Pauline Curnier Jardin. The Palm Tree, 2007

The preschoolers from the school of Kari, made a PALM TREE with the help from their teachers. The idea for this project came from Pauline Curnier Jardin. The children carried the palm tree from the school to the swimming hall and this event was filmed by Curnier Jardin. Later on she edited the material and created a film that was seen later on in the fall.

During the winter 2006-2007, the preschoolers studied different types of trees. They made drawings and collages of the trees with various techniques. In addition, they examined palm trees in the nature and at the Environment School in Satakunta (Satakunnan ympäristökoulu)

Pauline Curnier Jardin’s idea was to make a two dimensional advertising palm tree – as if the tree would resemble a set piece from Hollywood movies. Palm tree is a popular example of exoticness, vacation and luxury, in addition it is often used in marketing purposes. The artist had an idea that a two dimensional palm tree would function as a resemblance of a mirage that can been seen on the desert: it can be seen, but if the viewing angle changes the tree disappears. Children made the tree with their own colours, ideas and techniques, bearing this in mind Curnier Jardin hoped that it would address the issue of vulnerability of the trees and exotic areas.

Wood collage PUUSTA PUU PUULLE (from wood a tree on a wood) was shown at the same time as the PALM TREE. The idea for this project came from a teacher who brought some palm tree bark from her vacation. There was enough bark for every children. Veneer boards were found from the day-care centre in Nummi and they were used as backgrounds for the project. The children collected pine cones, spruce needles, branches and moss, which were used in this project. From these ingredients the children designed and built their own trees.

One of the art educational goals in these wood themed projects was to teach the children mix colours and make them acquainted with brown colour. Children searched for different variations of the colour brown, by mixing it with the three main colours. Idea was that every little hand print could be seen, and this time it was something concrete. KÄSIPUU (a hand tree) was generated by the children.

Pauline Curnier Jardin filmed both the Palm Tree and Banana Children Orchestra -projects. The final movie White Ferals was shown in the Common Ground- exhibition at the Lönnström art museum, in the autumn of 2007.