photo by: Ron Louque
The Silo Installation in the Barn Gallery at Firnew Farm
Trish Crowe invited Jeanne Drevas, natural materials artist, and Robert Llewellyn, photographer of The Remarkable Trees of Virginia book, to create a site specific installation in the silo at Firnew Farm. It seemed like a natural collaboration: the bark artist and the tree lover in a space that held grains and seeds.
The installation is called: Pollen Count. It represents a pussy willow pollinating, a rite of spring. Jeanne Drevas conceived the sculpture that hangs from the top of the silo, 22 feet and weighs over 400 pounds. It is covered in loblolly pine needles, and covered in sedge grass dipped in corn gluten. Robert Llewellyn photographed local tree seeds and pods in large formats hung on copper piping that surrounds the sculpture. They include:
Southern magnolia fruit seed from Emmett Street, Charlottesville, VA
Dogwood flower bud, Barracks Farm Road, Charlottesville, VA
Saucer magnolia flower, University of Virginia
Horse chestnut leaf bud, Buckingham County, VA
Tulip-poplar leaf bud, Ashland, VA
Southern magnolia flower, Earlysville, VA
Post oak leaf buds, Earlysville, VA
Southern red oak acorns, Earlysville, VA
And from the barn rafter: Sawtooth oak acorn, Ashland, VA
The silo installation is an experience. Jeanne’s works are a creative process that involve a community effort. 40 artists helped create Pollen Count before and as it was lifted into the silo. She encourages artists to explore with child-like wonder the use of naturally abundant materials. The work takes on a life of its own. It is all sensory. It is larger than life. It is aromatic and includes a sound track of sounds that vibrate through the walls of the silo. The sheer physicality of the sculpture complemented by the exquisite photographic images that embrace and surround it, inspires a sense of awe.
As in modernism, where art turned to industrialism, here the agrarian space; not a neutral container, is the historical construct. The organic and poetic nature of Pollen Count plays off the graphic and square format of the photographic images. It is male and female; yin and yang. It is my hope that you will look at a silo or a seed pod with new eyes.
1 comment:
What an experience! The silo exhibit is the most beautiful and fascinating thing I have ever seen. I love what Trish has done with the old barn, in fact, the whole farm. I took my teenage grandchildren and my son to visit and they all enjoyed the whole experience(the beauty,the adventure and the inspiration) Thank you Trish.
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