoreroots now eight members moved
in the fall of 2005 to work in conjunction with the local community
of Swainsboro.
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