Author Archives: Jacob Armas

Final Journal

Reflection on Final Presentation

Image from Lumiere

After presenting my project in its final form, I learned that it’s aim of attention grabbing was successful. Many people were intrigued by its shape and subsequently approached me to ask questions about what it was or what is represented. After being initially drawn in by my creative display, many people identified with the idea that we as a society do not but much thought into what happens to materials after we have recycled them, and many were interested to learn a little bit more about nurse logs and the artist Buster Simpson.

One of the people that came up and asked about my project turned out to know much more about the subjects than I did. She was familiar with the work of Buster Simpson and had taken a class from one of the scientists who authored one of my sources on tree decay. Not only was it very exciting to take with her, given her knowledge, she also provided me with some sources to trace some more of the ideas I researched for my project:

Joseph Beuys – who saw sculptural art as a necessary aspect of social order

Cathy Fitzgerald – an eco-artist/social theorist currently turning a mono-cultured tree plantation into a thriving forest as a part of her doctoral studies

Mark Harmon – forest ecologist specializing in decomposition at Oregon State University

I am excited to start reading and researching more about these three people. Though the class may be over, my interest in the subjects of public art, nurse logs, ecological and social art has not waned.

My project did occupy its own sort of niche, and this causes it to perhaps not appeal to a broad audience. I had realized this and it was a concern of mine, but having a couple people from the university express interest in it was certainly validating.

Given the chance to study Buster Simpson further, I would enjoy the opportunity to see some of his works in person, to explore more of his projects (he has done a lot of work over the last few decades), particularly the social-oriented ones, and to discuss how Simpson’s use of humor differs from other eco-artists, who typically employ darker tactics to address topics such as climate change or a severance form the orders of the natural world.

These are excellent sources to follow up with if you are at all interested in Buster Simpson, nurse logs, or both.

Allan, Lois. Contemporary Art in the Northwest. Roseville East, NSW: Craftsman House, 1995. Print.

This book provides an overview of relevant and well-known artist in the Northwest. Buster Simpson’s works Exchanger Fountain, Host Analog, and Seattle George Monument are covered here.

Bloom, Brett, and Ava Bromberg, eds. Belltown Paradise: The Belltown P-Patch, Cottage Park, Growing Vine Street, Buster Simpson ; Making Their Own Plans: City Repair, Resource Center, Park Fiction, Can Masdeu. Chicago, IL: WhiteWalls, 2004. Print.

This short volume is focused on a specific region of Seattle that the editors believe to be both culturally and artistically significant. The section concerning Buster Simpson makes emphasizes Buster’s projects that are time based and involve growing materials.

“Buster Simpson on “Secured Embrace” at The Frye Museum.” YouTube. YouTube, 3 July 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2016.

In this brief video, Simpson responds to questions about his recent piece Secured Embrace. He equated the anthropomorphic concrete structures holding the root wad to the actions of the Woodman caressing the wood he has scavenged from the city. He also remarks that this work is art now, but it is intended to serve a functional purpose later on. I would add that the functional purpose is magnified because the messages discussed in its will continue to speak to people even when it is performing restoration functions.

Fukasawa, Yu. “Effects of Wood Decomposer Fungi on Tree Seedling Establishment on Coarse Woody Debris.” Forest Ecology and Management 266 (2012): 232-38. Web of Science. Web.

This paper discusses the theory that seedlings are more prevalent on nurse logs there is smaller density of accumulated forest litter. It also reports the findings that small seeds are more likely to thrive on nurse logs than large seeds and considers the relationship between different species of fungi and seedling density on nurse logs.

Glowen, Ron, and Kim Levin. Glass: Material in the Service of Meaning. Seattle: Tacoma Art Museum in Association with U of Washington, 1991. Print.

This book covers the history of a several different artists and their pioneering works with glass. Buster Simpson was going to art school during the time the ONCE art group was popular, and they are known for working with a variety of media, including glass. Simpson has done some work with glass, but that is not the focus of this project.

Graves, Jen. “Simpson, Buster (b. 1942).” HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. HistoryLink.org, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.

Jen Graves, writer for The Stranger, traces the development of Buster Simpson’s artistic career, highlighting key projects. His relationship to other artists, the public, and the city of Seattle are also discussed.

Kangas, Matthew. Epicenter: Essays on North American Art. New York, NY: Midmarch Arts, 2005. Print.

This book is a collection of short overviews of influential artists in North America. The foucs is more on biography and examples than overarching theory. The included essay on Buster Simpson, Green Interventions, highlights Simpson’s ability to make lasting social statements, most often with a lighthearted, humorous or ironic touch, by employing incredibly unique solutions to urban problems.

Lawrimore, Scott, ed. Buster Simpson // Surveyor. Washington: Frye Art Museum, 2013. Print.

This book is a broad look at the extensive career of Buster Simpson. The main focus of the work is on his work that has found its way into a museum, although some of his earlier, edgier projects are covered as well. Of particular interest to me is the included discussion about Simpson’s alter ego, the Woodman. This book is more comprehensive than other sources and presents the most holistic view of Simpson and his work.

Marcuvitz, Shel. Nurse Logs in a Coastal Oregon Forest. Portland: Reed College, 1985. Print.

