Excavating the Art of Alfred

Matthew Schmiemann: The Reconstruction of Nature

Constructions of nature through the representation of time can be found in photography and sculpture. The artists place before us different metaphors of our place in the world, varying in terms of own passive active engagement. The relationship between time and nature focuses on the adaptation of nature when placed in different environments such as a public space or gallery.

Being able to recreate elements of nature in artwork and to express that in a gallery is important for people to understand its function and reasoning behind its creation. The use of nature becomes altered when it is then placed in a gallery space. Immanuel Kant’s believes that, “seeing art as natural and nature as artistic has been developed consistently in current thinking about aesthetics.”[1] What Kant is saying is that its more than just looking at nature as art but understanding the beauty, sublime and comic aspects of its meanings. The viewer is forced to grasp the meaning and critical judgment of the artwork.

The gallery I am creating with these artist is mainly focusing on the art itself as well as its interpretation of nature and its function. The aesthetics of the work is important as it relates to human perception of nature in the exhibition. “Aesthetics could perhaps refer to nature’s aesthetic attraction for other living beings; but even then it would refer to its beauty for someone who has certain possibilities for a sense-guided perception that is an end in itself.”[2]

The idea of reconstructing nature is an important theme when relating to these artists. They all focus in nature as well as incorporate different aspects in which they create it. The four different artists that will be shown in my exhibitions are Woody Packard, Mike Fajita, Ronald Lambert, and Christian Singer. Their works range from sculpture, photography, and instillations.

Woody Packard is a MFA Graduate from 2008 who focused on digital photography as a EIA student. He documented different places around this area of New York. He focuses on landscapes and the erosion of nature through time. He also documented different places and throughout the year which represent time and change in nature. His series “Wide Oak” focuses on a series of images of an Oak tree that he photographed during the year between the months of September to August of 2008.

Woody was able to take nature and its yearly pattern and expose it to the public in his gallery space. Mara Scrupe wrote “The Intangible Trail” about nature and how its environment turned into public parks as well as tourists attractions. This is similar to my theme of nature and different environments such a gallery spaces. By taking Nature and exposing it into a gallery space it changes the perception of what your are looking at. Mara says, “However, the idea of nature as both a symbolic monument and a consumer product won the day, spurring the attendant development of elaborate tourists accommodations, such as hotels, restaurants and roads on park lands, but also fueling the growing national discussion concerning future purposes of untamed lands.[3] What she is say is that by expanding on these ideals of nature and using it as a source of production and growth She is taking nature and giving it structure and function as well as changing the perception of it. This is the same as my gallery in that the context of nature is changing and it is being viewed differently.

While documenting this tree Woody found himself becoming very attached to the area as well as watching it grow and take form throughout the year. Woody also thought that “the natural clock and time shows little change of what can happen over 1 year.” He means that a one year period seems like a dramatic change for this tree but in reality it is not that big of a change because it is occurring every year.

I interviewed Woody and asked him specific questions about his “Wide Oak” series and about his thesis. The first question I asked was, why did you choose this place to photograph? He then replied with, “I have visited that place for over 20 years, that area as well as the tree is a magical place for me.”[4] When I observe that space I start to learn everything about it.” All of the images had different types of lighting as well as different atmospheres so I asked what time of day was the tree photographed? Woody responded with saying, “All the images were taken during the morning because it was important to not of sunlight coming from behind the tree.”[5]He did this because he didn’t want to have the images have different light source. The then asked if there was any reason why he documented a tree over time other than buildings, cities, or homes? He said , “I choose landscapes instead of buildings or cities because all buildings would do is be built then break down and show signs of decay. There is only so much you can focuses on when photographing a city and nature has more movement as well as interest.”[6] I thought that was an important answer because Woody focuses on using nature because it has more to offer than a building which has more decay and destruction construction or destroying it. Nature has more of a beautiful quality and repetitiveness that happens seasonally.

