4 minute read
Flora As Installation
Dennis DeHart On Constructing Temporal Sculptures From Natural Materials
Between 2016 and 2017, artist Dennis DeHart travelled to 13 countries over 4 continents, along with his wife Jesica and their two sons, Emmit and Asher. During this time he participated in 5 artist residencies in SE Asia, Europe, and the American Southwest. In between residencies, the DeHart family volunteered for WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities in Organic Farming).
The project FLOS came about, initially, during a residency in Malaysia, where DeHart began constructing still lives and “temporal sculptures” out of flora from the medicinal plant gardens and wild plants from around the residency grounds. FLOS was created with locally found and collected native flora and materials. It was conceived and executed in collaboration with Jesica DeHart
Environmentalism is a subtext in many of DeHart’s projects. FLOS, specifically, addresses the importance of engaging with the natural world, and drawing inspiration the botanical and organic elements in one’s surrounding landscape.
Maela Ohana: How did FLOS evolve after your residency in Malaysia?
Dennis DeHart: My wife and I continued gathering local flora in my second residency near Chiang Mai in Thailand. While in Thailand, the temporal sculptures began to take on more of a 3D quality, including constructing makeshift minimal “sets” in an outdoor, natural light studio set up. My wife Jesica and I solidified our collaboration during this time. We continued our collaboration with formal gardens in the Netherland, wild and empty spaces in Sicily, and urban nature in Santa Fe, NM.
Aesthetically, native plants, architectural spaces, and quality of light inform the works. Conceptually, it’s a story of adventure and education while in a constant state of wanderlust. The images are a continuation of previously constructed still life works, first conceptualized 15 years ago with the series “Trace.” Much of my works are project-based and weave together interconnected themes of identity, place, and the natural world. A central, expressive tenant throughout the projects derives from the connections, conflicts, and intersections of the natural and cultural worlds.
MO: Which elements guided your curatorial choices, when bringing together the different natural elements in this project?
DDH: I was inspired by architectural spaces, travel, the domestic, play, puppets, performance, and ideas surrounding domesticity.
MO: How would you describe your process and methodology?
DDH: The process of creating the work employs a collaborative combination of walking, gathering, and collecting, which are then carefully organized and constructed as one of a kind “temporal sculptures”. Technically, various light shaping, bending, and directing devices were created out of locally collected papers, and employed as a kind of performative stage, in order to frame, direct and reflect the “sculptures”. Often we referenced the flor construction as “puppets” on a stage.
MO: Do you have a strong relationship to nature, as an artist and otherwise?
DDH: I grew up in the wilds of Oregon, my wife, the wilds of Washington, USA. One of the things that brought us together, was our passion for the natural world. I have continually had a garden since I was a child. From 2010-16, I created a garden in my backyard that including fruit trees, garden boxes, and play spaces. The back yard/ garden was a multi-functional nature space that was child and family-centred. Additionally, it was a looped system, in which all our food scraps and yard waste was composted and reused in the garden.
MO: Do you think, more generally, that interaction with "nearby nature," such as gardens, can help inspire artists in their creative practice?
DDH: Nearby nature can take a lot of forms. I happen to live near some very remote and wild lands here in the western United States. Equally, having lived in and worked in many densely populated urban environments, I have always loved gardens, parks, and green spaces. I think/feel cities parks and greenspaces should be celebrated as much or more as museums and the like. MO: Which is your favourite image from the series and why?
MO: Which is your favourite image from the series and why?
DDH: That’s a tough question but formally/ visually it is perhaps this image we constructed in Santa Fe, NM. It was one of the last pieces we created.
MO: Where can learn more about FLOS?
DDH: Currently I have produced a small edition artist book of around 100 pages. The book can be directly purchased from me at dennis.DeHart@wsu.edu.
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