About Fledgling Fronds

There is tension between the two species of birds depicted in my sculpture. After the rapid development of our city, native Gila woodpeckers started to raise their families in palm trees. Flocks of escaped pet Love birds followed suit.  The plants we have introduced also must adapt like the birds. In Arizona, long periods of drought can cause boron deficiencies in palm trees leading to the crumpled undeveloped leaves I gathered. I explore the interdependence of flora and fauna in our urban environment by replacing the bird's wings with misshapen foliage. 

To capture the minutiae of each unique frond I used an untraditional method called direct burn out.  I took the actual fronds I from the plant, and dipped them into ceramic slurry to form a hard shell metal could flow into. Ceramic shell is always fired in order to harden it before casting. The difference with the casting is that the dry fronds caught fire in the kiln and burnt away. It's a riskier process because if the fronds miscast while being poured in metal they would be lost forever. But the result is one of a kind and can never be repeated.