Rewild
verb
1. restore (an area of land) to its natural uncultivated state
Definition by Oxford Languages
In 2002 Bert moved with Joy Allan, his second wife, to a 10-acre piece of land located outside the small community of McKellar, 20 km. from Parry Sound. Determined to live as environmentally responsibly as possible they built a solar powered straw bale house and studio. Bert wanted to give back to the natural world and decided to let the land rewild itself. The ten acres their home was situated on had previously been farmed and Bert made it his purpose to spend his later years observing and documenting, through his painting, this re-wilding progression.
In time, Bert allowed one pathway to be cut through the meadow grass as he became wheel chair bound, so that he could take his scooter on to the property to paint, but that was it. All else was left to grow and die with little or no human intervention. He would go out daily into the field as weather allowed. Joy would follow with his “outdoor studio”. A wheelbarrow converted to a portable painting studio. Bert would spend his day observing and painting.
Bert’s re-wilding paintings of 2010 to 2014 can be broken into two main series, Summer Grasses and Bush Wall. The Summer Grasses series were painted with Bert sitting amongst the tall wild field plants. The Bush Wall series consists of paintings of the trees as they advanced into the previously cleared field.
Bert Weir 