Here it is, spring 2011. My daffodils refuse to open and the forsythia blossoms look positively cowered. Winter coats that should be getting their end-of-season cleaning are still being worn, with hats and even gloves. It's that time of year when one looks forward to glimpses of the bright, fresh green of new growth. That's the green I've been in search of for my current sculpture project, and it's taken me some sleuth work to find it.
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| Green stitching detail on metal sculpture |
During the winter months I compiled materials for my June bug sculpture that is to be unveiled at Metuchen's Art Fest the first Friday in June.
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| Location for future sculpture display |
Because I've never made an outdoors sculpture before, I had trouble deciding what materials to use to withstand wind and rain, so I proceeded to begin TWO June bugs: one mostly ceramic, one mostly aluminum. I made a heavily perforated ceramic body and wings so the wind could whistle through. Positioning the ceramic wings up and out in flight would be too precarious, though, so if I finish this bug at all, it will have to sit somewhere flat.
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| Unfinished test of ceramic June bug. |
At various hardware stores I had also bought a variety of metal mesh and aluminum flashing and aluminum glue, and an assortment of brightly colored polypropylene twine for the metal bodied bug. I was liking the light, airy effect and texture of the metal meshes.
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| Assorted mesh sculpture materials including some fruit bags... |
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| Bright, fresh green and metals |
I had started to attach those parts by sewing them together with colored twine; specifically, polypropylene GREEN twine. It was one of several colors I'd picked up in the "gathering potential materials" phase of the project. I'm liking the silver aluminum outlined with that bright, fresh green. Well I used up the green twine ball 1/2way through the bug outline and went in search of more. Nobody at the store I thought I'd bought it at recognized it. The manager of the 2nd store said, "No we don't have anything like that". The small local hardware store had never heard of it. Finally, I tried another big chain hardware store that I'd been to recently, and "VOILA", there was the box of twine...in pink, purple, yellow and blue, but no green. An internet search at home finally turned up a store that carried the twine and claimed to have just ONE ball of the green, which the clerk promised to save for me at the customer service desk if I got there that evening. I rushed there just minutes before closing time and sprinted to the customer service desk to request my treasured twine. "No, there isn't anything here"...finally the clerk was found who had forgotten to bring it there but did go get my precious twine.
My June bug is to go on a big leaf shape that I cut out of some sheets of perforated aluminum - a material already suggestive of the bug that munches its way through tree leaves. At some point I thought I'd use some of the other colors of the poly twine to whipstitch the edge of the leaf but no, what I really want is more of that green. I don't know about other artists, but my decisions are influenced by nature's suggestions. It's that time of year when fresh green is the tonic needed to cleanse the winter doldrums away.