This is a thesis presented to the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of Reed College. It gives a detailed overview of the science of nurse logs and how they interact with the forest. Its primary findings discuss the incredibly complex challenge of understanding why some seeds grow on nurse logs. The possible theories of decreased competition due to the absence of forest growth, less litter on nurse logs than on the forest floor, and the movement of seeds by small forest creatures are all considered.

Matilsky, Barbara C. Fragile Ecologies: Contemporary Artists’ Interpretations and Solutions. New York: Rizzoli International, 1992. Print.

This volume is a general survey of contemporary environmental artist, but it goes more in to detail for each individual artist than some of the other books on this list. In terms of relevancy to my project, the writing on Host Analog will be utilized, as will the coverage of King Street Gardens and Downspout. The main narrative put forward in the section about Simpson in this book is that individual actions can resonating impacts on urban environments.

Miller, Brian. “Visual Art: Buster Simpson at the Fry.” Seattle Weekly News. Seattleweekly.com, 30 July 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2016.

Brian Miller writes on the non-permanence of Buster Simpson’s work and asks what that means for collectors of his work. He addressed Simpson’s working style of using recycled materials to create art and on designing projects with some sort of environmental bent.

Oakes, Baile, ed. Sculpting with the Environment: A Natural Dialogue. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1995. Print.

This book opens with essays by three noted scholars on topics related to the contemporary environmental movement. This work covers three of Simpson’s works, Host Analog, Exchanger Fountain, and Seattle George Monument. This book focuses in more on the poetic statements made by these works than other sources.

Raunekk “What Are Tetrapods? (Tetrapods Resist Wave Impact and Prevent Beach Erosion).” Brighthub Engineering. Bright Hub Engineering, 23 Sept. 2009. Web. 20 Jan. 2016.

This is a quick overview of what tetrapods are, how they work, and the controversy surrounding them.

Sanchez, Evelyn, Rachel Gallery, and James W. Dalling. “Importance of Nurse Logs as a Substrate for the Regeneration of Pioneer Tree Species on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.” J. Trop. Ecol. Journal of Tropical Ecology 25.04 (2009): 429. Web of Science. Web.

This article discusses the fact that in some forest, nurse logs are less common and do not serve as often as recruitment sites for seedlings. Despite this, the article points out that nurse logs often function as establishment sites for seedlings that cannot survive on the forest floor, thereby adding to the biodiversity of the forest.

Seattle Art Museum. The Effluence of Affluence. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991. Print.

This brief document was part of series that the museum did as part of the Documents Northwest series. Despite its brevity, this source is unique in that its focus is on Buster Simpson not as a public artist, but as a maker of socio-political statements through art making. The Simpson presented here is more interested in conveying direct messages than in subtle statements, as was true of his later work.

Szewczyk, J. “Tree Regeneration on Rotten Wood and on Soil in Old-Growth Stand.” Vegetatio 122.1 (1996): 37-46. JSTOR. Web. 06 Feb. 2016.

This sources tests and discusses the theory that nurse logs are better seedbeds than the forest floor for the trees in the Barbia Gora National Park. Other findings include that the sustainability of canopy trees depends on the cycles of death and decay of nurse logs in the forest.

Thompson, Nato. Living as Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011. New York, NY: Creative Time, 2012. Print.

This volume presents an extremely wide range of different artists and the myriad approached they take to the making of social statements with art. Buster Simpson is only given two pages in the work, but the sources is still relevant because the author makes a connection that I have not encountered in any other source up until this point. They point out that, in their discussion of Growing Vine Street, that art can provide the necessary hub for scientific innovation.

Wilson, William. “ART REVIEW : ‘Fragile Ecologies’: Working to Keep the Green Green.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 05 Aug. 1994. Web. 20 Jan. 2016.

William Wilson reviews the provocative artists (Buster Simpson being one of them) in a new show “Fragile Ecologies”. He considers what statements these artists make about consumerism and humanity’s effect on the environment and how these messages diverge from the traditional visual and experiential escapism that has come to be associated with fine art.

Event Specialist Achievement Post #2

Ultramoderne, Rhode Island School of Design (all images from the Ultramoderne website)

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this lecture, given by the co-principals of the architecture firm Ultramoderne and both instructors at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, in person, but I was able to view it online. Yasmin Vobis and Aaron Forest trade off discussing four of their recent projects, involving their experiments with cross-laminated timber (CLT), reimagining typological precedents, way-finding, and boundary making. The firm is interested in the dual definition they ascribe to the word “structure.” They articulate them as:

the structure (clean engineering + increased attention to materials) of Modernism (think van der Rohe)

the social structures which architecture can delineate and direct

I learned quite a bit about the firm through this lecture, as they go in-depth on four of their projects. I’ll recount some of key ideas from each of those projects.

1) Four Corners- a deconstruction of the typology of the New England barn structure. The firm uses CLT to bring contemporary flair to an exposition piece. They invert the structure, turning it from single, introverted volume into one composed of several angled masses.

2) Chicago Horizon- this was a contest wining design of a kiosk that was displayed in the Chicago Architecture Biennial and then went on to be installed permanently along the waterfront. It is concerned with questions of scale. A hulking wood mass serves as the roof, supported on the minimum -13- number of slender, rectangular columns. The roof references the horizon seen beyond it while also cutting off the sky from anyone beneath it. Drastically lowering the “sky” that was visible to one as they approached the structure.

