THE HOLLYWOOD FOREST STORY – ONGOING SINCE 2008: An eco-social art practice and doctoral research for forests and the art & ecology field

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Hollywood, a Close-to-Nature continuous cover forest growing under the Blackstairs Mountains, South County Carlow, Ireland. It is also the muse and site of my long-term (since 2008), transversal eco-social art practice.

The story of Hollywood forest tells how we are turning our small (2-acre) 24-year-old monoculture conifer plantation into an ecologically & economically sustainable continuous cover FOREST.

It is an ongoing transversal eco-social art practice; told in images, short films & conversations between myself, Close-to-Nature foresters, our local community & online audiences.

On this page I have two sections:

  • My posts in chronological order on transforming Hollywood forest since 2008 using new-to-Ireland continuous cover forestry management
  • Posts on how I have shared The Hollywood Forest Story in exhibitions, talks, conferences and articles

See posts on transforming  Hollywood forest using new-to-Ireland continuous cover forestry management below.

The Elders visit to Hollywood Forest (5/10/2024)
Celebrating over 2 decades of closer-to-nature forestry practice in Ireland with Pro Silva International (8/28/2023)
‘Ecoliteracy for Creatives’ at Hometree’s 2023 Ardnaculla Summer School, with Grace Wells and Cathy Fitzgerald (6/5/2023)
Further reflections: ‘The Right Tree in the Right Place’? — we need conversations about wiser forestry and ‘The Right Forestry Practice in the Right Place’ (4/19/2023)
Stories for a Wiser Forestry – arguing for the “right forestry practice in the right place”: Edinburgh Botanic Gardens with Creative Carbon Scotland (3/27/2023)
A testimonial for wee Hollywood Forest and the slow art of CCF – continuous cover forestry (1/27/2023)
Earth Writings Receives GSI Book of the Year Award (6/1/2022)
‘The Hollywood Forest Story’ showcased in Creative Carbon Scotland’s Library of Creative Sustainability (5/30/2022)
Generation Restoration Visits Hollywood Forest (11/21/2021)
Irish “Climate Change and the Arts: A Post-Cop26 Roundtable Discussion” (11/21/2021)
Creative Ireland 2-day event draws enthusiastic crowds & Minister for Carlow Bog Banner Project (10/26/2021)
Irish farmer-forester Noel Kiernan shares how to live well with the wider Earth community (9/3/2021)
Routledge Handbook of Placemaking 2021 ‘The Hollywood Forest Story: Placemaking for the Symbiocene’ (5/19/2021)
For Chrysalis Arts UK: Cathy Fitzgerald on ECOSOCIAL (ECOLOGICAL) ART IN PRACTICE (5/19/2021)
New ecosocial art practice book–: ‘Creative Engagements with Ecologies of Place’ and guest talk by Iain Biggs (2/11/2021)
South Carlow schools’ ‘An Fraughan’ Drummin Bog book celebrates World Wetland Day and UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2/8/2021)
Whose Woods These Are: Wendell Berry’s A Good Forest economy–with Cathy Fitzgerald (12/18/2020)
‘Reflecting again on Wendell Berry’s– ‘the forest is the basis of a culture’ (12/17/2020)
Online Launch & INTERVIEW with Dr Nessa Cronin, NUIG – for Irish Earth Writings: Bogs, Forests, Fields, Gardens book (11/16/2020)
Speaking with Megan Best Dublin City FM on Why Ecoliteracy Matters for the Creative Sector (11/15/2020)
VOTE for Drummin Bog: A LEADER funded project (10/30/2020)
New Haumea Online Courses: Creativity as an Act of Love: Cultivating the Mind of Beauty (6/20/2020)
