Privet, Basic Structure and Seed Distribution

The structure and seed zones of privet

Privet growing in the wild sends out branches from a central root ball. It has corresponding small branches that sprout along the main branch. As the main branch grows longer it bends, making an arch. The small branches on the top of the arch grow towards the sun light while the branches on the underside dry up and snap off, leaving rows of small stubs. These stubs are reinforced over the seasons to form a thorn like defense. This pattern of the branch arching, growing and branching out repeats every season resulting in the main branch becoming a series of arches that can extend over 10 feet in length (as observed at La Reunion TX).

With each season, new branches sprout from the root ball and grow straight up, using the older branches as support. Once they have cleared the leafy privet canapé, the small side branches begin. The seeds and new leaves will only form on new growth. The long clusters of hard round seeds tend to be located on the farthest tips of the branches where they can be seen by animals and whipped about in the wind.

Cutting a branch usually results in a growth spurt around the stump and along the branch. Cutting a branch at the base of the plant tends to multiple the amount of new branches sprouting up from the root ball.

New sprouting seeds

Cutting all the branches down to the base allows sun light to reach the unsprouted seeds, this combined with a little rain water will activate all the seeds.

Spreading the Seed

Frass, Droppings, Spore, Poop... What ever you call it, this is a big stinking pile of privet seeds.

One privet bush can produce thousands of seeds every year. These hard round black seeds have a multitude of ways of finding fertile ground. First is the structural nature of the bush itself. It grows in long arching branches that sprout from a central root ball. These branches drop seeds away from the root ball onto new open ground. The branches are also very wiry so in high winds they can act like whips to fling seeds further a field. Due to the small round shape of the seeds, they are easily washed into storm drains and creeks, this being probably the most common form of seeding in urban areas. Birds and some animals can eat the seeds, which are resistant to the acids in the digestive system, so they are excreted later in perfect condition to sprout in new locations.

Please note that privet seeds are slightly poisonous to humans, but they will kill a horse if eatten them.

Art Statement for SculpCAD Rapid Artists program

With access to the Rapid Cad technology and its incredible array of tools and casting mediums, I instantly had visions of producing my very own version of the “Homer”, a car designed by Homer Simpson that was so outlandishly stuffed with add-ons that it caused the finial collapse of Powell Motors.

So, with that in mind, I have tried to focus on learning how the Rapid Cad program works, and how to blind this technology with my own artistic direction, resulting in a sculpture that breaks new ground and makes historical sense. I have of course spent a lot of time just playing; this program seems to encourage that sort of “what if I do this” activity. In the end I have slipped the Rapid Cad into my normal creative process, which begins with lots of drawing on paper, those are then reprocessed and reprocessed to create a composite drawing “Chicken Neck Johnson”. This drawing is scanned onto the Rapid Cad desktop, where it is fleshed out, manipulated, and reprocessed. The resulting 18” X 18” X 6” sculpture is a composite of shapes that I love working with, plus a humorous animal reference, which I credit to the playful, toy making aspects of the Rapid Cad program.

The sculpture is made from an almost transparent red plastic. The Rapid Cad program has allowed me to shell the sculpture so that it is hollow and very light. The walls vary in thickness, which causes the red color to become more intense in the areas where the plastic is thicker and almost water clear where the walls are thinner. The shelling process has also allowed me to create a bottom heavy counter balance, which allows the neck and head to be extend in an giraffe like appearance with an almost transparent head.

The Privet Sculpture Project: Cutting Research

This is the edge of a native grass field that has never been plowed. It is slowly being overrun but a tidal wave of privet.

Anne Albagli and I went out to La Reunion Tx today. It was again damp, muddy and slick, but after whacking away at privet for an hour, the cold damp didn't feel so bad.

I brought along a cornucopia of saws, hedge clippers, and hatchets to test out. Branch trimmers work the best for anything smaller than an inch in diameter. Bigger than that you need a pull saw. Those come in lots of shapes and teeth counts. Lots of teeth seem to work the best. The privet is to wiggly for a standard push saw or an axe to efficiently cut lots of privet. I did notice areas where people had used a chainsaw. Agin the wiggliness of the branches resulted in heavily splinter stumps.

Art in the District 2010: posting on Art Seek

Posted a little blurb about the Art In The District 2010 art fair on Art and Seek. Just hoping to get the word out a bit more.

I really feel like the local/Texas media coverage for this art fair and the Dallas Art Fair, which by the way ran full page adds in Art in America and Art News for the last two months, was severely lacking. After the grand opening events for the two new performance centers in the Dallas Arts District a few months ago, you would think having 56 nationally recognized galleries set up camp across the street from the DMA would cause some buzz with the Art District crowd...

Dallas Art Fair posting on Art & Seek

I just posted an article about the second annual Dallas Art Fair on Art and Seek, click here. I am heading down there tomorrow to hopefully load up my eyeballs on some hot relevant artwork. Then I'll pop over to the new Art In The District 2010 art fair. Perhaps if I am lucky I will OD on art.

Make Space: Installation meet up at La Reunion TX

Old road almost swallowed up by privet

A good portion of the artists for this years Make Space: Installation met up at La Reunion Tx to scout out locations and inspirations for their installation projects. It was thick with slippery mud but other wise a very nice day.

Sarah Jane introduced me to Shreyas Krishnan, who describes himself as an ecologist with an interest in how invasive plants effect the natural evolution of amphibians and retiles. Of course I was very happy to hear about the invasive plant interest. I am hoping to include some of his knowledge in the documentation on the Privet Sculpture Project.

Two of the other artists, Anne Albagli and Nicle Cullum Horn are using privet in some form in their installations, so I'll be posting about some of their experiences here, too.