3) Weir Farm- this was a project that ended up as a simple way-finding system, with a couple layers of complexity over it. The site, sitting in a National Park in Connecticut, draws tourists to the view the grounds where the Impressionist painter J. Alden Weird resided, while locals spread out over the untamed, rolling landscape making up the remainder of the park. The Weir Farm project attempted to unify these groups, through a periodically changing way-finding system. Humble cedar posts had three holes carved in them, which when peered though split the view into the traditional divisions known to landscape painters: foreground, middleground, and background. These holes would then be directed at different scenes throughout the park, with a rotating group of experts – ecologists, geographers, artists, etc. – deciding what they where showcasing. These posts could either be stumbled upon or could be included in the routes of the park rangers conducting tours.

4) Recess PS1- this entry to the MoMA PS1 contest is a meditation on what makes a boundary. Situated in New York, it grapples with the question, “how do create boundaries in dense places?” Their proposal is a two-layered, fifty foot tall structure which cuts off the enclosed area form the surrounding bustle and creates a unique interior experience, flanked by chain-link fence and columns that appear to be caught in a slow dance.

Architecture is an excellent example of mixing art and science, perhaps the most salient yet least discussed field that does so. While each of the above projects is attempting to answer an aesthetic or social question (the domain of art) it is limited by the constraints of engineering and transportation. Take for example the wooden roof of Chicago Horizon. The symbolism of the flat, hanging rectangle presented a number of technical issues. Among these was the question of the largest span possible with such a mass. The size was limited, in the end, by the trucks, which had to transport to panels of CLT from the plant to the site of assembly, to a length of 56 feet. The orientation of the supporting columns of this structure are an example of how the constraints of science can enhance the power of the art, thus demonstrating the symbiotic nature of their relationship. They were arranged in a radial pattern in order to evenly receive the force of the famed Chicago winds. At the same time, this radial pattern directed the attention of the people under the roof outward, towards the rush of the city and the calm of the sea.

Two of these projects, the aforementioned Chicago Horizon and Four Corners, experiment with the idea of void, a concept my project also grapples with. In my case, the void tells a history of things that have made their contributions and passed on: a fully-decayed nurse log and the early career of Buster Simpson, while in their case the void is a volume to be filled. The whole is made more complete when people wander through the Four Corners’ complex play of volumes, when people pass time under the man-made sky of the Chicago Horizon. This allows to me think about my void in a more active way, and to ask the question:

Is my void static or does something still move through it? If so, what is this thing? The continued development of the mycorrhizal fungus that takes root on nurse logs? The ongoing influence of Simpson’s commitment to a sustainable art?

More likely than not, it now represents my continued interest in the subjects of forest ecology and art, though these ideas.

Image from the blog ISO50

Host Analog

Image from Buster Simpson.com

Image from Pinterest

One of Buster’s most provocative works, which has also come to be one of his most successful, does an excellent job of defining the pursuits of this artist. This work is called Host Analog. It is a sculpture on the grounds of the Oregon State Convention Center made up of a decayed log that the artist brought into the city and cut into several slices. These slices were then arranged in a slightly bowed shape and a hydraulic system was set up in order to keep the log damp enough for other trees to start growing out of it. This type of log is called a nurse log, which occur quite frequently in the Pacific North West forests around where Simpson currently operates. The moisture content of a decaying log, which stimulates the growth of mycorrhizal fungus, is one of the many factors that go in to stimulating the growth of new trees on nurse logs (Oakes 120). Learning this was one of the motivators of my own research into the majesty of nurse logs, the findings of which are recounted under the tab “nurse logs.”

The beauty of this idea, a simple one which will nonetheless will have a great impact, as many people will pass by it over the sculpture’s potential lifetime of several hundred years, is best described in the words of Baile Oaks in the book Sculpting with the Environment: “Host Analog…bring[s] environmental issues to the urban context: natural phenomena which city populations are detached from and often indifferent to yet dependent upon (120).” In addition, the work causes a disruption of the natural rigidity of the city (120). Any time a routine is altered, or in this case, a static array of buildings is broken up by a piece of rotting wood, people will take a moment to break out of their normal thought processes. I believe this to be one of Simpson’s foremost goals as an artist- to get people to consider what narratives are taking place in the world beyond their own lives.

Besides serving in this role, as a piece of art with a clear message that leads to deeper thoughts on humanity’s debt to the earth upon further contemplation, the piece also has another powerful message in my mind. Through the rapid changes and urbanization that took place following the Industrial Revolution, we as a society have made huge changes on the earth. Art of this particular bent is a way of reconnecting this “gulf between natural and urban ecosystems” (Matilsky 4). Repairing those changes will be a gradual process. This project, like so many others that Buster Simpson had done, emphasize first and foremost that healing and significant change will take place gradually. If I were to pass by this work of art everyday, my hope in this gradual process of renewal would be stirred. As Matilsky has written “the centuries that it will take to establish a forest contrast sharply with the minutes involved in cutting down a tree (96).” Yet here I would be able to witness these new trees growing, and of all places growing in a harsh urban environment.

