Authors and Art come together

Kipling and Sackville West ideologies and works are transformed into shapes and shades. Artist Melanie Berman her relentless passion for colours brings joy and boldness to the canvas.  

Two incredible British literary giants Rudyard Kilpling and Vita Sackville West lived and worked not far front Berman’s door step. Have taken her on a journey of discovery of her local environment. As she has visualised elements of the land and working farms that engaged their passions and used their imagination through their writings mixed with their lives and their intellectual artistic cycle of friends. An enquires into a time and their legacy. 

Berman question and explores if any of their passions and stories are still relevant today.  Time passes and our empathetic view of home and land resurfacing as emotional archive of histories. Berman walks through the local Ancient woods and green hills and fields in the countryside that encapsulated them which brought a stream of imagery and experiences to the sense and a direction of nature and life.

A series of works has been completed in response to Rudyard Kipling ‘A way through the Woods ‘ A thought provoking Poem was explored through a visual language. The evocative description of woodland creatures and plants which hence are over grown and forgotten, nature takes back. 

Her work looks at elements of Kipling's experience. His magical mystical stories and memories such as in the of the 'Shalimar Gardens near Lahore ‘ Quote "The gardens themselves look like fairy land .. thick tree trucks and lime bushes and races of night blooming flowers that scented the whole air" … and he remembered the roses when he wrote ‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi ‘ describing the garden in Allahabad “ with bushes as big as summerhouse” . …HIs rose garden at Bateman East Sussex full the air with scent in the summer months. 

Vita Sackville West ‘ The land “ poem and her gardens full of roses at Sissinghurst, engaging themes of natural life and romantic lovers’. Sometimes  I stroll in science with you’.  connects us to farmers life and machinery.  

Her painting aim to to capture the strong visual resonance that a wild green area can bring to the soul. Whilst out and about in green areas she also notices that modern man made object were scattered in the woods that reflector times which had been left behind, marks and traces of man were etched on a tree or Further in open area were structures, build in farm building fences haystacks or feeding toughs. All mixed into the rich usual patterns she was witnessing.