INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this project is to expand the visual vocabulary within my artwork. I have been given an incredible opportunity to collaborate with professor Scott Chamberlin, as we have been invited to come to Portugal to create new work in Topiary, the art of hedge and shrub sculpture. The very large hedges and shrubs we will be sculpting are in the gardens of the Casa de Juste, in Portugal. The location is twenty minutes outside of the city called Porto. There are numerous plants on the estate ranging from eight to fifteen feet high and sixty to eighty feet long. This invitation could not be a more perfect way for me to explore a new aspect of art making, namely sculpting Topiary with the intention of exploring patterns of form, structure, and materiality.

BACKGROUND

Much of my work has related to experimentation using various non-traditional materials either within or veneering my sculptures. Some of these experiments have led me to use PVC pipes, expanding foam, string, sandpaper, various woods, Formica, fabric, balloons, etc… just to name a few. Each material I use informs the shapes I create. String for example has been a material that has greatly influenced the way I think about sculpture. Over the past year I have been researching as well as making work with string. I am discovering that the spatial relationships within and around objects; the space that they actually contain and the space that they merely imply, can be very different. The forms I create with string (see photos attached) are so ethereal that it is difficult to discern what the physical definition of the piece is. In other words: is the sculpture merely the relatively minute amount of actual mass contained within the string, or are the shapes that are inferred by mentally constructing the space contained between the strings actually part of the sculpture? Similarly, the goal of topiary work is to create forms, which are dictated by the plant material that is viewable from the exterior, and often from a distance. The forms themselves and the process of construction, however, are also directly related to an interior structure, which is not solid, but a structure of branches, each representing an area of the surface.

The plants in topiary can take ten to twenty years to grow enough to be used. Typical shrubs used in classic topiary are Irish Yew - Taxus baccata, English Yew - Taxus baccata, Golden Yew-Taxus baccata 'Aurea', Juniper, and Box- Buxus sempervirens. This particular garden has been in the same family since the 16th century. The couple that now owns the garden has a keen interest in Contemporary Art and has been commissioning artists to help with the expansion and modernization of the garden.

Portugal in particular has some of the most peculiar historical Topiary in Europe. Other European countries practice the art with a very rigid and formal conception. In France the emphasis was increasingly on box hedges, named for their box like structure. This can be most notably seen in the garden’s scheme at Versailles for King Louis XIV. The garden was a representation of the Monarch's absolute authority over both people and landscape, and reputedly cost over two billion francs. Portugal and England are the exceptions. The Topiaries there are much more sculptural and abstract. World famous English gardens, such as the garden at Levens, contain intricate and bizarre topiary.

To be invited to work on Topiary with these mature raw materials provided is extremely rare. Another unique aspect of working with these topiaries is the chance to explore form at a larger scale. Because the plants we will be sculpting are larger than anything I have worked on previously, this will be an ideal opportunity for me to gain a better grasp on how an increased scale effects a planned form. I have great ambition as an artist and have a strong personality, which could lend itself well to working on a large scale. This is the perfect transition to understand what scale is about, how to use it, and what it entails. There is a very different way of looking at and thinking about various forms as scale increases drastically. Excitingly enough, these plants are twelve to fifteen feet high and sixty to eighty feet long.

My qualifications begin with extensive experience trimming box hedges, as I was a landscaper during summers as a teenager. Also, I have taken first prize in the Annual Wintersculpt snow sculpture competition in Aspen 3 times. Anderson Ranch, a world-renowned place for artists to teach and learn, puts on the competition. The technique used in topiary is very similar to snow sculpture. We even use hedge trimmers and chainsaws in our snow sculpting. Scott also has done topiary work before. As mentioned under METHODS & TIME SCHEDULE we will be practicing on some smaller plants here in Boulder for private homes before going to Portugal.

