by Natalie Marshall
“Enchanted Forest Fire” by Raina Belleau takes place in the Dedo Maranville Gallery and brings to attention the climate crisis perpetrated by humans and how it affects every living thing. It allows the audience to experience the chaos unfolding before them when entering the exhibit. She wanted to express how people disregard nature and leave environmental issues on the back burner. There is an assortment of different animal sculptures with a touch of fake characteristics which help emphasize a fantasy feeling for the audience and according to Belleau’s artist statement, she wanted to give off a “Disneyfied version of the debauchery” (Belleau) throughout this exhibit. There are also different wooden boards placed throughout the exhibit that have different nonchalant sayings such as “It’s Fine” or “It’s been worse” which adds to the disregard for the world of nature by humans.
The exhibit is inside a dimly lit room with the background sound of crickets in nature playing constantly. This allows the audience to see the destruction around them with their eyes open, or if they were to close them they can hear what nature could be. The dim light gives off a dark and slightly sad mood. It truly looks like the forest fire smoke covered any chance of sunshine. They are greeted with a sign inspired by a national park sign that reads, “Fire Danger Today!” As the viewer navigates around the exhibit, there are three sculptures placed around the exhibit that are blackened to show that there has been a wildfire that passed through already. Eventually, their attention is drawn to a bear sculpture. He is sitting in a chair with empty cans of, what is assumed to be alcohol, laying around him as they all spill from a cooler full of ice. He also holds a can as he sits there with bloodshot eyes, sparkling blue glitter tears falling from them. His eyes look very dazed and shocked at the same time. Right behind where the bear is seated, two squirrels are mating behind him. These squirrels are not the typical color that one sees every day; instead, they are white with colorful rainbow tails. The rainbow colors shield us from reality and make it look more playful than real.
On the floor is an entire cake sculpture with icing and decorations that is missing a slice. Where the slice was, the viewer can see the colorful layers inside the cake. On top of the cake are ants that seem to have found the cake and lined up to form the phrase on top “Finders Keepers”. In a small corner in the back of the room is a raccoon sculpture that is sitting on a log with his eyes in a trance as he stares at one of his hands. When looking closer, his supposed paw looks more like a human hand, as if he were morphing into something human like a gene mutation. This could be seen as how humans have taken over the animal world so much that animals are accepting it and eventually adapting to it all, but with consequences. Near the raccoon, an owl sits on a branch that is covered in paper Mache that looks like a piñata. The fake and “disneyfied” look of the sculptures is intentionally obvious. In another corner were three different hotdogs on a picnic blanket. The mustard spelled out words on the hotdogs which were, “freedom, adventure, and tranquility.” These words were the exact opposite of what the entire exhibit represented. I almost missed the small detail of the mustard creating these words and had to look closely; as they are placed in the corner to show the disregard people have towards life in nature.
The ideal image of what nature should look like is on a tapestry hanging towards the middle of the exhibit. The perfect image of nature has bright green trees with a sparkling blue river running through it. If I stood closer to it, ignoring the rest of the exhibit and only staring at it and listening to the nature sounds playing over me, I would have been engulfed in nature’s natural peace. But if I were to take a step back and let the rest of the exhibit seep in, I would notice how it really is. It is not hung proudly, but sloppily as one side hangs lower than the other and has wrinkles. People will say it is an issue that we need to fix, only to go trash it and ruin it themselves. That alone truly was an eye-opener. Raina Belleau did an excellent job portraying a strong message with the perfect amount of fantasy and a touch of humor.
Natalie Marshall is a Junior majoring in Art Education. After graduating, she plans on becoming an art teacher with any grade between Elementary through High School.