Final Project: Foundations, Thoughts, Inspirations

When I first began thinking about what to do for my final project, I wasn't sure exactly as to what type of mode of artwork or motif of earth art to pursue. I did know that I was hoping to continue along with the pseudo sub-theme of my blog, conservation environmentalism. Aside from that, I remembered that it was requested that we put a lot of personal emphasis into our piece as well, highlighting aspects of our lives that would be reflective of us in some manner. Being sort of lost, but keeping these ideas in mind, I flipped through the Lucy Lippard's Overlay text to see what forms and inspirations some of the artists she had highlighted. Randomly flipping through, I stopped at a page that had what looked like large X's etched into the land, as well as to find Richard Long, a familiar name we've discussed attached to two of the works. One of the pieces was similar to the one we talked about earlier in class, where Long had taken a picture of a path he'd created in the grass simply by walking it up and down. This I found interesting, because as we had discussed in class, a lot of Long's work dealt with creating in nature, as well as leaving in nature, followed by a documentation of the work (which he would illustrate in galleries). Keeping this idea in mind, I peddled on with the project planning.


Upon returning to my neighborhood, it came to my attention that the large forest surrouding the area (the woodland my neighborhood is named for) had actually been cleared earlier in the year. It was a significant strike to me personally, because the woods behind our neighborhood used to be a place where I'd go play and hang out with the other neighborhood kids. It was one of those places where you'd go to, spend the entire afternoon playing, only to come home to infuriated parents who wanted to know where you had been all that time. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed to find instead of a dense thicket, a paved emergency driveway into what was going to be developed into another branch of suburbia. After scouting the cleared land, I had noticed that a lot of wild grass had grown up, but most of the soil remained soft from the recent upheaval of the trees. The newly paved roads cutting through the land were jet-black, and connected to unpaved stone driveways for land-lots that weren't selling; considering our economic state, and the sluggish housing market, some smart-ass made the wrong choice of building a new sub-division. Anyways, I figured this would be the perfect site to create a piece that would pay homage to the great land I used to venture out during my childhood.


The idea of using the religious symbol of the Cross came to me as a reflex of my Christian upbringing/beliefs. I felt it would be an appropriate way to honor the land because the cross is an important symbol you find at almost any Christian funeral or grave. The idea of the grass flattening came from what I had seen from Long, Dennis Oppenheim, and Robert Morris in the "Feminism and Prehistory" section of Overlay. I decided to fashion a few other Crosses to give a sort of transitioning effect where I wanted to portray going from the actual land, to the deadwood belonging to the forest that had been removed, to actual pieces of construction that I placed in the construction area (which I felt was where the point of complete disconnection with the land could be illustrated). Furthermore, after being inspired by seeing Brad's Site Seer piece, I felt pictures in video would be an effective medium. Also, I felt that the pictures needed some sort of supplement to generate the solemn tone I wanted the project to have. The song by The Album Leaf was an old track I had and thought could provide that, as well as the "glue" (for lack of a better term) to tie the project together. I left the pieces standing, and have not had the chance to see get an update on how they were fairing, but it's something I plan on doing when I return for the holidays. I hope you all enjoyed it and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!