Midsummer Updates

Simple events tend to mark the passage of time.  The heat index in Oklahoma today is 102 degrees.  I felt an earthquake this morning while in my office at work, and now I'm home early starting my weekend off with the most delectable cocoa, cold brew coffee with almond milk.  These days, it seems that these simple occurrences mark the alignment of my daily path, and I just try to keep moving forward with the flow to see where it will take me.  The past few years continue to surprise me, in that as soon as I think I'm beginning to see an empty horizon, something pops up to fill the space and I continue to float, adjust, create.  It's a great place to be, though I find that as my plate fills up I become overwhelmed and have difficulty finding the words (or time) to communicate those happenings here.  Which is something that I once really enjoyed doing.  Which is also something that I miss quite a bit. I think I've allowed myself to overcomplicate my blogging process, and I'm realizing I just need to simplify my approach and have fun with it. I'm going to work on that.  For now, here are a few updates:

Factory Obscura Presents "Shift"

I have recently begun working with a new artist collective called Factory Obscura to collaborate on a fully immersive art experience that will first be unveiled at Current Studio in Oklahoma City.  This is a super exciting project, and we've been meeting frequently since early this summer to plan out a very ambitious installation that will open this November (see the image to the left for a snapshot rendering created by Adam Lanman).  You can find out more and learn about sponsorship opportunities on Current Studio's site, or in this article by Uncovering Oklahoma.  Right now, this project takes up a good amount of my time and will continue to fill more as we get further into creating the space.

Shop Update

After going on hiatus for an artist feature at 108 Contemporary's gift shop in Tulsa this spring, my online shop is now open again with lots of art, including knitted mushroom/lichen/tropical plant wall hangings, terrariums, and table top niches.  While I hope to figure out the mechanics of the shop hosted here on my site at some point in the near future, Etsy is still the primary sales vehicle for my art.  You can check out all of the new things at BromeLeighad.

Goodbye to "Contained Aesthetics"

About a year ago, I began the installation process of my public art project, "Contained Aesthetics" (pictured at top of post), which was funded through the Artist Invitational, a program of Downtown OKC, Inc, and contributed to by some very generous Oklahoma knitters through the donation of knitted leaves.  Located on the fence at the Downtown Oklahoma City Community Basketball Court on the corner of Reno and Hudson, "Contained Aesthetics" started out as a few small sprigs near the ground and grew weekly over a span of two months into a 5'x5' knitted trumpet creeper vine that budded and bloomed at its completion.  The vine has held up surprisingly well, but in less than two weeks, I will begin to take it down.  For those of you in Oklahoma City who would like to see it one last time, I encourage you to do so ASAP.  I plan to remove in one piece if possible, so that it may be reshaped and mounted on a different base.  All of that is dependent on its condition, however.  In the least, I will update my portfolio to include information about the concept and lots of photos.  The best documentation of the project at this time exists on Instagram through the hashtag, #containedaesthetics.

But There's More...

Some smaller recent projects include knitted orchids that I made for Current Studio's Art of the Month Club.  This is a really cool program where you sign up and receive a small piece of art from a different local artist every month - talk about a way to build a collection.  Find out more about that here.  I also participated in an exhibition in Tulsa called "Please Touch the Art".  This unique show encouraged use of all senses when experiencing art, rather than just what may be seen.  Geared toward the visually impaired, printed labels for the work also included braille.  I was very excited to collaborate with the very talented, Lauren Zuniga, who wrote a beautiful poem about my work, which was called "Symbiotic Mosaic".  I plan to get more images of this work up in my portfolio soon.

On the personal front, we recently took a trip to New Orleans, and I felt like a kid in a candy store looking at all of the amazing vegetation there.  Wow!  Maybe a topic for a future blog post? I have a lot of pictures!  We are preparing for another excursion later this summer to Rocky Mountain National Park - perfect timing for an escape from the misery that is Oklahoma in August.  The bermuda grass in my garden is way out of control this summer, and I'm seriously considering building raised beds next year.  And last but not least, we acquired another cat last winter!  A former alley cat named Maurice Minnifield (brownie points if you know where that name came from).  That's all for now; Happy Weekend!

