On June 8th and 9th I went up to Byrdcliffe Guild and built my new garden installation called "Sheltered Garden", as part of a group show called "Gimme Shelter" Originally it was to be placed on the grounds surrounding White Pines, the residency of the Whitehead family who founded Byrdcliffe. But the show was moved to an open terraced garden that had previously been overgrown. After clearing the area, it makes for the perfect spot for outdoor sculpture and installations.
I placed some pictures of my shelter, but it doesn't look like much now. It will take till probably end of July for the plants to become a significant part of the structure.
Here is the original proposal, but some of the shelter was modified for practical and visual reasons...
I ended up liking the exposed sticks and wood skeletal structure, and wanted some of that to be seen until the Nasturtium and Moon Flower vines can cover them. The back end of the shelter is still chamomile. Fingers crossed. The show is located in Woodstock, NY. Take Upper Byrdcliffe Road past the Byrdcliffe theater building and just past White Pines.
The link to the Flickr page with more images is here. Also I have photos of the other shelters in the show along with some images of White Pines...
http://flic.kr/s/aHsjG9962j
Gimme Shelter
Proposal
Sheltered Garden
Sheltered Garden is an installation based on some of
the first primitive shelters humans made, the debris hut. It is still employed
by the military (referred to as Field Expedient shelters) or for survival in
wilderness situations since it uses material that is readily found in your immediate
surroundings. It uses logs, fallen trees, rocks, sticks, leaves, moss, bark or
any other natural material to build up a thick enough layer you can crawl into
to get out of the weather, stay warm or stay hidden.
My installation will be an actual
functional debris hut, but whose purpose goes beyond mere shelter. I intend to
add layers of dirt to the sides of the shelter once it is built so that a garden
may grow over its surface. A thick green mat of Roman Chamomile will be the
main herb, and will exude a calming fragrance, and eventually will have small
white and yellow flowers by mid-summer.
I will also leave an opening near the top of the hut, much like a
skylight, framed by a pyramid of twigs which will act as lattice for fragrant
nasturtium, a vine with edible red flowers. The interior will have a layer of
moss for soft bedding and will be illuminated at night by a 100 yellow solar
powered mini lights. The intention is to
create a space to stay hidden and secure from all external distractions and be
encased in nature. The feeling inside should be one of calm and security, a
place where people will be allowed to sit, meditate, sleep, write, sing or
whatever they need to feel solitude and a connection with nature. The shelter
will be roughly 8 feet long, 4.5 feet high and 5 feet wide on the inside. I
intend to use materials I find around the Catskills, along with seeds, which
will need time to germinate in 8-12 days.http://flic.kr/s/aHsjG9962j