Deconstructing my Creative Display

Video Showing Creative Display (presentation)

Video Showing Creative Display (process)

What is the overall goal of your creative display?

To use a cardboard sculpture which attempts to represent and synthesize some of the ideology of Buster Simpson and my own musings on his work, resulting from my research into the artist. The science component of my report is also represented symbolically and was the impetus behind the form of my display.

Why did you choose the materials that you did?

I used recycled cardboard from around Lawrence hall to construct the main tree-outline-forms. The paint brush used, paint, and used wrapper paper tubes were from the Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts (MECCA) in Eugene. This is a statement on the state of recycling in our country. We may recycle, but we rarely think of what happens to those materials after we recycle them. Making art from them is not the most often pursued activity with recycled materials, but it makes the viewer think about this concept via their use in this way.

Where did you get this idea?

This kind of thinking is mirrored in much of Simpson’s work. His projects may not always be the most practical, and they are no slave to the notion that all art must be first visually appealing and then, if at all, functional.

What is the significance of the words written on the display?

The words written around my display read: “Cardboard dies but, trees don’t.” This statement is meant to make the reader question the sentence, as at first it appears to be untrue. Its truth is contingent on further analysis and inquiry. The first half of the sentence is readily explained. In our country, once cardboard is recycled, it “dies”. We don’t think about it again. It is expendable. The second half of the sentence is meant as a segue way into the topic of nurse logs.

What do nurse logs have to do with Buster Simpson?

One of Simpson’s most famous works, Host Analog, consists of a decaying log that is watered in such a way so as to sustain new trees growing on it. In many forests around the world, this takes place naturally, and the decaying logs have been dubbed “nurse logs”. In this way, dead trees don’t really “die” because they are still contributing to the greater life of the forest. They are still essential to the forest-as-an-organism’s-life. Other parts of my display also refer to nurse logs. The four tree outlines subtlety (subtlety was a theme of my overall report and analysis of both Buster Simpson and nurse logs) emerging from the four sheets of cardboard are abstracted from four trees that become nurse logs in forests of the Pacific North West: The Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce, and Cedar. The four rods connecting these outlines refer to the theory that new trees are most likely to survive on logs that have reached decay class 4. Logs on the forest floor are sometimes placed into these decay classes (usually 1-5) depending upon variables such as how much bark is left, how soft the bark is and how much the trunk seems to have changed into more of a mound shape.

What is the significance of the red crosses?

The four red crosses also riff on the idea of nurse logs. Red crosses are commonly associated with medical professions, i.e. nurses. In addition, the mythological birds called phoenixes are associated with the color red and are excellent analogies for nurse logs in my mind. The phoenix rises from its ashy death into new life, new trees rise from nurse logs.

What is the purpose of the small triangular protrusions on the sides of the trees?

The four triangular protrusions will hold the leaves of sword ferns, which frequently grow near nurse logs in the Pacific North West. In theory, these ferns could cannibalize the whole sculpture, and nature would make direct use of a device that is merely meant to get other people to think about nature. This is also an idea contained in some of Simpson’s projects.

Why are the trees separated by a large amount of space?

The void created in the center of my display serves two purposes. First, it is a visual allusion to a real occurrence. After approximately one thousand years, nurse logs completely decay, leaving only a space loosely outlined by the roots of the trees to which they gave life. My void does this, but also calls attention to the object placed in its center.

What is the purpose of the object in the middle of the void?

The outline of the crow in the 3D printed block hanging there refers directly to Buster Simpson. In his early career, he would scavenge through dumpsters and construction sites for materials to use in projects. He was a scavenger, like the crow, an animal that often makes appearances in his sculptures concerning recycling. Gradually, Simpson moved from performances of dumpster diving and gathering broken pieces of buildings, to working directly with the city in attempts to remedy some of the issues he was calling attention to. This is why there is only an outline of the crow. Buster Simpson has moved on, but the structure of these ideas of scavenging, nature, and using the materials available to us yet remain.

Why are there cords attached to the display?

The display itself will not stand without strings anchoring it to its surroundings. This can be seen as a representation of the delicate balance between humanity and nature. It also forces the display to be site specific, relaying on any chairs, tables, or walls to hold it up. This mirrors the reality that many of Simpson’s projects would not make sense out of context. Finally, the cords projecting out from the display seem to reach out and grab the objects around them, stressing the idea of how urgent our need to understand natural processes is and how we see art’s role in that pursuit.

Understanding Buster Simpson’s Changing Identity

Buster Simpson underwent a gradual change in his artistic career. He started as a performance artist, acting as the Woodman, gathering building debris from the streets of Seattle, and dumpster diving.

Image from Buster Simpson // Surveyor

The Woodman is the epitome of incremental change. Whether or not he did anything with the materials he gathered, the streets were slowly cleaned. Yet the narrative propagated by these performances do not only impart a simple story of reusing materials. In fact, Jo-Anner Birnie underlines the subtly of this character quite effectively. She views him as bringing to attention the utopian goals of modern urbanization. By picking up each and every small piece of wood and discarded building material and piling them on his back, he is demonstrating the great lengths that go we go to create an artificial urban environment, clean from trash or useless materials sitting about, while in reality the buildings we craft are no more permanent than his sculptures of reclaimed materials (7). It is only a question of the degree of the force of nature. Wind and rain can will carry away small things, but intense storm and flooding will just as easily wipe away these larger interventions into the natural biophysical world.