Woody’s analysis is important in how he is able to both document nature and view it as an artist. His interpretation and documentation of nature shows the different changes and presentation of nature during the year. As the environment changes so does the function of nature and how people interact with that place in space.

Ron Lambert is a sculptor who graduated from Alfred with his MFA in 2004. Ron is able to express his idea of “sublime” by allowing the viewer to see the structure, feel a relationship with the elements, as well as the beauty and creation of his representation of nature and its function. His sculpture “the sublime” depicts his interpretation of rain clouds and he reproduces this by using humidifiers to create rain drops that then fall to the ground in the middle of the gallery space. Ron says that, “at times environments remind us of our lives, such as the point at the beginning of a rainstorm when you’re not sure if you feel the water yet or not, in extreme weather when our lives are threatened and also when we encounter something so breathtaking that for a brief moment our lives are taken off course.”[7] I agree that people take things for granted in a sense that just because it has happened before does not mean you can’t enjoy something like it was for the first time.

When talking about art and nature Ron realized that there is not much different in how they are presented and how they can function in specific environments. Nature has to adapt in certain situations just how people have to change how they function in that environment. Art is the same in that people function and have different reactions to artwork in gallery space. Does it become to overwhelming as if there was a blizzard outside in nature or does the work seem very calm and peaceful like a summer evening. Ron’s point is the capability of recreating nature but also using it for people to view it differently as an artistic form. “Art can mimic life physically; it can also mimic the experiences of life, adding interjections to remind us of the place at which we live and how one perceives beauty and the sublime.”[8] What Ron is saying is that art can be represented physically but also create life experiences such as walking in the rain or being outside during snow storm.

His exhibition “Sublimate” was created using several different materials such as vinyl, steel, humidifiers, acrylic, and aluminum. His sculpture was created to replicate actual rainfall and have the viewer feel as if changing its environment makes them view it differently in a gallery space. The cloud itself was created by using steel rods rounded to form this shape as well as plastic covering to give it the element of an actual rain cloud. The size of the cloud was very large roughly fifteen to twenty feet in length and between four and five feet in width. The large rounded cloud was hung from the ceiling with four small trays placed below the cloud on the floor. The trays themselves were used to recreate how rainfall functions in puddles. By having shadows of the trays on the base of the floor the raindrops would create a visible ripple on the floor. Ron’s intent was the have viewer, “be attracted to the form and display and after the information provided in the materials sets in, I want the viewer to be somewhat repulsed by the futility of the gesture of mimicking the experiences of the natural world.”[9]

Ron was capable of recreating a natural element in nature and by exposing this in a gallery space it gave the viewer a different perception of nature and how it works in a different environment. His reasoning for reproducing nature in art was to create a different gallery exhibition for the viewer to not just understand what was going on but also their reaction to the sublimate sculpture.

What is interesting is how both Ron’s sculpture and Woody’s photographs are so closely related to nature and natural elements. They are very similar because of how relative they are to nature and its function. Woody uses his documentation of a place in nature that changes over time. Ron’s sculpture is created to recreate natural rainfall as for Woody’sphotographs, he is documenting something that is both alive and dead at different stages of the year. With the relationship of his work to the natural world Ron’s “Sublimate” is similar to Woody’s “Wide Oak” because they both become relative in nature and change over time such as the seasons change and the weather changes. Any by having this exposed in the Gallery space both natural elements get viewed differently then if they were in nature.

The way in which Woody’s work is different that Ron is the preparation and documentation of the works presented in the gallery. Woody is actually documenting a period of time in which nature changes its environment because of a seasonal weather patter. As for Ron he is actually recreating an element in nature such as rainfall and displaying it in the gallery space as his creation. Woody wants the viewer to be exposed to the changes over time of places and space and Ron wants your to admire his recreation of a rain cloud and become repulsed that something in nature and so easily be recreated as a part of someone’s artwork.
Michael Fujita is a ceramic artist who graduated with an MFA in 2008. Fujita’s interpretation of his work “Preserve” relates to nature and, “The act of nurturing and keeping something from deteriorating or dying off.”[10] In this case he is keeping the element of nature and preserving it from becoming destroyed and in doing this he created a representation on nature that will always be the same. By doing this he is recreating how nature is viewed and incorporated an aspect of ceramics in his work.