METHODS

The first part of the project is to generate drawings for the existing hedges and shrubs that have not been sculpted. These will include schematic sketches as well as finished drawings/paintings, which can stand on their own. Another type of drawing to be used will be done directly on top of photographs taken of bushes to be sculpted. We will also be practicing and exploring forms by sculpting smaller plants as we can find them locally. Scott and I will take many of these drawings and photographs of the “practice shrubs” and send them to the owners of the garden for their response regarding the sculpting. When we have come to agreement on plans for the Topiary, we will travel to Portugal and begin the actual sculpting of the bushes and hedges. Tools will be important. Excellent electric and/or gas hedge trimmers will be purchased to make the sculpting more efficient. We will need some large, lightweight, aluminum scaffolding; a very specific type will be needed in order to span both sides of the plants. The second aspect of the project will be to make new sculptures out of some of the existing Topiary forms on the estate. This will be accomplished in consultation with the owners of the garden while on site. There are many different opportunities to sculpt the hedges and shrubs of the gardens of the Casa de Juste. Some shrubs are more discreet and solitary; these will become single sculptures. There are other hedges that continue over larger areas of the garden; these will become larger and continuous sculptures.

Some of the limitations are that the bushes can only be trimmed to a certain point, before you go below the level of green material and get to the sticky part of the plant. Because of this, the natural way that the plant has been growing will, to some extent inform the shape of the resulting sculpture.

During the sculpting I will be making daily journal entries. These entries will take various forms: I will write, take and insert photographs, and be making drawings. The nature of these entries will be concern sculptural features of the process of Topiary. They will strive to discern how certain results of our process effect the entire environment of the area. Once completed, how we conceptualize the work, including a critical analysis of the finished pieces will conclude the journal. Upon return to the U.S., I will be taking all this material and compiling it in some encompassing way. This includes an exhibit of some of the drawings and photographs, submissions to publications, such as gardening as well as sculpture periodicals, or taking all of the materials and making an artist’s book.

TIME SCHEDULE

The process of making drawings has already begun. Beginning in March I will be searching Boulder for as many opportunities for practicing topiary as possible. There are many shoddy homes in Boulder, which have not been properly taken care of by spoiled students. Many of these have some type of shrubbery landscaping. I will inquire to find those who would appreciate a free home beautification project.

We will send off the drawings and photographs to the owners in Portugal by the end of March.

We will be leaving for Portugal May tenth and will spend four to five weeks sculpting.

After the project is over I will spend three to four weeks assembling what materials I have for the display of my notes/drawings/photographs.

COLLABORATION WITH FACULTY SPONSOR

Process is a very important part of artistic practice. Every artist has his/her own unique process and way in which they think about their work. In working with an experienced and accomplished artist, like Scott Chamberlin, I am excited to see his process first hand and to take part in the way he goes about his work. We will be collaborating on all aspects of the project. This includes the planning phases like drawings as well as the actual sculpting and trimming of the plants.

For Scott, the purpose of this project is to “bring about a major change in his sculpture.” The following is a statement written by Scott about this project. It is evident that many of the ideas and primary concerns he expresses are not the same as my own. It will be a great learning experience for us to converse about and share our various ideas throughout this project:

“The change will constitute a shift from making discreet ceramic objects for galleries and museums to creating artwork out of living plants for the Public Realm. As more and more communities in America become aware of and interested in commissioning artists to make Public Artwork, I have been looking for an opportunity to involve myself in this particular aspect of art making. I have been thinking for a long time about a way to make Contemporary Public Art by utilizing the plant world. Topiary is this art form. Topiary as a form of sculpture is not practiced in Contemporary Art. To my knowledge it is not a form of art practiced in Europe with an eye towards contemporary thinking and art making. My project will change this. In my mind the importance of abstraction is its ability to be evocative in both very complicated ways and quite simple, fundamental ways. Abstraction is a visual construct that can be understood or apprehended through involuntary or unconscious urgings, that is, before our reasoning or intellect become engaged. My work is more concerned with an instinctual response, one that emanates from the gut rather than originating in the head. I am interested in artwork that presents itself or elicits a response well before language forms, before naming occurs. My sculptures examine the conundrum of whether language based ideas or constructs might actually limit experience, particularly sensual or erotic experience. My sculptures and drawings suggest qualities that are purposefully not specific or particular. The work aspires to being simultaneously odd and elegant and to have a connection to the erotic. I want the work to reflect a peculiar mixture of seductiveness and strangeness. However, that weird distinction between ugly and beautiful should be blurred or nearly indistinguishable.”