Impulsive Art

Anyone else love miniatures? I love envisioning tiny houses or castles whenever I go out.

This didn’t go as smoothly as I was hoping. Turns out it’s WAY easier to make soft organic shapes rather than angular straight edges. I had all these lofty ideas for an elaborate castle hewn from the clay, but alas, this is what I’ve got.

The clay here is also a water table, so it perpetually drips water down its surface in some areas. Consequently, I couldn’t get super detailed with textures without it turning to mud and washing away.

I think I got the point across tho. It accomplishes what I want.

So I went on a hike to scope out locations to make stuff and put public art things. Check out these mushrooms!!! So delicate. They would even quiver if you blew on them gently. So pretty. Anyone know what kind these are?

Go on a walk with a friend

Bring a bag of basic tools

Spy a perfect spot

Start making whatever I want in that spot, or come back another day to do so.

Photograph.

Rules: materials must be found natural materials like mud, clay, branches, grass, etc, especially from that specific location. The only exception is a biodegradable string.

Expectations:

“Mommie are they making a TREEHOUSE?!?” (A personal favorite)

“What are you making?” x300

“You’re clearly outgoing” lol...you don’t know

“Oh see, look how that tree fell.” ...this fort was not a natural phenomenon. Until recent additions, folks apparently thought that the wall I made two weeks ago was naturally occurring. I heard this comment at least 3 different times.

“What is your thesis?” Talk about panic.

Man sitting in one place feeding peanuts to squirrels for 2 hours: “Oh the squirrels aren’t bothered by you at all, just the people walking and the dogs mostly.” (At the time I was tromping through the woods, cracking downed trees for parts, and yeeting rejected branches into the swamp) (he was getting them to walk right up to him, and was clearly a regular patron)

Also, please enjoy this squirrel who decided to investigate my seat/bench/ramp-thingy.

Today was fun. Lots of people stopped to talk and chat an complement my work. Whatever additions I made today somehow make it look more like an art project and less like a kids fort. Today I decided to make the fort a space for people to spend time, so I wanted to make a place to sit. It kinda looks like the rest of it, so I’m not sure folks will actually use my “bench” thingy.

Also, people apparently had been thinking that the fort I made last week was naturally made by a fallen tree? I overheard many conversations and comments about it happening naturally?

It is so different to make a fort as an adult...and just as fun.

The idea here is that as adults we don’t really play with the freedom that kids do. However, we still see certain trees and think, “That would be a perfect tree to climb,” or “That corner there would be perfect for a fort.” but because we are adults, we don’t do it.

So I did it. My goal was to make an adult fort.

It’s really just an S-curve-shaped wall. I wanted adults to feel like they could interact with it without being too immature, so it doesn’t require crawling on one’s hands and knees. I wanted people to feel nostalgic, or even just cock their heads and say, “huh.”

This is at Bradley Lake Park. There was a fallen tree from a windstorm and I took advantage of the branches. This took me 2 days, maybe 6 hours or so total? It is right off the path that leads around the lake, and I got to meet a number of sweet doggos and people while working. I brought my friend along to take pictures.

This clay was a dream to carve into, like working with frozen butter. I started carving with a seashell, but ended up coming back with some proper clay tools to carve at the details (with MUCH more success). In clay terms, it was the consistency of leather-hard fine grain clay.

Proof of Concept: Can I basket-weave entire branches felled from a windstorm?


Answer: Yes, yes I can.


I used a tutorial on basket-weaving with long pine needles and modified it. I wanted to see if I could use this method to make somewhat stable forms. It takes more branches than I expected, this is actually quite dense and heavy. I also used more jute cord than I expected too. The idea is that I could leave this out somewhere and it would decompose on its own time. Jute cord is biodegradable too.