His creation of these ceramic pieces was created in several different steps. The base of his sculpture was created by forming different porcelain pieces together. This created adysfunctional element to his “Garden” sculpture. The other part of the sculpture is the small flowers that are placed at the top of the porcelain figure. These flowers were taken from outside the night before then were processed to stay preserved for a long period of time. The flowers were glazed several times as well as being preserved they were also very fragile. “The irony is, I killed them to save them, and manipulate them so they would live forever.”[11] What makes this interesting is how he took something in nature and physically preserved it so over time nothing changes about the flowers. By documenting nature in time Woody was able to exploit nature and how it changes over time as for Fujita he uses nature in his artwork as being pristine and forced to never change in its environment.

The arrangement of brick like objects and colors overlapping each other is very powerful. This is because of the collaboration that is created between a destructive city and elegant flowers. This creation is described as how over time things needs to evolve in their environment to be able to survive. As for the flowers themselves it shows that things in nature are capable of staying the same for many years if not thousands.

I understand Fujita’s process and reasoning for creating this aspect of preserving something in time such as nature. Its important in his presentation of the work as being both destructive and beautiful at the same time. The flowers themselves are taken out of their environment and placed into another. The structure that he flowers are placed on is very chaotic and not functional in nature. On the other hand the flowers over time would gradually die and then be reborn. Instead Fujita took that aspect of living away from the flowers and they are now displayed as if they were living year round.

Chstitian Bernand Singer is a sculptor who graduate with an MFA in 2003. What Christian does in his artwork that is relative to nature is his construction of moss that is then used as an instillation. For several weeks he is able to grow moss just like people grow grass on their lawn. But for he does this to represent life, death, and life experiences. The reasons for this is the relationship that people have with nature. People grow and evolve over several years then die. Obviously it’s a much longer process than the life of moss but the idea of moss growing is how it can overwhelm a space in nature similar to how people can overwhelm a space I the world.By doing this Christian is, “bringing the work in to the gallery, displacing and reconstrutualize nature in order to say something else remained the primary impetus in making the work.”[12] Christian is able to use the mattress springs as a supporter of the moss and it grows in the space.

The exhibition work is called “initiation” what is created is several metal mattress springs that have moss growing on top of them which is suspended in the war at different heights on the wall. By placing these mattresses inside a gallery space with moss growing on the m changes the perception of nature. By taking something like moss or any other aspect of nature and placing it into a gallery you are changing the way people are supposed to look at nature and now they have to view it as artwork. By manipulating these images the instillation was able to change time and place and create its own individual context. In doing this Christian is able to replicate the growth of moss in nature in an gallery space.

The growth of moss on the mattress springs is similar to Ron Lambert’s “Sublimate” because he was able to recreate natural rainfall just as Christian is using moss to recreate its growth in nature. Both pieces were displayed by being hung from the ceiling in the gallery space. They were able to make something in nature and have the context of their work viewed differently in an exhibition.

Some similarities between Christians “Initiation” and Fajitas “Garden Block” is how they both use elements from nature and place them in a gallery space. Both the moss and flowers can be viewed the same why they are perceived in nature. Also the presentation of these elements in nature are portrayed by non living things such as a mattress spring and the porcelain platform. They have the same meaning because of how the artists wanted them to be viewed the same as in nature.

