Culbreth Bowl
A three hundred year old oak tree fell right in front of me within the first couple of weeks of my arrival for graduate school at the University of Virginia, in 2006. A fragment of this tree became the central artifact this site specific construction, in the depression known as the “Culbreth Bowl” immediately to the east of the Culbreth Theater/Drama Department building at the University of Virginia.
In examining the interior of this fragment, I found a striking similarity in color and texture between the rotted wood at the center of the trunk, and the earth that the tree kicked out of the ground as it fell, as if pointing to an origin for the earth around it. The immediate purpose of the project was to re-process the upturned earth through this metaphorical axis of origin. The fragment of the tree was carved to reveal the interior passage from the trunk to the branch. The mound of earth was sifted and mixed to form usable clay. The clay was formed into a mass, suspended by an armature of steel pipes, wood and rope within the cavity of the trunk. The clay body of the construction is to erode over time, fall through the oak vessel, and re-fill the void left by the tree.
In examining the interior of this fragment, I found a striking similarity in color and texture between the rotted wood at the center of the trunk, and the earth that the tree kicked out of the ground as it fell, as if pointing to an origin for the earth around it. The immediate purpose of the project was to re-process the upturned earth through this metaphorical axis of origin. The fragment of the tree was carved to reveal the interior passage from the trunk to the branch. The mound of earth was sifted and mixed to form usable clay. The clay was formed into a mass, suspended by an armature of steel pipes, wood and rope within the cavity of the trunk. The clay body of the construction is to erode over time, fall through the oak vessel, and re-fill the void left by the tree.