Missing Pieces || Introduction

You may have noticed by now if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook that I've been cryptically posting images of works in progress involving knitted leaves, hundreds of knitted petals, and stalks, under the hashtag #missingpieces2016.  I'm excited to finally tell you a little about this project that I've embarked upon and will be sharing more about over the coming year. As a self proclaimed nature enthusiast, I've always been interested in natural observation, which has contributed to the detail in my previous work.  In addition to this interest, throughout my coursework and professional experience in the field of forestry I have developed a fascination with interconnectedness-- the phenomenon of a niche and how it is impacted by changes in the surrounding ecosystem.  Even the smallest shifts in an ecosystem's makeup can influence the future of that setting, even though it may be undetectable to us.

This past year I did some reading about the monarch butterfly and the reports of reduced numbers of the species throughout its native range.  Researchers believe that this is due largely in part to habitat loss in overwintering sites through issues such as deforestation, and climatic factors.  Another major aspect of this decline is the scarceness of milkweed plants, namely those in the Asclepias genus.  Increased use of herbicides and other agricultural/roadside management have impacted the size of the milkweed population that is present across the region that monarchs migrate through.  Monarchs use these plants as a nectar source, but they also rely on them to raise the next generation that will continue the migration.  The effect of these missing pieces trickle down to impact the livelihood of one of the most well known insects in North America.  If you're interested in reading more about this topic or want to know how you can help, check out the Monarch Joint Venture.

Missing Pieces is a study on cause and effect in nature, through fiber sculptures of plants from the Asclepias genus.  This next year, I will be knitting flower heads and entire plants of species that are native to my region for a solo exhibition at The Project Box in the Paseo District of Oklahoma City in August 2016.  Knitted botanical sculptures will place these plants underneath a microscope, exploring their unique features and vast responsibility in the entomological world.

I'm very grateful and excited to have been awarded a Creative Projects Grant by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition for this undertaking, and am excited to share the process in this space as it develops.

"Tuberosa", the first sculpture for Missing Pieces, inspired by butterfly milkweed.

Artwork at 108 Contemporary in Tulsa

I am really excited to announce that I now have artwork available for purchase in the gift shop of 108 Contemporary, a gallery in the Brady Arts District of Tulsa, along the perimeter of Guthrie Green.  Some of my individual knitted mushrooms and photo prints of installations are available.  In addition, a couple of small sculptures (pictured above) are in the shop as well.  These are of a concept that I have wanted to develop for quite some time, and I'm really excited about how they turned out.

All of these items are available to gallery visitors, but a couple of my items (namely the above sculptures) are also online for all of you non-Oklahomans!  (Click on my name - Leigh Martin - in the list at the top and it will take you to my section).  Thanks for checking it out and be on the lookout for more one-of-a-kind sculptures as I continue to work on them.

52 Forms of Fungi || #37

I've knitted a lot of mushrooms (including boletes) over the past couple of years, and this is by far the largest one.  King bolete is an impressive specimen, and I would love to make another that's even closer to the large end of the scale.  How exciting it must be for the mushroom forager to come across one of these out in nature!

This species was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project.  See more forms for the project here.

For the holiday shoppers - I have prints and knitted fungi available in my shop!

Bits and Pieces

Here is a peek at progress on something I've been working on.  It may not look like much, but there are a few hundred little i-cords there.  Every piece is a part of something bigger… sometimes it takes a while to see the bigger picture.

I'm excited about this work and can't wait to share with you how it progresses.

Lichen Collaboration for START Norman

Back in April, I made mention of a collaboration that I worked on with Sarah Hearn for the threshold: the promised land exhibition, part of START Norman.  Sarah is a visual artist who also showed work in Rare Earth at Plug Projects in Kansas City last year.  A kindred nature-inspired artist, much of her work involves lichen -- a group of organisms that has strongly grasped my attention as of late.  I've been in awe of Sarah's beautiful macrophotography of these intriguing life forms, intricate paper cutting, and thought provoking installation since I first saw it.  Clearly, I was all about working on a piece together for our site specific installations in Norman.

I'm excited to share the photos of our collaboration with you now, which Sarah so kindly captured for us.  This work is a colony of two lichen interpretations: Parmotrema perforatum (perforated ruffle lichen) and Peltigera canina (dog-lichen).  My contribution included the moss growing among the dog-lichen, and apothecia and ruffles throughout the perforated ruffle lichen.