“Everywhere we look, it is becoming harder to distinguish the rural from the urban.”

-Carol Yinghua Loo

Image from Catching Zebra

The installation Downspout-Plant Life Monitoring System is an example of the artist’s foray into sculpture, attempting to bridge the gap between nature and the city. The work itself consists of a simple fern growing from the rain-pipe attached to the side of a building. It is a small intervention, an incremental change to the fabric of the city, adding a small bit of green to an otherwise monotony of brick. Just like the Woodman, who leveraged incremental change to ascertain materials, Downspout also performs some function, de-acidifying the water running through the pipes (Matilsky 92-93). The three elements of Simpson’s work are well represented here- “[elegant] simplicity, cost [efficacy], and [easy implementation] on a large scale in cities around the country (96).”

Image from Buster Simpson // Surveyor

Tree Guards is primarily interested in directly displaying a message, just like the visceral image of a man burdened by the massive piles of wood he has collected from the streets. It speaks to incremental change in the environment, caused by humans. Lawrimore points that even the the meager attempts made by city planners, planting trees for example, are under threat by the inhabitants of the city themselves. They are often damaged as a result of drunken incidents on the sidewalk or street. (57). The tying of a crutch to a fledging urban tree is an elegantly simple way to bring attention back to nature and also offer a creative “solution” to the problems that urban trees face.

Image from Art and Politics Now

When the Tide is out the Table is Set also does not have a direct use, by instead serves as a way to monitor the toxicity of bodies of water surrounding Seattle. By leaving cast concrete plates in water for a time and then removing them, Simpson exposes the presence of toxins in the water, in the form of buildup on these plates (Matilsky 94). These plates were made by Simpson during a residency. This introduces the idea, oft seen in Simpson’s work, that humanity always has a direct hand in the affecting the environment, even when they are in the act of “restoring” it. A “technology”, the plates in this example, had to be invented for use in showing how humans affect the environment. The irony here is that the material used, concrete, is formed by separating out rocks and sand from the environment and re-fashioning them with human labor. This, of course, had an effect on the ecosystem from which the rock and sand was extracted. Even when in the process of monitoring, in the hopes of mitigating, environmental degradation in one region, this process directly contributed to it in another area.

This sort of subtle humor is explored further by Simpson in the titling of this work. It comes from an old Salish saying that conveyed the idea that the bountiful clean waters had produced a meal, yet Simpson’s work shows the opposite (95). The waters are no longer safe, and there is a certain dark humor in the use of that saying. This dark humor was essential part of a memorable performance of the Woodman in 1974. In an interview, Simpson recounts how he had gathered so much wood that when he stooped to grab more, he drops some of it (Lawrimore 92). He is forced into an odd dance that acts as a metaphor for the enduring efforts of humanity to elude itself when the environment is considered. We have already gone far in destroying the natural rhythms of the environment. Now we are attempting to restore the damage we have done, but we want to do it in a way that seems “natural”.

Image from Greg Kucera Gallery

We place root wads in riparian areas to help the river, but once they have been placed the story of human intervention in that area is silenced. Simpson humorously exposes this delusion in Secured Embrace. In the video, Buster Simpson on “Secured Embrace” at The Frye Museum, he describes the work as the “new woodman”. Upon further prompting about this statement he jokingly points out that the concrete structures that are tied to the log and serve to anchor it in the water are vaguely anthropomorphic. The final intent of the art piece is to be placed in a river to help restore its natural flows, but the large concrete structures that will remain continue to tell the story of human intervention. This also subtly makes a jab at the art world, wherein objects are usually rendered useless when they become “art”. Simpson’s work is anything but useless, while still functioning as “art” evidence by its placement in a museum. The Woodman has always been about showing what effect one person can have on their surrounding environment. In the case of the Woodman that environment was the city and the act served to bring attention to how our societal structures negatively affected some of the people that inhabited it, namely, the homeless. The large building projects from which the Woodman collected material were not low-income housing units. They were usually high-rises. There is a parallel with Secured Embrace here. This time, however; the environment being considered is the biophysical environment and the work is bringing to the public’s attention how those same societal structures are negatively affecting a different population, the species that make up our riparian ecosystems. In this second case, Simpson was very intentional in making sure that it was obvious the humans had a direct hand in this “restoration”, just as they had in its original degradation.

Image from Pinterest

A primary takeaway from Buster Simpson, I believe, is that small, deliberate changes, which contribute to society in a way that is pleasing or fulfilling, can carry a big impact. The final work I will discuss illustrates this above idea very clearly. Simpson’s work Exchanger Fountain is very simple. It consists of a drinking fountain that is in a symbiotic relationship with the Willow tree adjacent to it. The gray water from the fountain (the water that isn’t drunk) spills on to rock below the fountain. As the water evaporates, this process cools the pipes carrying water to the drinking fountain’s users, as well as watering the Willow tree (Oakes 123). Not only does this odd installation afford the users a break from the regularity of normal urban trees, but it also raises a question,

Why can’t more of our city’s spaces be put to simultaneously practical and artistic use?

How much more life does this simple and sustainable way of envisioning a drinking fountain add to the city than the customary separation of this two objects of civic life?

