final project

negative triangles

I set off for round two of the final project and came up with this! It is an exploration of the negative space of a tree- which turns out very largely to be triangles.The translucent plastic is really accented by the lighting.  The inorganic vibe that plastic offers is really a nice counter point to the tree. The space lays only 100 feet (maximum) from the expressway. The headlights of the cars offer really neat lighting, almost producing a sort of light fixturesque look for both triangles.The plastic fastened to the tree is analogous to the road carving through the earth. The piece was more spontaneous than anything and below I describe how it came to be.

It was a bit of a journey of self-discovery. First I had to find a tree, a much larger one than in the previous attempt. After a walk in the park I saw a tree that not only was massive but looked climbable:

Next was the biggest challenge of all- getting up into the tree. I learned that I am a terrible climber. Terrible. I couldn't think of a way to get up the tree at first but found a log and decided to roll it over to give me a little assistance.

Now that I had a boost there was no stopping me! Except there was. I attempted to climb up and reach out to the desired branch but was stuck. I eventually found one that looked decent and tried to measure the dimensions. Hanging from a branch is not the best position to be in while measuring distances. I ended up just climbing back down and guess at the length. Unable to climb the tree I shoved both the plastic and the staple gun in little nooks in the tree and headed upward. At first I just stretched the plastic and stapled away. Reaching out as far as I felt comfortable 12 feet in the air.

I pruned the extra plastic and took a look. It didn't look like I wanted it to. I climbed up again to try to fine ways to alter it in someway. Feeling discouraged I began to climb back down. Then I realized that the split down the middle of the tree was also a triangle and decided I could try something there as well. And so I did.

There was light coming from across the expressway that was extremely complementary. I really like the log in the piece, even though it was simply there for practical reasons. Additionally I think the centerpiece turned out better than the curtain in the branches. Pretty much my favorite things about this project were either thought of while on site, or happened on accident. Also 'the process' was a lot more demanding than I thought. I have scrapes, and am pretty tired from the climb. Who needs the gym when you have earth art I suppose?