In addition to the collaboration, Sarah placed several mini-installations of lichen throughout the site, and designed a scavenger hunt for visitors to use in finding them all!  They blended in quite well to their surroundings.  She added my two Succession installations to the hunt as well.  I loved this engaging concept, and hope it was a fun way for visitors to learn about and connect with nature.

After this project, I've found that I can't stop observing lichen whenever I see it.  I'm captivated by it!  This is a subject matter that you will likely see more of in the future.

Succession

It was an honor to be involved in threshold: the promised land at START Norman.  While I was taking down my work recently, I wondered how the space would be transformed in the coming years.  There's some fascinating history there.

Here are some full scale images of my installation.  I hope to have some photos of the collaboration to show in the near future as well.

Succession / 52 Forms of Fungi || #28

I knitted velvet foot fungi as one of the species of my Succession installation for START Norman this month.  The exhibition, Threshold: the promised land, incorporated several site-specific installations at the Old Lumber Yard on Main St in Norman, OK.  I wrote more about the background of the project and my installation in my introductory post.

Velvet foot fungus is an interesting one.  It is commonly cultivated for culinary use, but the cultivated mushrooms look completely different from the ones that grow in the wild.  I already knitted the cultivated version last year - the enoki mushroom.  On a side note, I finally tried cooking with them and I highly recommend it!  We used them in Tom Kha Gai, a favorite recipe in our household.

Anyhow, according to Mushroom Expert, this species was also the FIRST MUSHROOM TO ENTER OUTER SPACE.  That's right, these guys were taken on a shuttle mission to study how fungi would react in low gravity.  Pretty cool, huh?  Beyond that, they grow in clumps on decaying stumps and the caps tend to look a little rubbery.

Niche, From a Distance

As promised, here are some photos of the outdoor installations for Niche, from a distance.  I took down the exhibit yesterday, and it was interesting to see how the pieces had changed after being out in the rain and sun for a month.  I am told that the realism of the installations had some people going for a minute, but I'm glad that they got people observing the environment of the park and hope that they continue to do so in their daily lives.  I would like to give a big Thank You! to the staff at Martin Park Nature Center for being so accommodating and awesome throughout the duration of the exhibit, and thank you to everyone who went by and checked it out!

First up… burnt orange bolete.  This was probably the most conspicuous installation, set underneath a giant bur oak tree on Trail B.  Every installation is fun, but placing multiple large mushrooms in a forest tends to make me a little giddy.  By the way, if you fall in love with these and would like to have one of your own, I have some available in my Etsy shop!

False turkey tail.  Probably the most difficult to find, because it sat down off the trail a few yards, and to be honest I think some plant life started to obscure it a small amount toward the end.  But part of the fun is finding it, right?  So easy to overlook, but vibrant once you see it.  This was located on the west side of Trail loop A.

Stalked scarlet cup.  Directly next to a bend in the trail (on Trail C), some people stopped and told me they thought they were tiny red flowers at first, while I was taking the photos of them.  Installing these reminded me of Decomposition: Colony I & Decomposition: Colony II, because they were so small and numerous.  Nostalgia for the beginning of my installation work; so much has happened since then!

Niche / 52 Forms of Fungi || #27

Burnt orange bolete is the final species that inspired an installation for Niche at Martin Park Nature Center.  I can't believe the exhibit has almost been up for a month!  I will be a little sad to take it down this weekend, but early next week I'll share some photos of the full installations for those of you who don't live near Oklahoma City or weren't able to make it out there.

In honor of the closing of my exhibit, I've also made a few additional burnt orange boletes which are now posted in my Etsy shop!  A little piece of Niche for your very own home… Check out the listing here.

As a forester and arborist I'm relatively familiar with the nature of the relationship between mycorrhizae and tree roots.  I've heard/read all about how they benefit one another and how that symbiosis works, but there is little pointed out in my arboriculture resources about the fruiting bodies of the mycorrhizal fungi… It's been fun learning more details about some of these species and "putting a face to the name" in terms of different species of fungi that benefit trees by increasing root surface area, thus aiding in the absorption of water and minerals.  Nature is just too cool, you guys.

See more creations from Niche.

Check out the rest of the 52 Forms of Fungi series.

Behind the Scenes of Niche

In case you haven't seen via social media, Niche is installed and ready for YOU to observe, starting today!  If you're in the Oklahoma City area, I encourage you to visit Martin Park Nature Center and go for a hike on their beautiful trails.  It's really stunning out there right now, as everything seems to be waking up from dormancy.

