We’ve had a lot storms up on the New England coast this week, and that means fallen trees, snapped power lines, and no power for days on end in some parts. It also means my yard is full of fallen branches and the occasional dislodged bird’s nest, so my wandering mind made a connection and I decided to build one of my own. I’ve experimented with these materials before but I was just figuring them out without any real specific end goal in mind. This time I have a cohesive idea I am working toward, and a better understanding of the material. What I have learned so far is that it isn’t enough to just dump all the sticks in pile hoping they take shape because they just kind of fall over. So I took a look at some of the nests in my collection and tried to decipher how they work. What I have discovered is that you have to start with a loosely overlapping base and then take sticks of various lengths and thicknesses and then begin to weave them, creating tension between each piece. Each branch needs to be looked at and put in the right place, and the back of the structure needs to be feathered with a mix of leaves, grass clippings, and small sticks to bolster it’s overall solidity. It’s a time consuming process, gathering everything, looking at each piece, running back and forth to look at it’s shape as it grows, but honestly I can’t think of a better way to spend my spring mornings.
This is the very beginning, it’s about 30 feet long and 1 foot high here. It’s grown in height since then, but I am going to wait until I have a more dramatic advancement before posting the next update.
I also found a bunch of work based on similar inspiration from other artists – have a look after the jump.
darteboard
jdhastings
ssstephg
Tom Bennett
Toni Tiller
Jason Gray
probrucer
laelia e. mitchell
galinatodorova
