MUSHROOMS
Growing Oyster mushrooms from boxes filled with straw substrate was one of Pauline’s points of departure into the fascinating world of fungi. These influenced the painting of canvases and a collection of photographic images. As Pauline and Mike begun to collaborate, they integrated these artworks into their creative process, two of their most successful experiments used spray paint, nail varnish, ink, Jik and acrylic paint to build up layers over the mushrooms and then integrate them with digital versions of the canvas work, the second experiment is from their series called Nouveau which saw them using a marbling kit to produce liquid patterns across the mushroom forms by submerging the original photographs of Oyster mushrooms. This series is really an expression of how their work is not one thing or another, its fluid and integrated, and full of surprises.

FOREST FLOOR
Since 2021, Mike Hobbs and Pauline Borton have been workshopping together, investigating new methods of mark making and developing a visual language together. In their personal capacities, Pauline has been exploring the intricate map of mycelial networks through photography, etching, and drawing; and Mike has been working primarily in photoshop to create abstract digital artworks that are sometimes delicate, sometimes filled with intensity – but always filled with movement and beauty, influenced by the magic of clouds, trees rustling in the wind, and the reflective surfaces of water.

Through this collaborative process they have been working with ever-morphing, abstracted, images – both digital and handmade, and seeing how these can be further manipulated through layering and experimenting with various materials. A special project they are developing is called The Forest Floor series, which starts to reveal the many layers below our feet as we walk, brushing up against us as we pass a tree or stop to sit on rock under its canopy.

ANCESTORS
Ancestors is inspired by the natural heritage that surrounds us, and a lineage of lichen, mosses, mushrooms and fungi, our ancestors.

During a winter forest walk at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, we found almost invisible things that knit the earth together, like lichen and algae. Natures patterns, systems of decay, symbiosis, and collaboration result in a sense of awe, they inspire and astound, ground, and still us.

Some images take on the form of creatures and magical entities that inhabit the forests and hide amongst the trees, river rocks and leaves. Artworks towards the end of this collection reflect on our experiences of walking in the Magaliesburg and a sense of nirvana.

The curiosity and photographic research in this post will influence our body of work further, as we start exploring with the integration of previous works in progress, merging networks and multi-dimensional timelines.

ABOVE AND BELOW
We live amongst a constant conversation, a dialogue between the sky and the earth, the universe and the stars, the push and pull of the moon tides, the seasons. We are not separate from nature, we are part of nature, and our series Above and Below celebrates our interweaving and role in these dialogues. Heaven and earth, both mighty forces to be revered and respected, and symbols of life and death.

Over two years Pauline has developed a visual catalogue of fungi discovered while walking and hiking the Magaliesburg and beyond. These images are not separate from creative conversations with Mike, they are part of a bigger picture, a bigger image of how the collaboration can represent an ongoing conversation between the earth below our feet and the clouds above our heads, a visual compass so to speak, a wayfinding device, if lost look down or up, you will find your place in the universe.

INTO THE WILD WOODS
Created in May – August 2022, The Wild Woods series stems from four ink marbling workshop outcomes and converge with Hobbs and Borton’s connection to the trees, plants and elements.

An invitation to imagine …

Imagine being very deep in nature, so deep in fact that in between the density of the forest, the sharpness of the rocks underfoot and the echo from the rock pools, you can draw on your sombre state, allowing its energy and strength to wash over you and guide you through the mountains and along the narrow ledges. A fire in the distance draws you toward the mountains, into the mossy caves where friendly beings flutter and dance in the shadows, welcoming us into the warm glow.

FLUID ARTWORKS
These fluid artworks epitomise the Hobbs and Borton creative process, an endless conversation between material, making and moment. Trusting that no outcome is finite, only another portal into a different field of our imaginations, another iteration of what went before, a surreal dream of what is next, a fleeting moment immortalised in digital form, very briefly before it is transformed once again.

FALLING OVER
Falling Over is a mixed media artwork inspired by a recent adventure at the Walter Sisulu botanical gardens. This artwork is our representation of an ancient plant: Bloukobas / Water bottle of the desert. A plant capable of storing water over time to survive the harshest arid conditions. A symbol of adaptation and resilience in nature. Resilience in symbolic form, ironic in its appearance and form.

WITNESSING AN UNRAVELLING WORLD
A multimedia myth, July 2024.

We are inspired by the natural heritage that surrounds us, and a lineage of lichen, mosses, mushrooms and fungi, our ancestors. We are astounded by the fact that our entire food system is reliant on microorganisms, unseen biodiversity connected across swathes of soil, knitted together by mycelium, mosses and symbiosis. Our soil food web is the beating heart of food production and more, we are slowly coming to terms with the fact that we need to embrace our soil and nurture it to grow better food, be better humans and sustain ourselves for longer. We learn that the little things, the detritivores, slime and moulds that often make us exclaim; ‘’gross’’, are in fact vital parts of our ecosystem. The millipedes, centipedes, wood lice, earthworms, slugs and snails are as important as the slimy, mouldy, fungal decomposers in our soil food web. These small yet powerful creatures are responsible for cycling decaying matter back into our earth, transforming it into nutrient rich soil in which we grow the trees that help us breathe, plants for pollinators, root systems that knit the earth together and food for our bellies.

Read more this world under the Storytelling tab on our website.