Coillte Embrace Continuous Cover Forestry in Dublin Mountains Makeover (5/28/2020)
Irish Times – Eco Blogs: “I love the story of ‘the little wood that could’. Hope lots of people get to know it.” (5/3/2020)
The Hollywood Forest Story in Ireland, Aotearoa New Zealand and The Irish Times (3/7/2020)
The first decade of The Hollywood Forest Story (1/31/2020)
Ecological forestry at Leinster house (12/12/2019)
The Hollywood Forest Story—Eco-Social Art Practice for the Symbiocene: a new article for US Minding Nature journal (11/11/2019)
Children of Pro Silva Ireland members Anna and Brian Browne enjoying a visit to Hollywood forest in 2010. Photo: Cathy Fitzgerald Art.Earth artist of the month Cathy Fitzgerald and The Hollywood Forest Story: an ongoing eco-social art practice for permanent forestry in Ireland and elsewhere (5/1/2019)
Hollywood, ‘the little wood that could’ is a small 2-acre Close-to-Nature continuous cover forest growing under the Blackstairs Mountains, in South County Carlow, Ireland. Photo: Martin Lyttle PhD by Practice – The Ecological Turn: Living Well with forests to explain eco-social art practices (11/21/2018)
The Hollywood Forest Story eBook- as featured in the Irish Times – is on iTunes (2/12/2018)
Close-to-Nature continuous cover forest management day and practical guide launch, near Borris, Co. Carlow (4/7/2017)
Visiting the Sessile Oaks of Raheen Forest, Tuamgreany, East Clare, West Ireland (10/13/2016)
Re-imagining forests for Ireland in 2016 and beyond (3/27/2016)
Operation Transformation to Continuous Cover Forestry (11/16/2015)
‘Lines of flight’ from the Hollywood project (3/9/2015)
Tree-Marking skills and software to help us work better for forests (11/30/2013)
the improving ecology of hollywood: Ireland’s smallest continuous cover forest (10/18/2013)
The little wood that could – Hollywood contributing to forest science in Ireland (8/12/2013)
Field notes from ProSilva Open forest day at AFI – Coillte site, Rahin, Co. Kildare (8/9/2013)
Launching Greens Continuous Cover Forest policy at Irish Forestry Show, May 2013 (5/12/2013)
Lessons from Irish forests: continuous cover forest study days (4/1/2013)
Beginnings: transforming Irish conifer plantation to a continuous cover forest since 2008 (3/26/2013)
Mother trees – the Earth’s networks for resilience (3/10/2013)
recent shots from hollywood (2/27/2013)
Smallest forest in Ireland inspected for new COFORD Low Impact Silviculture Systems (LISS) survey (1/28/2013)
Second thinning helps create permanent, resilient forest in Co. Carlow, Ireland (1/22/2013)
wood shed Not being able to see the trees for the wood (12/5/2012)
practicalities: transformation of a conifer plantation to a forest (11/28/2012)
Permanent forests: with close to nature-continuous cover forestry (11/26/2012)
Deep sustainability and the art and politics of forests (1/20/2012)
breathing with the alder (4/18/2011)
ash forest #1 (4/15/2011)
burning bright (2/6/2011)
Teaching myself how to ‘see’ a forest in the making (1/27/2009)
our new clearing (1/20/2009)
Tree-Marking for beginners – a review (1/13/2009)
How our trees have grown!! (1/8/2009)
Thinning to easily create an ecologically & economically sustainable forest, in South Carlow, Ireland (1/8/2009)
The ‘before’ shot – converting spruce monoculture into a real forest (1/5/2009)
Back to the future: our woodland in 50 years time! (9/30/2008)
Local community forest directory now available (9/15/2008)

See posts on sharing The Hollywood Forest Story in exhibitions, talks, research and articles

