A Small Piece of Turf

A Small Piece of Turf, 2019, watercolor, colored pencil, gesso, dura-lar, grass plant in resin, table, approximately 8’ x 4’ x 2’

A Small Piece of Turf focuses on Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus),  common species of grass found along roadways and able to thrive in a human altered environment.  The specimen encased in resin was collected along a roadway near my home during the winter months when it is one of the more ornamental dried grasses to be seen.  The watercolor on duralar next to the resin attempts to engage with natural history art, as does the title, a play on Albretch Dürer’s Great Piece of Turf watercolor painting.  The pairing of resin sculpture and painting attempts to question how we try to preserve living things and experiences of those things.