ReVisited Jeanne Drevas Folly for the Pine Forest 2004 Pine needles, bird netting   Artist's Statement Remember all those little houses, forts, and structures, constructed with tree branches you lashed together out in the woods or backyard when you were a kid? In this world of intellectualizing and hurry, Folly in the Pine Forest allows anyone who comes across it to once again enter that childhood wonder: the comforting and delightful hideaway playhouse. I hope to remind visitors of their own childhoods, a time of life when we live in the moment and through our imagination, when acorns, mudpies and flowers were served up to guests on plates of leaves. And for those who haven’t had these experiences yet, now is a good time to start. I invite you to enter Folly, a tiny refuge that offers shelters from the world “out there.” But then discover that “out there” comes right into the shelter with you, because this house is made using the natural materials that envelope and connect us with the earth. We become a bird or squirrel entering the nest, perhaps even a forest spirit as well. My work honors the cycle of birth, death, decay and renewal. Folly is meant to return to the earth with the cycles of just a few seasons, in contrast to the stone mausoleums with their hopes for immortality. Despite modern caskets and ancient pyramids, embalming and mummification, we are all destined to return to the earth. My first piece for Forest Hills, Earth, the Spiral, represented a conscious effort to fit within the 2003 exhibition theme of the four elements. Creating shelter is integral to my life; I built my own house by hand, right down to clearing the land. This year, I let my whimsy guide the evolution of this shelter, designed to connect the past and the present, the world of humans and animals, nature and art. Earth the Spiral 2003 Return to List of Particpating Artists

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