Recently I also started a new one using nails as connectors and stairways between the different parts of the structure. It seems that my twig structures, like my maps, always come back to the idea of making a visual and practical path among the elements. I'm always trying to make sure that other viewers will see the same connections that I do, but the differences are interesting too.
When I make freestanding structures like this, I use clothespins to hold up the main branches in the right arrangement until I've put all the connectors in place. At this point, the structure can actually stand on its own, but I've left the clothespins (as you can see in the first photo) because the twigs are balanced in an only barely stable way.
I also have one more that uses toothpicks and spent matches as complex connectors, but I don't have any good photos of it at all for some reason. I will post more once I get them all finished and up on the walls!
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Hey Emily,
ReplyDeleteAn intriguing tension is created with your combination of organic and manufactured materials. We are living in an age where industries tear down entire forests to put up housing complexes and cultivate exotic plants in lawns where they naturally do not occur at all. With these works it's like you are reversing the role of the materials, that instead of the nail driving into the wood to make a step, the nail is the step itself. Instead of the match igniting the wood, the matches are hanging delicately amongst the wood, creating something like harmony between the two materials. I don't know if that delicate tension was intentional; it is actually quite subtle so I like it.
Have you considered doing artwork with a live plant instead of part of a live plant? I think that would emphasize the fragile nature of your work. Maybe you don't like that... but I just thought it would worth mentioning.
Yours truly,
Leilani