Summer 2009
In This Issue:
Jason de Caires Taylor: The Underwater Sculptor
The museum that is home to Jason de Caires Taylor’s work covers an area of over 1,000,000 square miles and is completely filled with water. A graduate of Camberwell College of Arts, London and qualified diving instructor, Taylor has found a unique way to combine his artwork, his passion for the environment, and his love of diving—by creating the world’s first underwater sculpture garden.
Taylor’s incredible sculpture garden is located off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Granada. The garden, which was commissioned by Granada, consists of 65 individual sculptures placed throughout Molinere Bay. Most of the sculptures are assembled on land using a variety of materials, including wire, steel, recycled glass, and found objects. They are then anchored to the ocean floor at a depth of between 30 and 50 feet. Since its completion in 2006, the garden has become a popular tourist attraction for the island. The crystal-clear water in the Bay makes the works easily viewable to scuba divers and snorkelers alike.
Taylor’s work isn’t just for humans, however. The bulk of his sculptures are constructed using a special marine cement that encourages coral growth. As a result, the sculptures are slowly transforming into coral reefs that are inhabited by fish and other marine life. As his sculptures are absorbed into and changed by the natural world, Taylor’s work sends a powerful message about the power of nature and the impermanence of art.
Un-Still Life by Jason de Caires Taylor. Unlike traditional still lifes which present an image of their subjects frozen in time, Taylor's Un-Still Life is in a constant state of flux. The work is a subtle reminder that no art can last forever.
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Vicissitudes by Jason de Caires Taylor depicts a circle of children holding hands. The figures were cast from actual children and assembled underwater. Taylor spent a week removing sand from the seabed to make the ground level. |
Additional underwater sculptures by Taylor are on display in Kent and Chapstow, UK. In 2008, he created a land-based counterpart to his underwater sculpture “Un-Still Life” as part of the Municipality of Paliani Stone Symposium in Crete, Greece. Taylor’s next project, a 400-piece underwater garden in the National Marine Park of Cancun, is expected to be completed in the summer of 2010.
For those who want to see Taylor’s work without leaving the beach, the artist usually has a private viewing before taking the pieces under the sea. “However,” he says, “I always feel the work is not complete ‘til underwater, as the marine life tends to form the textures and colors of the work.” In other words: if you want to see Taylor’s work the way it’s intended to be seen, you better be prepared to get your feet wet!
For pictures, video, and more information, please visit Taylor’s website.
Fritz Haeg: Animal Estates
Heag's new Purple Martin birdhouses from gourds, 2008. Installed at Swindler Cove Park, New York, NY Photo courtesy New York Restoration Project |
For the past two years, artist and architect Fritz Haeg has been designing homes for some rather particular clients. In his ongoing series of installations called Animal Estates, Haeg builds homes for animals in the cities that they have been pushed out of. With his project, Haeg hopes to increase awareness of the wildlife that often goes unrecognized in urban environments.
“We generally think of cities as places for people, but we need a lot more than just people in cities for us to be healthy and happy,” Haeg says. “The project spins off from the question: Do we want animals in our cities? If yes, which animals … and how do we get them here?”
When Haeg creates a new Animal Estates installation, he begins by meeting with local animal experts and naturalists. He looks at the types of animals that once lived in the area surrounding the gallery or museum in which the installation is being built. He then builds homes for the animals based on their natural habitats using earth-friendly materials like wood and clay. After the gallery show is over, the homes are installed permanently in parks near the galleries where the animals can actually inhabit them.
Since his first installation (dubbed “Animal Estates 1.0”) for the 2008 Whitney Biennial, Haeg has built five other permanent Animal Estates installations on commission from galleries around the world. In addition to the houses, Haeg creates field guides to familiarize viewers with the animals that are already surrounding them in the city. He also runs educational workshops to teach people how they can build homes for animals on their own property.
For more information about Animal Estates and Fritz Haeg’s other projects, visit www.fritzhaeg.com.
Garden Art - Not what it used to be
Cappi Phillips' deck screen made from scrap glass. |
Gardens can sprout more than flowers—traditionally, store bought fountains, flamingos, gnomes and all manner of mass produced statuary have decorated lawns and yards for years. But now artists are interested in designing pieces to live out-of-doors and are incorporating recycled materials into their one-of-a-kind of colorful garden art, are creating more of it.