The Elders visit to Hollywood Forest (5/10/2024)
‘Ecoliteracy for Creatives’ at Hometree’s 2023 Ardnaculla Summer School, with Grace Wells and Cathy Fitzgerald (6/5/2023)
Further reflections: ‘The Right Tree in the Right Place’? — we need conversations about wiser forestry and ‘The Right Forestry Practice in the Right Place’ (4/19/2023)
Stories for a Wiser Forestry – arguing for the “right forestry practice in the right place”: Edinburgh Botanic Gardens with Creative Carbon Scotland (3/27/2023)
Speaking of Which II – The Ecological Edition: Ireland-based eco artist interviews for youth and their teachers — Haumea Ecoversity (2/13/2023)
Creatively Caring for Returning Species at Hollywood Forest: Great Spotted Woodpecker (2/11/2023)
A testimonial for wee Hollywood Forest and the slow art of CCF – continuous cover forestry (1/27/2023)
Learning from The Hollywood Forest Story in new EcoArt in Action handbook (6/14/2022)
No Man’s Land: Art & The Rights of Nature – Burren College Exhibition & Symposia — (6/13/2022)
‘The Hollywood Forest Story’ showcased in Creative Carbon Scotland’s Library of Creative Sustainability (5/30/2022)
Generation Restoration Visits Hollywood Forest (11/21/2021)
Irish farmer-forester Noel Kiernan shares how to live well with the wider Earth community (9/3/2021)
Routledge Handbook of Placemaking 2021 ‘The Hollywood Forest Story: Placemaking for the Symbiocene’ (5/19/2021)
For Chrysalis Arts UK: Cathy Fitzgerald on ECOSOCIAL (ECOLOGICAL) ART IN PRACTICE (5/19/2021)
Dawn of the Symbiocene, Photo: Cathy Fitzgerald, 2019 Help Hold Our Breath for 2040: Call to Global Creative Community to Envision Earth as Forest (2/23/2021)
New ecosocial art practice book–: ‘Creative Engagements with Ecologies of Place’ and guest talk by Iain Biggs (2/11/2021)
Earth Writings: Irish ecosocial art practices with Bogs, Forest, Fields, Gardens (2/9/2021)
Whose Woods These Are: Wendell Berry’s A Good Forest economy–with Cathy Fitzgerald (12/18/2020)
‘Reflecting again on Wendell Berry’s– ‘the forest is the basis of a culture’ (12/17/2020)
Online Launch & INTERVIEW with Dr Nessa Cronin, NUIG – for Irish Earth Writings: Bogs, Forests, Fields, Gardens book (11/16/2020)
Speaking with Megan Best Dublin City FM on Why Ecoliteracy Matters for the Creative Sector (11/15/2020)
Exploring Eco-Social Art Strategies in Qualitative Research and EcoArt – Scandinavia (6/29/2020)
Plasticity of the Planet: Environmental Challenge for Art and Its Institutions–for the Symbiocene (6/14/2020)
The first decade of The Hollywood Forest Story (1/31/2020)
“A revolution in how we live? An interdisciplinary workshop on creative approaches to education for environmental understanding and responsibility” on peatlands. (12/6/2019)
The Hollywood Forest Story—Eco-Social Art Practice for the Symbiocene: a new article for US Minding Nature journal (11/11/2019)
Earth Writings: Bogs, Forests, Fields and Gardens exhibition and symposia 20 Nov. 2019 (11/10/2019)
Dawn of the Symbiocene, Photo: Cathy Fitzgerald, 2019 An Urgent Conversation for the Arts in Ireland (5/29/2019)
Cowhouse Studio artists visiting Hollywood Forest 2019 Hollywood Forest School – developing ecoliteracy for creative practices (5/27/2019)
Dara and his mother in Hollywood Forest (2016) Photo: Cathy Fitzgerald Good-Bye Anthropocene – Hello Symbiocene! (5/10/2019)
EUGEO 2019 Galway: Good-Bye Anthropocene – Hello Symbiocene: articulating eco-social art practices that promote ecoliteracy and agency to help us move beyond 10,000 years of ecocide (5/8/2019)
Cultural Climates: Fostering Art for Sustainability – Time for a New Cultural Policy? Moore Institute, Galway (5/3/2019)
