Seed Cycles

Lauren Lipinski Eisen

As a gardener, I look forward to the process of planting seeds each spring and excitedly await their germination. This annual ritual initiates the reawakening of the garden and begins the seasonal cycle of plant life.

As a backyard hybridizer, harvesting the seeds created by cross-pollinating cultivars carefully selected to pass their blended characteristics on to a new generation of ofspring is, at the culmination of the cycle, an even more ardent expression of hope, wonder, and promise of new creation in the garden.

As an artist, my work is inspired by my fascination with the hybridizing process. Developing new cultivars capable of producing subsequent generations of plants, each with their own distinct combination of characteristics, compels me to continually reflect on the cycle of birth, life, death, and regeneration.

Clematis Pods, Encaustic, clematis pods, tree pods, sweet pea pods, pistachio shells on wood, 24 x 24 in Also featured on the front cover

I embed seeds harvested from the garden as well as seeds packaged as dried food items into the surface of my paintings, using the translucency of encaustic medium to showcase their fragility. This variety of sourced seed material draws reference to a range of the stages of plant life, from embryos to postharvest products processed for mass consumption.

Contrasting the delicate organic forms of the seeds and the ethereal quality of the wax medium with the incorporation of metal objects into the paintings suggests a mechanical/industrial presence infiltrating and isolating the natural landscape.

Clematis Pods was inspired by a species of vining flower that is native to many parts of the world. In the development of recently cultivated varieties of clematis, the size of the flowers has continually increased with successive rounds of hybridization.

The feathery seedheads are very delicate, wispy creatures, light enough to be carried on the wind to eventually plant themselves in a new location. Larger and sturdier pods of trees and sweet peas included in Clematis Pods emphasize the role of encasement, contrasting the fragile, hair-like, easily dispersing clematis seeds with more rigid pod containers armored with pistachio shell caps.

Hybridization/Reversion, Encaustic, metal, paper, grasses, clematis pods, linen on wood, 24 x 24 in

The title of Hybridization/Reversion refers to the continued hybridization of plants producing cultivars that are farther and farther removed from the original species.

Offspring from these hybrid cultivars do not come true from seed, meaning that if a seed from a cultivar is planted, the result will not necessarily resemble the mother plant, but will more likely revert to characteristics from its ancestors.

The composition of Hybridization/Reversion plays with the concept of the family tree, as larger seedheads from more elaborate clematis hybrids revolve around a central, more modest seedhead from a species clematis. Wire-ring halos surround each seedhead, while metal springs wrap around grass-plume branches woven throughout the painting.

In the center of Regeneration, a cluster of dried heliotrope flowers stands representing the metaphorical Tree of Life, with its reflection mirrored in gold below. Arranged progressively from simple species to more complex hybrid forms, various stages of clematis seedheads are surrounded by DNA-referencing spring coils floating through the sky.

The seeds emerge from the center and cycle upward, outward, and downward, plunging into a blue sea of wire springs and dried plant matter, until they are recycled, regenerated, and eventually released back up into the golden swirling sky.

Emergence and Return reference not only the recurring cycles of plant life, but also our initial entry into and emergence from isolation during the pandemic.

An underlying grid in these works, formed by individual square sections of quilted fabric wrapped around the supporting panel, isolates each individual clematis seedhead into its own compartment.

In Emergence, there is an upward movement created by a pyramid of simple species clematis seedheads, and in Return, an inverted downward movement integrates more complex, tangled, hybridized clematis seedheads as they parachute back to earth.

Like the progression of hybridization and seasonal cycle of plant life, my artmaking process also unfolds in a way that cumulatively melds components from previous works, resulting in new combinations that in turn generate new cycles of creation.

Emergence

Encaustic, clematis pods, quilted fabric on wood 18 x 18 in

Return, Encaustic, clematis pods, quilted fabric on wood, 18 x 18 in

About the Author

Lauren received an M.F.A. from Tulane University and a B.F.A from Columbus College of Art and Design. She has shown her work in galleries in London, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Denver. She has participated in exhibitions at The Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, The Butler Institute of American Art, The SUNY Art Museum in Plattsburgh, and The Masur Museum of Art. Lauren’s work has received many honors and awards and is included in several private, corporate, and public collections. She currently teaches painting and drawing at the University of Northern Colorado and has also taught painting and drawing at Denison University and Columbus College of Art and Design.

You can view Lauren’s work at www.laureneisenart.com www.instagram.com/laureneisenart www.facebook.com/LaurenEisenArt