Simpson shows us that there is abundant room in our world to experiment creatively and constructively. When users drink from this fountain, they do not just get the nourishment of water, they also see their own faces amid the leaves of the Willow leaves (Allan 192). These subtle gestures, pairing the fountain with a tree and creating a space where people can see their reflections, inspire in the users thoughts of how their own relationship with water interacts with the flow of water on a wider scale. City dwellers often only think of water as the liquid pumped through underground pipes and appearing in their homes. The struggle of obtaining water is absent, as is the everyday exaltation in its life-sustaining properties. Inscribed on Exchanger Fountain is the phrase “The water kissing your lips is an offering (192).” This inscription serves as the final way in which the piece causes the viewer/user to reflect on the often unseen and neglected beauty of the natural world and its life-giving cycles.

Image from Daily Journal of Commerce

Widespread change to our increasingly large urban environments is an equally difficult task to conceive of and to put into motion. Building codes, statues, land use policies, apathy, and the feeling that one person’s contribution cannot make any sizable difference are all challenges that any urban innovator will face. Buster Simpson, in typical fashion, was able to find a way to begin affecting change despite these challenges. In a collaboration project called Growing Vine Street, Simpson helped transform the Vine Street area into a catalyst for sustainable solutions to urban problems related to sustainability, polluting, and runoff water (Thompson 222). This is remarkable because it demonstrates the power which art and science can wield in collaboration. What was essentially a sculpture park created an environment for others, with different mindsets and different backgrounds, to use the space to test out green ideas. The location also served as a community garden (222), which stays true to Simpson’s philosophy that “art in public” should have practical use value. A prime example is Cistern Steps -a project Simpson planned and implemented with community involvement. A series of tiered basins collects rainwater which flows from condo roofs, uses this water to nourish native species planted in the basins, and then directs it to Puget Sound (Bloom 60). The construction of this project involved the community, and is a way of subtly conveying the notion that more comprehensive and “ambitious” projects will be needed in the future (58). By elevating the water system above the ground and highlighting its movement in this way, the path that water takes through the city is made apparent, perfectly keeping in line with the eternal task of the Woodman – exposing the inner workings of the city and its ordinary rhythms.

The Science of Nurse Logs

What causes nurse logs?

In Nurse logs in a coastal Oregon forest, Shel Marcuvitz recounts that “trees often do not fall until they have been standing for a time and may have some of the characteristics of the rotten wood before they fall to the ground (4).” In other words, nurse logs are not a simple phenomenon that has a singular cause. Based on my research, they are not even limited to a single type of forest. Shel Marcuvits discuses the forests of the Pacific Northwest in his thesis, and included in it are the results of many other scientists that study this, and related phenomena which will be discussed later, in this same region. In Importance of nurse logs as a substrate for the regeneration of pioneer tree species on the Barro Colorado Island, Panama, Evelyn Sanchez, et. al. reports their findings on the vital role of nurse logs in maintaining biodiversity in the tropical forests of Panama.

These tropical forests have markedly different climate than the forests of the Pacific North West. The Panamanian Forests have a four-month dry season (Sanchez 430) contrasted with the PNW forests in which the dry season is mitigated by the presence of summer fogs (Macuvits 14). Decaying wood is also superior to the soil substrate in the forests of the Western Carpathians, even though it is often not as common to find tree starts growing there (J. Szewczyk 45). Even though the forest is once again different, in this case a temperate forest (37), nurse logs are still present. They even play role in the forests in the Far East, where Fukasawa reports that “small seeded pioneer tree species Clethra barbinervis (Ericales) were found to be preferentially established on rotting fallen logs of the Japanese red pine Pinus desiflora (1).” There is something universal about this act of decaying wood serving, in many cases, as the most desirable places for new trees to grow. These logs are part of the natural lifecycle of the forest.

Why does one find more tree starts on decaying wood than regular soil?

Across all the studies I read, the results are inconclusive. There is always a certain amount of subjectivity involved when one is examining rotting logs on the forest floor to determine things such as their decay class. Marcuvitz concludes that it is much too complex to determine a single factor that makes a rotten piece of wood any better than say, a mound of soil on the forest floor. He does tentatively put forth the idea that a major factor could be that there is less competition for nutrients and sunlight for tree starts on decaying wood than on the forest floor (69). The theory of less competition leading to increased seedling density on nurse logs is echoed by other researchers. Sanchez conveys that these sites not only “decrease competition” but they also “increase light availability”, and “provide refuges from fungal pathogens” (430). This is an example of how complex finding an answer to this question is. It is likely not one of these factors, but some combination of the three which allows these seedlings to have an increased change of survival on nurse logs. In the abstract of effects of wood decomposer fungi on tree seedling establishment on coarse woody debris, Fukasawa writes that a large buildup of debris on the forest floor is one factor that influences why they observe more tree seedlings sprouting on decaying logs, which generally are not host to as thick of a layer of debris, than on the forest floor (1). Similarly, Szewczyk mentions a study by by Harmon and Franklin in 1989 which concluded that in the forests of the western united states a certain species of tree was more often not able to sprout on the forest floor as a direct result of the intense competition, but he also discusses another idea in his paper. He puts forth the idea that it is only small seeds which cannot survive on the forest floor and that large seeds were not likely to be present on nurse logs (45).