This past weekend, I placed three installations throughout the three main trail loops-- A, B, and C.  In addition, there's a small enclosed installation inside of the Nature Center building.  The installations are easy to spot if you're looking for them, but at the same time they are easy to miss if you're not!  Beyond my work, there is so much worth paying attention to in this park, from lichen covering the metal beams of the bridge, to tiny coralberries that made it through the winter, not to mention the breathtakingly vast, spreading bur oak trees.  I encourage you to make your visit with open eyes, and just take in all that nature has to offer.

Jennifer McClintock, with the City of Oklahoma City Parks Department, was kind enough to send me some photos that she took while I was installing the other day, so I thought I would share a few as a bit of a "sneak peek".  I do plan to share my own photos of the finished full scale installations, but not before I give you a little nitty gritty on the species that inspired each form created.  One great thing about this project is that I've been able to knock out several new fungi for the 52 Forms of Fungi project.  I figured I would introduce the different installations to you by going through the series, and then show images of the finished installations later.  So you know, if you want to see the whole thing… bounce on over to Martin Park Nature Center and get in a little peaceful outdoors time.  They will be installed as part of EarthFest for the entire month of April!

Wall Hangings || Riot II

Typically, my work is very setting based, and most often it is impermanent (or really always... until now).  Aside from showing installations that will be removed or immortalizing them with photographs, I had not explored other avenues to make my work accessible for people to view in person until recently.  I currently have two wall hangings up in Coffee Slingers, my favorite coffee shop/roaster in Oklahoma City, in addition to several framed photographs of past installations.  The piece shown above is "Riot II", an extension of the "Decomposition: Riot" installation from April of this year in southeastern Oklahoma.  I used Jack-O-Lantern fungi forms for the piece, as well as bark shed from an elm tree.  The bark is a story in and of itself.  I love how the wall hangings turned out, and will most likely be making more of these.

If you are in the Oklahoma City area and would like to stop by and see my show, it's up for the full month of August.  Coffee Slingers is located at 1015 N Broadway in Downtown Oklahoma City.  Another post is to come with images of the second wall hanging.

52 Forms of Fungi || #16

Aseroe rubra, or anemone stinkhorn, is one of those organisms where what appears to be land borne and sea borne collides.  Truly one of the wonders of nature, this beauty grows in the tropics as well as South Carolina (your confusion is as great as mine) where it has apparently been introduced.  The unique construction was a challenge but fun to create!

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, through which I will knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013. Check out more of the forms from this project.

52 Forms of Fungi || #12

How amazing would it be to see one of these in the wild?  Lion's mane or bearded tooth mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) is quite rare, and will grow on dead/dying wood as well as parasitically on living trees.  It is also apparently edible with a slightly fishy taste and has medicinal properties such as the potential to heal nerve damage.

As you can see, this took a LOT of i-cord.  I've been working on it for weeks!  I would love to make a huge one at some point, but don't I say that about every form that I make?  Once this project is finished I will probably pick out a few to focus on in more detail and at a larger scale.  Thank you for your patience while I cranked this one out... more fungi is to come for this week!

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, through which I will knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013. Check out more of the forms from this project.

52 Forms of Fungi || #11

Fly agaric!  This is probably one of the most recognizable fungi out there.  They're just so bright and captivating (and toxic) and they always make me think of Mario Brothers.  These were really pretty fun to make.  Oh!  Here is some interesting cultural information/ethnobotany facts about the species.

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, through which I will knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013. Check out more of the forms from this project

Dyed-in-the-Wool

"Dyed-in-the-wool"

Materials: yarn, dried vine, wire

Dyed-in-the-wool is an installation that I recently created for Rare Earth, an exhibition at Plug Projects in Kansas City.  Rare Earth "features work that borrows materials and figures from the natural world to reevaluate the nature of nature and examine the many landscapes we all inhabit. Geodes, lichen, wind and water, fungi and fauna explore the possibilities of symbiosis, the interventions of pollution, and imaginatively refigure the terrestrial through painting, photography and sculpture. Considering human mediation into all of the ecologies we encounter, Rare Earth offers viewers new modes of seeing the world around them."