Some differences that the works have between Singer and Fugita is how they function. Fugita’s sculpture is a deconstruction of a city or small town with flowers growing on top of it. As for Singer’s Initiation it shows elements of nature being able to adapt to an environment. This is because the moss that is placed on the mattress springs is still able to grown and eventually it will die but for the time being it is changing the way it function in nature. As for the flowers that Fujita has displayed he is preserving them from their original color and size and keeping them from gradually dying and withering away.

Woody’s photographs document a place in time and how it changes over a one year span. This is different from Christians Initiation because you are able to view his artwork and it evolves and grows in the gallery space. By placing photographs horizontally across one side of the wall Woody is showing how nature changes in one seasonal year. As for Christian he shows the relationship between living and artificial structures and how they function in a gallery space.

Overall the four artists work relates the theme of my exhibition. They also function well together in the gallery space.
Exhibition

My exhibition “Reconstruction of Nature” is shown in the Fostic Nelson Gallery at Alfred University in New York. The gallery has a smaller room at the entrance connected to a large square room. The four artists that are Exhibiting in this gallery are Michael Fujita, Ronald Lambert, Christian Singer, and Woody Packard.

Before Entering the Gallery on a large black table are refreshments such as cheese, crackers, vegetables, pizza, wine, beer, soda, tea, and coffee. Upon entering the gallery there is a small table to your left with artists show cards as well as contact information. The gallery spaced in painted white and to the left of the the artwork is their names painted in black on the walls. After entering the smaller room walk straight ahead and to the wall on your left is Woody Packards “Wide Oak” series which has seven digitally printed images which are framed with small pieces of wood at both the top and bottom of the photograph. The photographs are placed at eyes level with the first images of the oak tree in may and the last photograph being in march. Directly across from Woody’s photographs in the center of the room is Ron Lamberts “Sublimate” the cloud that he created is suspended fifteen to twenty feet off the ground. Below the cloud is four small trays that have small amounts of water in each of them. Suspended from wire behind Ron’s work is the first of six bedspring mattresses with moss growing on them. The one directly behind Ron’s work is the only one suspended and the others are placed on the wall in an upward direction. These two pieces complement each other in that the cloud is relative to nature and the moss itself is a natural element of nature. And the final piece in the gallery space is to the right of Ron’s “sublimate” which is Michael Fujita’s “Garden Block.” It is placed on a four foot pedestal that is painted white.

Bibliography
Bohme, Gernot. Fur eine okologische Naturasthetik. Frankfurt am Main,1989 Translation
by Cheryl Foster.
Fujita, Michael Y. Preserve. Thesis. Alfred University, 2008. Print.
Gandy, Matthew. "Conceptions of Nature in the Arts." AAG 87.4 (1997): 636-58. Www.jstor.org.
Taylor & Francis, Dec. 1997. Web. 2 Oct. 2009.
Kant, Immanuel. The critique of judgment. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. New York, 1892.
Lambert, Ronald T. Sublime in the American Suburbs. Thesis. Alfred University, 2004. Print.
Scrupe, Mara A. "Public Art Review." The Intangible Trail (2000): 05-06. Print.
Singer, Christian B. MFA Thesis. Thesis. Alfred University, 2003. Print
[1] Kant, Immanuel. The critique of judgment. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. New York, 1892.
[2] Bohme, Gernot. Fur eine okologische Naturasthetik. Frankfurt am Main,1989 Translation by Cheryl Foster.
[3] Scrupe, Mara A. "Public Art Review." The Intangible Trail (2000): 05-06. Print.
[4] “Woody Packard, interview with artist, November 20, 2009.”
[5] “ebid”
[6] “ebid”
[7] Lambert, Ronald T. Sublime in the American Suburbs. Thesis. Alfred University, 2004. Print.
[8] “ebid”
[9] “ebid”
[10] Fujita, Michael Y. Preserve. Thesis. Alfred University, 2008. Print.
[11] “ebid”
[12] Singer, Christian B. MFA Thesis. Thesis. Alfred University, 2003. Print.