leaves

Posts tagged
with leaves

Craft

Oversized Paper Flowers Bloom in Lush Bunches by Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen

Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen doesn’t have to worry about her flowers wilting. She constructs enormous bouquets of tissue paper blossoms featuring countless petals and leaves in color-coordinated bunches. The Copenhagen-based artist tells Colossal that she doesn’t keep track of the pieces of paper or number of hours she spends on her large-scale projects, preferring to focus on creating rather than the actual process of cutting and shaping. Each piece is crafted by hand and without patterns or templates, making every petal, stem, and bit of pollen unique.

Much of Scott-Hansen’s work reflects her childhood in the countryside, anchoring her style in nature and Danish folk art. Heavily rooted in craft, the artist says she works both artistically and intuitively. “It’s all in the hands so to speak. I want to enter into a dialogue with the material. Work my way into it. Exploring rather than ‘mere’ re-working and investigation. (Seeing) how far can you ‘stretch’ paper.” She enjoys using the same material to create various textures, contrasting durable, rough wood and delicate petals.

Thrift, hard work, and industry are required as well, in order for my artworks to grow into something other than the tissue they were. Something must be small before it can be big, humble before it can be flashy—it is the contrast of nature that carries opulence within it and triggers our imagination. In my reworking, the tissue paper roots of the triffid may also become that of the rose.

The artist graduated from The School of Design at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1995 with a degree in fashion design. Since then, she’s collaborated with a long list of clients including Elle Denmark, Karl Lagerfeld, and Hermès, to name a few. Currently, she’s working on an installation for an international summit planned in Copenhagen in May. See more of Scott-Hansen’s blooming projects on Instagram. (via The Jealous Curator)

Photography Science

Colored Micrographs Magnify Pollen Seeds, Plant Cells, and Leaf Structures in Photographs by Rob Kesseler

Using scanning electron microscopy and a mix of microscopic, scientific, digital, and manual processes, artist Rob Kesseler develops colored micrographs of the intricate patterns within pollen and seed grains, plant cells, and leaf structures. The highly magnified photographs feature specifics of cellular composition that are undetectable without magnification.

Kesseler tells Colossal that as a child, his father gifted him a microscope, marking a pivotal moment in his creative career. “What the microscope gave me was an unprecedented view of nature, a second vision,” he writes, “and awareness that there existed another world of forms, colours and patterns beyond what I could normally see.” The artist says his use of color is inspired by the time he spends researching and observing, and that just like nature, he employs it to attract attention.

Kesseler calls the intersection between art and science “a process and a product, a morphogenetic synthesis of two expansive cultures and a way of examining the world through a series of filters.” And he has hope for the relationship between the two disciplines, saying, “I like to think we are entering a new age where after a century of separation, artists and scientists are again working together, sharing ideas that reflect our age.”

Currently the chair of Arts, Design and Science at Central Saint Martins, Kesseler also is a fellow of the Linnean Society, the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Microscopical Society. His most recent work includes a project with journalist Mathew Tucker of the BBC and a collaboration with Dr. Louise Hughes at Oxford Instruments. Both deal with the impacts of climate change on the plant world.

You can find more of Kesseler’s painstakingly created photographs on his Instagram and in his books featuring pollen, seeds, and fruit. (thnx, Mike!)

Art Craft

Found Leaves with Delicate Crochet Embellishments by Susanna Bauer

In her series of sewn-together and crocheted leaves and twigs, Susanna Bauer (previously) considers the fragility of nature and humans’ inextricable tie to its survival. The Cornwall, England-based artist combines the found elements with fine cotton thread to produce unique objects steeped in the history of craft. Intimate marks add detail to small patches or the complete outline of browned leaves, drawing our attention to the natural growth patterns found in their interiors. A selection of her free-standing and framed sculptures is currently on view with Le Salon Vert at VOLTA Basel in Switzerland through June 15, 2019. You can view more of Bauer’s works formed from leaves, thread, and twigs on her website and Instagram.

 

Art

Dazzling Jellyfish, Snakes, and Turtles Glow with a Multitude of Colors in Vibrant Tattoos by Zihee

Eye-popping giraffes, tropical green leaves, and snakes entwined in floral motifs jump out in Korean designer Zihee Tattoo’s ink-based creations. Inked on wrists, elbows, and thighs, Zihee adds a vivid splash of creativity to human skin, emphasizing the vibrancy and delicacy of natural forms. Brimming with every color in the rainbow—including lilacs, crimson reds, and sunflower yellows—Zihee’s work celebrates her interest in nature, while shading together pigments seamlessly. In her leaf tattoos, cool blues flow into luscious greens, reflecting how light manipulates the organic forms’ color as it lands upon them in nature. You can find more of Zihee’s work on Instagram.

Photography

Strange Leaves: An Imagined Future Filled With Bizarrely-Toned Plant Life by Al Mefer

In his new series Strange Leaves, photographer Al Mefer (previously) creates an atmosphere of post-disaster biodiversity by shifting the hues of tropical plants to bizarre and even unsettling color palettes. Mefer shares with Colossal that his body of work, including Alien Architecture and Deserts of the Future, aims to “develop a kind of pseudodocumentary in which humans have left Earth because of the current environmental and social issues we’re facing.”

The series is comprised of serene scenes, with the visual field filled entirely by monstera leaves, ferns, and palm branches tinted to intense—almost luminescent—reds, purples, and blues.”In this landscape,” the artist explains, “the grotesque aspect of mutated plants is commonplace in a world where the bizarre is the only beauty to be experienced.”

You can see more of Mefer’s manipulated photography on his website and Instagram. (via Fubiz)

Art

James Brunt Organizes Leaves and Rocks Into Elaborate Cairns and Mandalas

James Brunt creates elaborate ephemeral artworks using the natural materials he finds in forests, parks, and beaches near his home in Yorkshire, England. This form of land art, popularized and often associated with fellow Brit Andy Goldsworthy, involves detailed patterns, textures, and shapes formed using multiples of one kind of material. Brunt collects twigs, rocks, and leaves and arranges them in mandala-like spirals and concentric circles. He photographs his finished work to document it before nature once again takes hold of his materials. The artist frequently shares updates via Twitter and Facebook where he sometimes invites the public to join him as he works. Brunt also offers prints of his photographed artworks on his website.