Roberta Allen

A return to a state of  childlike playfulness through the acts of looking, finding, gathering twigs and stones in the Virginia countryside and tying them with twine. An installation inspired by nature.

Play is a state of being which is different for everyone. It is a primal emotion as basic as food and sleep, hard-wired in our brains. The neurons of our play circuits are activated either by movement, objects (as I demonstrate here) or by social interaction. Play is natural in children until it is suppressed in school. Adults need play as well, especially in this time of uncertain outcomes; of climate

change, war, displacement, hunger, disease, inequality. What

I offer in this installation is my interpretation of play inspired by nature, to make viewers more aware of this primal need in themselves .