Nick Cave’s Soundsuits are fantastic collages on (often) formed and (sometimes) moveable cavases. His work inspires me to embrace my own imaginings.
I wanted a wearable plant suit. I have some great pieces of bark, like this piece on the left, as well as interesting branches like pussy willow, Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick Cottonwood, and Red Twig Dogwood that would be perfect on a suit.
Biologically, we owe our existence to plants. They’re the basis for all our food (even animals eat plants, after all) …. and all our air.
They sustain us in every way, and yet we’re so disconnected from the plant world.
I began the exploration of canvas material last year, with a long thick coat I had created from some fantastic fabric I’d found.The weave was wide and strong, the surface was textured, but the fabric itself was far too flexible.
Earlier this fall a friend helped me form some chicken wire, and cover ti with a plant based paper, then attach mostly plant material that had some weight to it. While this solution had a great structural system, it seemed far too inflexible.
A wide-ish weave fabric, with some percent being stretchable seems to be the sweet spot of coverings. The first step would be to create a structure, then add elements, like chicken wire, in predetermined spots for specific purposes: check wire for bigger pieces, solid, flat pieces for attaching flat pieces of plant material.
