Art – Page 49 – Ellis Hollow

Turfwork!: Earth art from the air

Last month, I posted about a group of Cornell students putting together an art installation so large that it’s best viewed from the air. Thursday, one of the students, Peter Cadieux, with the help of a local pilot flew over and provided me with these aerial images. I had high expectations for their efforts. But the results came out even better than I expected, even better than the simulation they created.

The materials include different colored mulches, overturned sod, straw bales, and grass bleached yellow by covering with plastic mulch. Students from a local Montessori assembled the ribbon pinwheel in the center of the blossom.

This shot provides some perspective, with the golf fairway to the left. If you click on the image above to see the larger view, you can make out the Canada geese foraging between the straw bales.

Here’s a ground level view. If you are in the neighborhood on Mothers Day, the students will be on site to answer questions from noon to 2 p.m. More details and directions here.

Canna quilt by Lisa Ellis

Last winter, I wrote a post about quilter Lisa Ellis. Her quilts blow me away, and I was flattered that she wanted to use one of my images as for a quilt. I really didn’t think my image was all that inspirational. But what Lisa did with it is just spectacular.

Original image.

She saw things in that image that escaped me entirely. What’s even more heartwarming is the way that Lisa uses her talents to raise money for various healing causes. She is donating this quilt to University of Michigan Hospital cancer wing.

Lisa posts about this quilt here. Would love it if you’d stop by and thank her for her generosity.

Night tulips

Made some bad images trying to capture the cow waterer full of tulip flowers with the tulips in the background. But sometimes when you try to rescue images in PhotoShop, you come up with some interesting effects. (I had questions about how I got these images of koi and shebunkins at night.) I’ll post a regular close-up of the bowl-o-tulips shortly.

Turfwork!

students working on the ground

simulation from the air

My friend Marcia Eames-Sheavly has been working with a local artist and a group of students this semester (with the students taking the lead) to create a piece of ephemeral art — titled Turfwork! — designed to be viewed from the air. The canvas is a one-acre field at our turf and landscape research facility and for ‘paint’ the students are using mulch, straw and black plastic to temporarily turn the grass yellow in places.

At right is a simulation one of the students created of what the work will look like to folks flying in and out of the nearby Ithaca airport.

If you’re in the area and want a ground-level view, the students will be around on Mothers Day from noon to 2 p.m. to answer questions. For more information, find details on Department of Horticulture website.

Bloom day scans: Spring medley

Mostly small stuff from outside fleshed out with some florists cyclamen from the kitchen windowsill. Larger view [700K].

And this abstract work I call Cleaning the platen.