Mosaics especially lend themselves to such found art, and garden mosaics date back at least to ancient Rome. Mosaic Artist Cappi Phillips of Moe’s Ache (say it fast) Studio in Bloomington, Indiana, combines classic techniques with an eye for intriguing castoffs, a dedication to the environment and a wide streak of whimsy.
Phillips started working in clay but has been creating mosaics for about 11 years, having gotten hooked on the color possibilities offered by traditional glass tiles. For the past six years, she has been including more recycled elements, from scraps of glass from other projects to yard-sale items people leave on her front porch because they know she can find a transformational use for them, eventually.
Crock-a-dial made from old crockery and stove dials by Cappi Phillips. |
Arbor made from a baby's crib by Donna Mauch and Debra Shaffer. Photo by Anitra Cameron |
“As the focus on our planet becomes more centered in renewable resources, I am challenged to re-use and re-invent materials in an attempt to show others what can be done with society’s orphans. ... If our trash is to come back and haunt us, it should be in a form we can enjoy!”
In Troutdale, Oregon, the transformation of yard junk into garden art is celebrated each July with a festival, The 10 year old Cracked Pots Garden Art Show now presents the work of more than 80 artists working in materials as diverse as plastic bottles, steel and glass, create furniture, wind chimes, and smile-inducing surprises perfect for accenting a path or shrubbery. The rules are simple: All work must contain at least 75 per cent recycled or reused materials and visitors vote for their favorite during the show.
This year's celebration included bird houses, metal sculpture, benches, wind chimes, flute tables and all sorts of garden furniture and decorations. Visitors participate in hands-on demos; they played an upright piano soundboard salvaged from the dump and gtot green tips from signs posted throughout the show, held in a national landmark.
Nowhere has the transformation from rubbish to refined taken place more completely than by Mosaic Artist Anne Schwegmann-Fielding. She created a statue Darling Daisy, entirely from disparate large and small objects unearthed in the Gardens of Easton Lodge, Great Dunmow, in Essex, UK during restoration, where she was curator of the sculpture trail. Constantly looking for uses of any scrap available, she transformed a watering can and a wheelbarrow into shimmering decorations when she covered them with shattered bus shelter glass. To see more, visit this web collection of her work.
New Books: Upcycling T-shirts and Shoes
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Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt (Crafts Books for Adults section)
Megan Nicolay, the DIY T-shirt Diva, came along at the right time. Her first book, Generation T, deconstructed and reinvented the way we wear T-shirts just as the DIY movement gained steam. It was structured around your wardrobe.
Now, the projects move into all sectors of the reader's life. Following a section on techniques--knotting, sewing, braiding, lacing and embellishing, she shows how to use T-shirts to make more clothing--halters, gaucho pants, a hooded scarf. But then moves into baby bibs, baby mittens and other gifts, plant hangers, a a beach caddy, a grocery tote, grill mitts, a picnic blanket, a cat toy, a padded laptop sleeve, and more. Who knew the T-shirt could be used for so many things? Projects range from simplest, no-sew, and are labeled according to technical difficulty. Filled with clear instructions and illustrations of finished people--everything you need but the T-shirt to get started. |
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Altered Shoes: A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Your Footwear Fabulous (Crafts Books for Adults section)
Author/designer Marty Stevens-Heebner provides 20 projects for refreshing old shoes or adding zing to new (but boring) ones to add your own personal stamp, rhinestones, ribbons, paint....etc. as decorations and easily brighten your wardrobe. The book provides easy-to-follow directions for a wide range of techniques.
A simple makeover, Flower Power Pumps, only needs some beads arranged in a pattern and glue gun to attach them -- as many or few as you'd like. Use the same technique to make a pair of Santa Baby Stilettos by gluing some round Christmas ornaments, some floral decorations to the front. Buy an inexpensive pair of flip flops and turn them into a fashion statement with ribbons, silk leaves, buttons, rhinestones and a glue gun.
Using other techniques: stamping, gilding, paint, iron-on transfers (all explained) you can create looks you never imagined for shoes. There are makeovers for boots, running shoes, men's shoes--the book covers a lot of ground. These ideas are a wonderful way to extend the life of scuffed shoes and embellish inexpensive ones with a minimum of supplies and time. |
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