After working with the students at SCES, everyone was heading to summer vacation and I was taking a 5-month deferred leave on top of that. This opened up the possibility of working on the final mural during my leave. Goguen Architecture, the company responsible for designing and building the new school, would require a submitted proposal. Everyone was pleased with the Appalachian Hardwood Forest theme and especially loved that the students had been involved in the initial conceptual process. Therefore, we went ahead with the following proposal:
Here is the original concept sketch:
- The mural would be a low relief sculpture, 4 x 8', primarily out of wood
- The theme of the image would be the Appalachian Hardwood Forest
- The image would be inspired by both the Beardsley Hill Nature Preserve and the Meduxnekeag Valley Nature Preserve
- The image would include the experiences of the Grade 5 students -- even maintaining some of the style of their artwork
- The mural would be installed on the school exterior, underneath the canopy to the front entrance
- The sculpture would include wood from a fallen butternut tree found on the original school property
- The scene would feature AHF indicator tree species and understory plants
- Some elements such as leaves and plants would be made out of copper and embedded into the sculpture
Here is the original concept sketch:
In the proposal, we included some images of planed butternut boards to show the grain texture. I include an image of one of my woodblock prints, A Global Warning , to demonstrate how we might achieve the bark texture on the trees. I also included an image of some steel leaves that I created as part of another collaborative sculptural project, As the deer...
The proposal was submitted in June 2014, but unfortunately it did not get the official green light until the end of January 2015! Besides using the woodblock technique to carve texture, I knew that I would need to collaborate with a true woodworker. James Buxton and I had worked together on the As the deer... sculpture, so he agreed to work with me on the project.
The creation process started early February at the River Art Centre in Florenceville where we were able to secure some studio space. First, we had to bring in a sheet of 4 x 8' marine grade plywood as the base. We used the original sketch and the students' drawings to begin planning the composition. We would also lay out boards of butternut, make cardboard models and calculate potential depths for each element of the scene.
The creation process started early February at the River Art Centre in Florenceville where we were able to secure some studio space. First, we had to bring in a sheet of 4 x 8' marine grade plywood as the base. We used the original sketch and the students' drawings to begin planning the composition. We would also lay out boards of butternut, make cardboard models and calculate potential depths for each element of the scene.
We started with the butternut tree in the foreground of the composition. James would combine parts of the fallen butternut boards and shape them into the tree. Then I would start carving the texture as though it were a woodblock print:
Once the texture was carved, I rolled up the wood surface in an archival quality printmaking ink:
We repeated this for each of the four AHF indicator species of tree. We would figure out a position for the next tree, James would assemble and shape the wood, and I would carve and ink the bark texture. Next up was ironwood:
Eventually basswood and white ash were added as well:
Another important element to the sculpture were the copper leaves. We cut the rough shapes of the leaves out of copper and shaped them in sculptural relief. We used the leaves that the students collected in the leaf press as the model for each type of leaf. Once the leaves were completed, we used a salt and vinegar solution to shine them up.
Ferns and fiddleheads were added:
James started to work on the tree canopy where all the copper leaves could be set, and I continued to work on some of the common trees (such as the yellow birch).
Stay tuned to see how the project came to completion.