DATE: Friday, August 8th
TIME: 6 o’clock PM – 9 o’clock PM
LOCATION: Twelve21 Gallery
When we say living art, we aren’t talking performance art or even the (somewhat tasteful) images that you may encounter at Nude Night in Orlando, FL. Instead, we’re talking living walls. Think a plant show meeting the standards of an art show’s elegance. Think succulents, air plants, moss, cacti used in vertical hanging gardens, geometric boxes, wood sculptures and oil paintings. Think (easy to care for) living art on the walls of Twelve21 Gallery starting Friday, August 8, 2014 at 6pm.
We reached out to several artists, plant designers and plant lovers alike to pitch our idea of an art exhibition based around the theme of living art – with succulents and air plants as a main inspiration. We received a few “thanks but no thanks” responses, a couple concerned with maintaining the integrity of their plants, and a small handful that didn’t have the time to be involved. But, from day 1 of reaching out we were also receiving responses from artists who trusted that the logistics would be worked out (which they have), that their plants/pieces would be well cared for (which they will be) and that excitedly jumped at the opportunity to participate in our August exhibition, Groundwork: A Living Walls Art Show. We couldn’t me more excited to be showcasing the work of these 5 dang talented risk takers and artists.
Ashley (Huebner) Bascon of Boston, Massachusetts co-owns and manages BrickStone Masonry alongside her husband as well as creates and sells a collection of her personal artwork at her online blog/Etsy shop, June + Wilcox. Bascon’s work is the most vastly different from the rest of the artists but is proving to be perfect compliment to their overflowing, 3 dimensional pieces. Painting with oil on canvas, Bascon has created 8 stunning paintings of different varieties of succulents and air plants – a subject matter that she regularly creates at June + Wilcox. This time, however, we challenged her to incorporate a “living element” into her works. She attempted a few different options before landing on the addition of dirt and roots to these paintings. Giving new life to the roots and soil from old succulents and attaching them to the bases of her works. Something containing dirt isn’t typically noted as “clean” but Bascon’s minimalistic pieces are exactly that. Housed in hand-painted wood frames, these works are full of detail and care.
When we initially set forth to locate the right artists for this show, we were specifically seeking wall hanging gardens. We were specifically seeking artists with an eye for arrangement and the knowledge of planting, setting and vertically hanging of various types of succulents from our walls. Abbey McKenna (and later, Yolibee Aguirre as you’ll read), fit that description to a T. McKenna, of Marion, TX, has successfully combined her artistic talents and her in-depth plant knowledge to create a career in succulent design. While she works alongside a team of people to manage customer needs and order deliveries, these custom designed wall gardens, terrariums, wreaths and collection planters are carefully created by McKenna herself in her personal greenhouse. In Groundwork you can expect to see varying styles of vertical wall gardens that will meet your eye as soon as you enter.
Carolyn Powers is a Botanical Designer based in Havertown, Pennsylvania. Heavily inspired by nature and the world around her, Powers has honed her eye for detail into beautiful wood sculptures that incorporate a reclaimed base, drift wood, twine and air plants. Though smaller in nature than some of the wall gardens you will see from other artists, these pieces appear weighty – in the best sense of the term. Having a wall collection of pieces that will truly hold the weight of a blank wall and bring depth to the provided space is often times a difficult challenge in the art world. Powers meets that challenge.
Tripe 7 Recycled owner, Jessie LeLievre has been featured on several blogs around the web [including Apartment Therapy]. Aside from plant related designs, she is skilled in reclaimed wood furniture, lighting fixtures, etc. alongside her talented husband. It was rhe handmade wood framed boxes carefully adorn with nails and strung with geometric patterns that delicately house air plants that drew us to LeLievre’s work. She is creating custom pieces for this show of different sizes, shapes, dimensions and wood grain to specifically fit the space and our art communities style – something that she regularly works to achieve. LeLievre’s selection of often neon string in her works will be the perfect flash of color amongst all the greenery and white walls in Groundwork.
Yolibee Aguirre is located right here in Orlando, servicing plant lovers and gardeners under her company name It’s Bees. Her time is portioned to collecting/growing succulent varieties and air plants to sell individually or in bulk to those looking to create their own works or even pot individually and additionally to creating custom pieces ranging from large wall gardens to dinosaur figurines backing air plants. Aguirre will be creating custom wall gardens for this exhibition and is excited to put into action some works that she’s been dreaming up for a long time. With a goal to create easy to maintain, potentially rearrangeable works that are affordable to our market, we are excited to share the end results with her/our fellow Orlandoans.
Typically, Twelve21 Gallery exhibitions last 6 – 8 weeks and artwork remains in-house for up to 6months. However, given the nature of this work, this exhibition will run from August 8th — September 1st – a short 3 week span. Artwork will be taken home on the night of purchase instead of a typical post show pickup process. And each buyer will receive simple care instructions for these black-thumb friendly planted artworks, most of which only need the occasional watering. Artwork will additionally be sold online during this period, where shipment is available within the US.
We hope that you’ll join us on Friday, August 8th from 6p – 9p for the opening of Groundwork: A Living Walls Art Show. This event is free, open to the public and will include complimentary beverages for your enjoyment. Let us know you’re coming and invite your friends via the handy social media tool, Facebook.
Note: Artwork shown is not necessarily exact replicas of the work in this exhibition. These images are simply to give you an idea of the direction that each artist will be pursuing.
The post Groundwork: A Living Walls Art Show appeared first on Twelve 21 Gallery.