How do small seeds get onto nurse logs?

One of the first conclusions of nurse logs in a coastal Oregon rainforest, is that it is not practical to believe that random wind patterns are sufficient to explain why one sees these seeds growing more readily on nurse logs than on the forest floor. Perhaps there is some other natural agent at play? Initially, I had the thought that maybe these smaller seeds, since they are more likely to be present on nurse logs than larger seeds, were carried there by small animals. Alas, I came across the conclusion in Sanchez’s article that “animal-dispersed species also had a significantly greater proportion of their seedlings rooted in soil than did wind-dispersed species (432). It seems that this is not an adequate explanation. This topic is ripe for increased research. Although it is beyond the scope of this project, there are many other factors that could help explain why one more often sees small seeded tree species on decaying logs than on other substrates, such as the presence of special fungi on decaying logs that assist the seedlings in obtaining water, the varying moisture content of decaying bark, or the complicated relationships between specific species of tree and the untold number of microclimates that will influence when a seed is able to germinate. At the moment, I am obliged to agree with the statement that “apparently, there is something about rotten wood that is essential to tree seedling growth (Marcuvits 5).”

How is this related to the artist Buster Simpson?

Besides being exposed to a whole world of science that was before completely unknown to me, I also came across a finding the article importance of nurse logs as a substrate for the regeneration of pioneer tree species on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, the was not given much attention within the article, or in any other research I found, but it is of extreme relevance to my thought process concerning Buster Simpson and his motivation as an environmentally conscious artist in an urban environment. On page 434 of the article I found that “nurse logs…play an especially important role in initiating forest succession after agricultural abandonment.” Knowing this, Simpson’s Host Analog is imbued with deeper meaning. It can be seen as not only a spectacle where one is able to witness the curious property of decaying logs giving life to new trees, but also a metaphor for the idea that humans have had such an impact on the natural environment with urbanization, Portland being the example here, that it will take something as powerful as a nurse log to restore it. It also invokes the idea that should our cities one day become empty, processes such as this will overtake them.

Why aren’t nurse logs used more often to restore areas that have been subject to environmental degradation?

The obvious answer is the forests where these nurse logs already are dependent upon them, and removing them would prove detrimental to the forest. Yet even if there were an abundant number of these logs, I do not think that they would be widely used as restoration tools. We as a society are primarily concerned with efficiency, even in our methods of restoration. The scope of a nurse log’s work, several hundred to one thousand years, is not applicable to the human way of thinking. We do not plan parks by position these decaying logs around an area and allow them to slowly consume it, guaranteeing biodiversity and healthy soil. Instead, we raise trees in nurseries and plant them in places we wish to restore once they have reached a certain height. In this way, it appears to us that we are making an immediate difference in that area. Restoration is something that we need to see for it to be effective in the public’s eyes. With this in mind, one is able to prove the necessity of artist’s such as Buster Simpson.

Another example of the idea that restoration is something that we need to see for it be effective in the public’s eyes.

Tetrapods are large concrete structures with three to four “arms” that protect the coastline against the ceaseless buffeting of the waves (Raunekk 3). They protect the shape of the coast, and thus allow people to appreciate the natural environment safely. At the same time, they are halting the natural process of erosion that the ocean is trying to inflict on its surrounding banks. These structures are useful because they allow people to experience the wildness of the ocean, in marked contrast the urban environments in which they likely dwell, and so from that perspective are useful to the goals of the environmentalist –to get people to appreciate the natural world. This comes at the expense of altering the course of the ocean’s waves and so in reality what is being experienced is a human constructed version of nature.

Where is the balance between appreciating the untamed natural world and altering it in ways that will ultimately benefit it?

This is something I urge the reader to consider. Are we able to admit that even our actions to restore the environment are altering its natural cycles? Does unaltered nature, in any form, still exist anywhere in the world?

Journal #19

Reflection on Kris Kirkeby’s, Scientific Illustrator, Presentation and Activity

Image from Scientific Illustration tumblr

A) It was sad to hear how computers have virtually closed another door to a unique career. Kirkeby related how she does not see much work for manual scientific illustration anywhere, and that there are no, or virtually no, in-house scientific illustrator positions at publishing houses or museums any longer. I’ve seen a hundreds, if not thousands, of diagrams in textbooks over the years. The computer generated graphics are no where near as engaging. At first, I could not think of a reason why. One would think that the graphics increased ability to convey accurate information would make them more desirable, but Kirkeby showed us that scientific illustrators have been producing scientifically accurate, precise drawings for centuries. So it is not the level of accuracy that is different. I believe the difference is fully psychological and comes back to the fact that the colors laid down by a physical hand are more nuanced and varied than what a computer program is capable of producing. I also believe that viewers do not feel as connected with computer generated imagery because when they imagine the image’s creation, they do not picture the person behind the computer manipulating it. Conversely, it is difficult to image a carefully rendered, wonderfully wrought drawing without at the same time seeing the hands holding the drawing tools that birthed it and the focused visage of its maker.

