John Grade II

 

Middle Fork sculpture from John Grade on Vimeo.

This incredible sculpture has been constructed using a cast of a 140 year old hemlock tree. There are films that show the intricate job of casting the living tree. The cast was then worked on John Grade and hundreds of volunteers who spent a year piecing together thousands of tiny wooden blocks to recreate the form. This tree is to be exhibited in America for two years before being taken to the base of the Hemlock tree in Washington where it will be left to decompose into the forest floor.

John Grade

What I love about sculptor John Grade's work is his unique ways of working with materials and the texture and structure that he creates, some of which would be wonderful if incorporated into furniture.

John often places his sculptures and installations out in the environment where nature interacts with them, consumes them,weathers them and ultimately bio degrades them.

"More than a sense of it’s okay that my art won’t last, I’m driven by the idea that it’s interesting that it won’t last. Because we have to let go of this notion that we’re supposed to fix things. There’s a place for that with certain things, but it’s way more interesting to watch that process of change, whether it’s decay or growth or whatever. And the other thing, too, is that letting go of some control opens up so much more. You develop a certain skill, a level of metier and craft with your work, but it can get really dead. A lot of fine furniture, to me, feels so dead. It’s so perfected. And life is not like that. You want some mess."  John Grade