Path to Somewhere

One of the assignments for my Intro to Sculpture class was to go outside and make a sculpture. We had  Good Friday off last week, so my friend/classmate, Carrie, and I went to a park and went scouting along the bike trails until we found the perfect spot.

A tiny ravine + curving vines? Check yes!

We envisioned a little arched pathway into . . . well, where it might lead is for the viewer to explore or imagine. We began by untwisting loose vines from tree branches and adding them to our portion of bushes to make the faint arch that was already there stronger.



There's not much to see yet, but the vines we moved are there...

 Next came adding dead long grass, which was abundant along the trails.

Grass.

More grass.

Red seeds for a little color on gray day.

Really. This was the view directly behind us. It was supposed to rain all afternoon, but we were lucky; no rain fell while we worked.

The sun even came out when we were about done.



But of course the clouds came back. Here's the finished product; you can kind see a glimpse of the river through the arch.

 We called it quits at this point because we liked how our project looked, and the wind was also picking up and turning our arch into a furry wild thing. Curling pieces of grass began to fall gently to the ground, and I wish I'd been able to get a picture, because the piece only looked more beautiful as it began to fall apart. (And part of the project was letting our creation go back to nature.)

A few joggers and people out walking their dogs passed us as we worked, but only one person stopped to ask what we were doing. I was curious what joggers saw when they went past the arch, so I took a tiny run and then filmed it with my camera. I forgot that I can't rotate a movie halfway through, though, so you'll have to turn your head about halfway through:



I enjoy how the arch directs one's gaze straight through to the river. And that's another project done!

Carrie and Me: happy faces!



Much mud was stuck to the bottom of our boots. I recommend going outside and getting some stuck to yours, too. I felt like a kid playing outside again.


Happy Spring,