It is said that there are three ways in which to add pigment to a garment - after it is woven into its finished form, after it is spun into thread, and before it is spun - when it is still a mass of raw fiber.  The phrase "dyed-in-the-wool" refers to fiber that has been subjected to pigment - raw fiber - wool that has not yet been manipulated into something else.  Applying this idiom to human existence ties it to our foundational beliefs and ways of our nature.  What we were melded into before we dumped experience on top.  How our upbringing shaped us.

When I was considering a title for this installation, the idiom "dyed-in-the-wool" struck a chord with me not just because of the obvious literal connection of a fiber sculpture that was quite literally knitted with wool, but because it conveys exactly my perception of vegetation in an urban environment.

Do you ever walk by an abandoned lot or an alleyway and notice the vines and herbs that have sprouted through the cracks in the pavement, clung to the brick of an adjacent building, and in a way seem to have reclaimed the space?  It's remarkable that despite the extremely harsh environment we see in our urban areas, this flora still perseveres.  They are, after all, engineered for survival.  We eliminate the growing conditions conducive to coexistence with plant life, and yet they still find a way.  They are "dyed-in-the-wool" growing machines and will continue to thrive in very little soil volume with poor soil fertility, little water, an abundance of contaminants and air pollution.  Yet, how often do we walk on by without giving it a second thought?

I do want to note that I am in no way discrediting the huge problem that invasive plants have become in natural areas surrounding our communities.  Native plants and wildlife have been displaced due to this issue and I recognize that it's a very serious matter.

This piece is my effort to point out the wonders that we are surrounded by, how remarkable they are and that this beauty can exist despite the challenge of urban conditions.  It can be so moving to take a moment to just observe the growth and life around us.  A moment of encouragement, replenishment and hope.

Installation in Progress

Here is some progress for the installation that I'm working on for the "Rare Earth" exhibition in Kansas City at Plug Projects.  It's coming together nicely.

What I've Been Working On

I've felt really disconnected lately - normally I'm working on several different projects at once and am planning blog posts and staying active here... but for the past month or so one big project has had all of my attention, and next week will see it finally come to completion.

Plug Projects, the artist collective who curated Momentum in Oklahoma City this year recently asked me to be a part of their upcoming exhibition, "Rare Earth".  This exhibition deals with nature and our relationship to it, which is a concept that my work revolves around.

The opening is next Friday, May 17th at the Plug Projects gallery in Kansas City and will be up for 6 weeks after that.  If you live in or will be visiting the Kansas City area, I hope you will stop by and see it!

After the install I will post photos of the installation with a little more background information.

52 Forms of Fungi || #10

Two in one week!  I am dead set on this catching up thing.  This maze-like clump is called northern tooth and it's found mostly on maples, which is the tree it's on here.  You typically see it associated with wounds though, so I fibbed a little bit on that.  But in my defense, this is a terrible looking maple that was unfortunate enough to have someone plant it DIRECTLY underneath an overhead electric line (don't do that people!  ever!  unless you want your tree pruned in a very tragic way).  And in defense of the tree's feelings here, it's not ALWAYS terrible looking.  This little guy does have wonderful fall color; I just always feel bad about it's misfortunes as I'm jogging by...  Along with the other 5 maples planted in line with it, ALSO under the utility lines.  But I digress...

Here are two links to more information about northern tooth.  I typically like to post the Mushroom Expert profiles with each of these forms, but for some reason it didn't have any photos showing the growth habit that is portrayed here, so that's why I included the second link.

Northern Tooth....... one  ||  two

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, through which I will knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013. Check out more of the forms from this project.

Decomposition: Riot

I had the opportunity this past weekend to install my jack o lantern fungi in southeastern Oklahoma as part of the Decomposition series.  These are the largest forms I've used for an installation to date, and have a very different effect than the dozens of tiny mushroom caps seen in Colony I and Colony II.  Rather than sheer numbers, the "WOW" factor comes from the loud, warm hue, clustered around this unique stump with a cylinder of heartwood still standing majestically in the center.  A loud, warm, aggressive hue, a tightly packed cluster.... like a riot.

I enjoy this series more and more as I go along, and get more and more excited projecting future installations.  I'm also thinking I need to plan out some ideas on how to create an installation and leave it in place without offending my environmentally responsible conscience.  The materials I use are just too invasive to feel good about leaving out in "the wild".  I'll start brainstorming more on that, and actually I already have an idea brewing although it's for something outside the Decomposition series.  Hopefully I'll have time to start on that this summer...