Lynne Hull: Escultures que criden els ocells.

Una idea tan simple com combinar un pal de telèfon abandonat amb unes quantes branques lligades pot produir un resultat tan curiós com les escultures "ecològiques" de Lynne Hull.   Formes arborescents que criden els ocells a aturar-s'hi o a fer-hi niu,  erigides allà on precisament hi manquen els arbres naturals  (les inacabables planes de Utah o Wyoming),  estructures elementals que s'incorporen al paisatge com si fossin una mena de resposta a allò que els éssers vius i les pròpies condicions naturals dels indrets triats semblen demanar  (Refugis per a papallones, abeuradors al desert, estructures afegides que descobreixen sorprenents valors amagats...).  En diuen  "Trans-species art" :  escultures que són aprofitables per la fauna i espècies salvatges.  Al darrera hi ha tota una reflexió sobre la necessitat de buscar noves vies d'equilibri,  per a reduir l'impacte d'unes espècies sobre les altres i per a enriquir el temps que unes i altres comparteixen sobre el nostre planeta. 

Lynne Hull ha treballat als E.E.U.U.,  a les Illes Britàniques,  o a l'Àfrica,  en col.laboració amb biòlegs, zoòlegs, paisatgistes i arquitectes,  vinculant també la seva producció a diversos projectes educatius que podrien situar-se dins del corrent de l'environtmental art   o del que podriem anomenar "art & ecology" (un intent d'incorporar l'educació ambiental i la formació visual i plàstica en un sol cos d'estudi).   Per a continuar indagant sobre tot això podeu consultar la web de  greenmuseum. org   i també la de eco-art.org

Lynne Hull.  Reservoir Tree. 1994.

“Reservoir tree”   (www.greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Images/Ecology/Hull/reservoir.php )

Critique by Xavier Bentué

Title: Reservoir Tree

Artist: Lynne Hull

Year: 1994

Medium: wood poles, trunks, branches and ropes in a kind of assemblage

Size: 23’ tall

Location: Carsington Water, (near Peaks National Park) Derbyshire,  England.

This is a “trans-species” work of art, as the artist defines it, a kind of environmental installation that differs to other land-art pieces because  of its ecological function.  In this case, the aesthetic object serves as well for roosting and nesting by colony nesting waterbirds.

The whole object is made with a group of wooden poles drived in the soil vertically as a several trunks of a strange realistic (or almost surrealist) fantasy tree.  This man-made tree has a beautiful crown of large twisted branches,  ropped together with the poles. There is a birdbox nest  hanging on one side,  a central platform useful for waterbirds nesting and several hazel trees planted alongside the piece,  to provide food and structure for wildlife in the future.

All the materials are carefully arranged in respect of the natural sense but with deep artistical proposal at the same time.  The artist first goal is to apply creativity to real problems and to make compatible his work with some kind of effect on urgent social and environmental issues:

“My sculptures and installations provide shelter, food, water or space for wildlife…”

She carefully selects the site and makes a deep research before the final installation of her works of art:

“Research and consultation are essential to project success.  I prefer direct collaboration with wildlife specialists, environtmentalinterprets, landscape architects and local people for design integration”.

Lynne Hull was born in Fort Carson,  Colorado, in 1956. Raised in Los Alamos, New Mexico  (where his father was moved after WW II,  to develop a scientist secret project on nuclear energy),  Hull made a deep contact with landscape.  After moving to Fort Collins, Wyoming, for living,  she studied arts in Wyoming University and worked for the Board of Fort Collins Audubon Society  (a non-profit organization for study and protect nature),  where she headed the Backyard Habitat Garden Tour  (see:  www.fortnet.org/Audubon/Archive/GardenTour_2007.htm   //  www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/habitat.php )  

She was creating nature focused or environmental art al least since the ‘90s of the past century, but the main environmental installations belongs to the XXI century.  Her latest works,  like  “Interdependencia con la Naturaleza” or “Madreagua” sculptures are really actions in nature,  selected and arranged elements interacting with natural flows and forces.  Also from this XXI century are the so-called  “Trans-species art”  (like the main piece we are talking about here).  The “Raptor-roosts”,  the “Floating islands”, the “Hydroglyphs” or the “Garden Habitats” are some good exemples for this  (watch it at www.eco-art.org ).

Reservoir Tree  blends abstract and natural concepts in an inspired and quite veristic achromatic (or very low chroma) piece,  with a very stimulating visual impact;  deep, clear and easy because of the learned use of the scale, site and background.  Contrast of lines and shapes (straight ones, other twisted, …) produce a strong dynamic effect,  without losing the organic unity of the object. The assymetrical balance of the piece is an expression of its natural references,  while the visible ropes and man-made arrangements are the human footprints on the work. This is one more soft contrast that artist used to show his though beyond the craftwork.  Harmony among Hull’s tree and the rest of surronding habitat is clearly perceived by the visitors and birdwatching people who refer stories and images of real birds standing on the sculpture.  This is the most important success in order to achieve the artist’s goal and the very subject of the “trans species” art. As a further step on the earthworks and land-art direction,  Lynne Hull’s work remind us of some of Nash, Dougerthy and other artists proposals related to the closest collaboration of art with nature.

This piece makes me feel good.  The thoughs that arise to my mind when viewing it are of bright future for humanity,  if the art can follow ideas like this one of Hull’s pieces.



Lynne Hull. Floating Island