This was a fun project once I finally narrowed down my concept. Going on the walk among nature, I was always drawn to the unusual things, twisted trees with knots; a field of trees with wispy branches; roots on top of the soil and intertwined with each other. I found myself always relating it to an imaginary figure or object, for example an old man, a field of cobwebs, and many arms and hands intertwined. I love the art medium of animation and how things are transformed magically and come to life and wanted to do this with my nature project.
My materials were nature itself. When I found a very old, weather worn log, I knew I had the basis for my project. After a long search, I found pieces of rocks which I was able to arrange as an abstract cracked heart. I imagined the log as a creature coming to life and being transformed by a broken but still beating heart.
My objective was to display the wood with the heart suspended above it. This took a lot of work. I was at first going to nail wood into the log which would extend above it to put the rocks on. But I ended up not liking this look. I wanted it to appear as if the heart was floating above the log. Also I was afraid that if I nailed into the log it might break into two since it was so old.
I then decided on using clear Plexiglas and putting it from the base of the log to the top and extending above it for the rock heart. Since the log was uneven I first had to glue a board to the back and then used this to glue the Plexiglas to. I then cut a piece of Plexiglas to glue to the back of the log from the base to above, making sure my heart arrangement would fit. I glued the rock arrangement onto the extended Plexiglas. Multipurpose GOOP was the adhesive used.
The next step was mounting the log so it could stand upright. I found two old pieces of wood and first cut Plexiglas to put under these for stability. I then glued the log to the wood and inserted four screws with an electric screwdriver from the bottom to keep it secure. Then I put the bottom in a clamp with the tree to hold them together tightly- it stayed in this for four days.
When I set the artwork upright it was exactly as I envisioned it. The heart was suspended above the log and definitely demonstrated the “broken” effect. I feel I met my goal in producing this piece and that the proposal outcome was achieved. I have learned from this to give yourself plenty of time to experiment if you are doing something unique (like suspending heavy rocks) so different options can be explored. The gluing and “drying firm” process took a lot of time and effort but I believe it was worth it. Now if it would only come to life!