Children of Pro Silva Ireland members Anna and Brian Browne enjoying a visit to Hollywood forest in 2010. Photo: Cathy Fitzgerald Art.Earth artist of the month Cathy Fitzgerald and The Hollywood Forest Story: an ongoing eco-social art practice for permanent forestry in Ireland and elsewhere (5/1/2019)
Hollywood, ‘the little wood that could’ is a small 2-acre Close-to-Nature continuous cover forest growing under the Blackstairs Mountains, in South County Carlow, Ireland. Photo: Martin Lyttle PhD by Practice – The Ecological Turn: Living Well with forests to explain eco-social art practices (11/21/2018)
Rowan Lear and Angela Jerardi, Cowhouse artists-in-residence visitors to Hollywood forest, November 28, 2017. Contributing to the Cowhouse Studios ‘How to Flatten A Mountain’ 2018 artists residency (4/19/2018)
the key role of eco-social art practices to envision life-sustaining futures (12/4/2017)
Mapping Spectral Traces 8: The Place of the Wound – Attending to places wounded by the legacies of historical violence (9/12/2016)
Sharing the Hollywood project in the Open Fields – Riga 2016 (9/4/2016)
Review and Opening of the 9 Stones Artists Possibilities of Place exhibition: continues to 16 Oct, 2016 – VISUAL Carlow (8/5/2016)
Reversing Silent Spring at Visual Carlow (7/5/2016)
The Possibilities of Place (6/4/2016)
Re-imagining forests for Ireland in 2016 and beyond (3/27/2016)
Wexford art students visit Hollywood (and Holly) (4/20/2015)
Hollywood, ‘the little wood that could’ is a small 2-acre Close-to-Nature continuous cover forest growing under the Blackstairs Mountains, in South County Carlow, Ireland. Photo: Martin Lyttle Hollywood joins collective sustainability conversation at The Lab Gallery, Dublin (2/10/2015)
Live at Hollywood during the Rural Blackstairs Film Festival 2014 (11/11/2014)
Sharing the Hollywood project during the new Blackstairs Rural Film Festival (10/26/2014)
Celebrating Earth Day 2014 at Hollywood, Co. Carlow with Green Sod Ireland (4/23/2014)
Green Sod Ireland Wild-Awake Walk for Earth Day 2014 near Blackstairs Mtns and Hollywood (4/7/2014)
The Hollywood press: an article in EarthLines and a contribution to the Irish Forest journal (3/24/2014)
Carlow connections – Green Sod Ireland, Blackstairs Ecotrails and Hollywood (1/15/2014)
PLACE International Conference: Emergency necessitates an ecoculture of mind at Invisible Scotland (1/14/2014)
Image of 2nd Red Stables Art & Ecology Summer School Bull Island Dublin (7/18/2013)
Stories and Art of the Great Turning – meeting authors and artists at Bristol book launch 2013 (3/24/2013)
Stories of the Great Turning book includes The Hollywood Forest Story – out soon (3/2/2013)
Tending the wild – lessons from the forest toward deep sustainability at TheGallery, Bournemouth Arts University (2/21/2013)
small acts of rebellion: whittling wood, forest art and deep sustainability (2/5/2013)
image of book cover The Great Turning 2013 Hollywood Forest Story selected for The Great Turning Artful Inquiry (1/25/2013)
New Red Stables Art & Ecology Summer School publication (12/13/2012)
deep sustainability, art and philosophy, at university college cork (10/22/2012)
art, sustainability and modern society at university college cork (10/10/2012)
Presenting the ecocidal eye in Melbourne: and ecocide motion adopted by The Green Party of England and Wales (9/13/2012)
Recent talk at red stables art & ecology summer school, dublin (9/2/2012)
Art & ecology at the Red Stables Summer School, Dublin (7/23/2012)
screen reel 2008-12 for 9 Stones Artists exhibition, Carlow (6/4/2012)
Exhibiting with 9 stones artists Carlow (5/31/2012)
my presentation for ‘the home and the world’ 2012 conference (5/1/2012)