B) The only direct link I saw between what was presented and what I am studying this term is that both Kirkeby and Simpson do all their work as freelance artists. I suspect that more jobs will take that turn, as computers become more powerful and as the type of work that is done becomes more technical. Owing to the fact that my project is now virtually complete, there is nothing that immediately comes to mind about how to specifically apply what was discussed to my own work and research. The main point of the presentation, concerning the role of the scientific illustrator, however, will be of use to me moving onward. It has made me see the value in multidisciplinary approaches to tasks. These images simply would not be able to exist if the illustrators did not understand the nuance of what they were drawing. Had I taken a different approach to my project, and found myself creating a painting or a drawing, the advice to fully seek out information about the related science would’ve profoundly resonated. In fact, I suspect that if I had taken that route, I would have been pushed to more deeply understand how nurse logs interact with the whole forest, in order to convey those ideas visually.

C) In terms of my own life, I have always appreciated hand-drawn images that closely remembered nature, and secretly hope that that sort of art will make a resurgence, in opposition to the tech-obsessed everyday world. The sort of attention to detail that is cultivated when one is trying to copy exactly what one sees in front of them is no useless skill. It is easy to assume that everything is simple and explained in a world where we can search for virtually any topic and receive millions of hits. Go try to exactly draw a tree and you will quickly see how thin this veil of simplicity is. Everything has not been discovered, everything has not been explained.

One realm where realistic, detail-obsessed drawing is still valued is in architectural delineation. Its amazing how an image that could easily be photographed takes on a whole different degree of being, when it is instead painstakingly rendered.

Image from Archinect

I suggest checking out this article on Life of An Architect.com for further images.

Journal #18

Reflection on Feedback from Creative Display #2

Image from Enspire

Overall, the feedback I received indicates that more people were understanding the thrust of my project compared to my presentation of Creative Display #1. I attribute this to the time I put into fully conceptualizing each symbol of the display, which bolstered my ability to articulate the ideas contained in the work.

People seemed to identify most with the social cause and were able to see the connection between my sculpture and the idea that we do not often think about what happens to materials after we have used them. They also demonstrated an understanding of the void in the middle of the sculpture this time. I again think this was a result of my ability to present my ideas in an order that was not overwhelming or too difficult to follow.

The biggest issue is going to be fully explaining how project works into the things I was studying this term. I view my project as a meditation on the re-birth protocol of nurse logs and our relationship to a version of that process in our own lives, recycling, in the vein of Buster Simpson’s work. Due to the obnoxious size of my sculpture and the ribbons that will project from it, attention-grabbing will not be an issue, but conveying main ideas quickly will. I hope to have sheets explaining the work along with pages on my blog site open next to it so that people who are intrigued can get a complete explanation.

Receiving feedback was helpful because I got to see what aspects of the project people were most interested in, which helps me think about how best to arrange pages on my blog site.

Failure Achievement Post #3

Reflection on Creative Display #2

In my original conceptualizing of my creative display, four tree-silhouettes were supposed to be free standing. I wanted them to be approximately four feet tall, because I felt that at that height they started to really make a visual impact. Anything less than that height is really too far below eye level to be applicable to a human viewer. The problem with this, and one that didn’t emerge until I was attempting to put the whole assemble together, was that the pieces would bend so much that they were in serious danger of falling over. I had anticipated this and had tested the rigidity of each piece as I produced it, but I believe the simple fact that they have been glued together for a number of days now is to blame for their tendency to fall over now. The weight of the uppermost parts of the silhouettes is becoming too much for the lower parts over time and creases are forming. Some of the support pieces holding the larger sheets together had also began to come off, due to inadequate glue. This second problem was easy to fix, and helped some, but the second way did not have an easy solution.

Initially, I had a few ideas about what to do to compensate for these leanings:

Glue cardboard rectangles to the other side to try to counterbalance the sway

Cut more slits in the base in order to insert more perpendicular supports

Tie the pieces to the walls and chairs around them

I ruled out the second idea once I looked more closely at what was happening at the base of the display. The sides of the slits were being forced askew, and this was compromising the rigidity of the whole piece. I decided that it was best not to mess around with that part of the display then. I ruled out the first idea because due to a similar thought process. I had no idea if I would be able to counterbalance the shapes, plus I thought they would be distracting on both sides. I enjoyed be able to tell from one side that the large shapes would made up from a number of smaller rectangles. I thought keeping that smooth side was important.

That left the third option. At first, I didn’t think I would like the look, but after taping one of the forms to the wall I liked the effect. It makes the display sight-specific. When I set it up in the classroom I will need to use a different set of props than in the basement of my dorm building. It also one move more slowly around the display when reading the words that wrap around it. One is careful not to trip on the ribbon assisting its standing. In turn, this will hopefully cause the viewer to reflect more on the meaning of the sentence wrapped around the display.

The connection to the article Viewpoint: How Creativity is Helped by Failure is as follows: The article recounts the creative process of writers for Pixar. After an initial draft, each component of the plot is carefully considered, analyzed, and placed in the wider context of the film. In the same way, this failure forced me to reevaluate the whole project and its message. This failure has pushed the display into a more active work, commenting on the role the environment has on impacting what becomes of recycled materials. This is told through the symbol of the ribbon attaching the recycled cardboard to whatever objects are around it. The goals of recycling, what the materials are recycled into, is contingent on the value placements of the surrounding nation-state, county, or community.