1978 Extreme Nature by Dan Ladd
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In 1977 Dan started started creating his art works, of grafting living trees into architectural and geometric forms. When he was young he was always intrigued with strange tree self-grafting he would find in woods and orchards. Equally fascinating were odd inclusions of farm equipment, fencing, and stone that had grown into tree trunks.
Since then Dan has worked on projects at the UCSD Gallery of Art, LaJolla, the city of Pittsburgh/ Carnegie Mellon, and the DeCordova and Dana Museum and sculpture grounds, Lincoln, Massachusetts, to mention a few. Quote from Dan “I hope to share some of the fun, excitement and wonder of this particular collaboration with nature.” He has also been making ‘Moulded Gourds’ since 1982. Quote from Dan’s web site about his Gourds “I have been making Molded Gourds for over twenty-five years. I work with large, hard-shell, Lagenaria gourds. The Process of molding these gourds is as follows. The small gourd fruit after dropping its flower is inserted through the mould opening. The gourd grows into the mold confines during the summer season. At frost time the stem is cut leaving the mould with the gourd inside. The mould is then opened and the gourd is set to dry. When dry the gourd may be treated in certain ways, the skin may be scraped away, partially scraped away or left intact. The gourd may be mineral oiled or waxed with bowling alley wax. The artifact has as definite a viability as any hard, cellulose, wood like material, and will endure as such with reasonable care.” To find out more about these atrractive creations go to danladd.com |
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