Layers of Perception
Tree branches follow an energetic pattern which we can tap into as a form of art and a form of mass reforestation. A vision of energetic figures protecting soon to be trees around the city, signifying a new life born from a doomed limb.
“Air layering is a good method of reproducing good-sized plants in one year. It may be done at any time of the year, but the best time is in the spring when the plants are actively growing. At this time the bark is slipping and easily removed.”- American Camellia Society.
Air layering is the process of removing bark from a discarded tree branch in order to induce it to create a bud for a new tree. It’s an eco-friendly way to make sure every time a tree is cut down a new one is grown in its place.
In order for this process to work, the cambium layer (or connection to the tree) must be removed and a moist substrate medium must be added for roots to grow. The growth process can take anywhere from weeks to 12 weeks and the result is a new tree which would then be removed from the mother plant. This new plant would be a clone of the mother plant, replanting a branch which would otherwise be cut off would also reduce the amount of CO2 emissions created by a cut limb, since plants release their stored CO2 once dead.
3D printing is the best way to allow for the sculpted objects to be reproduced as a light and easy to produce for temporary installation. The use of 3D printing allows us to use recycled plastic as a material with the use of a ProtoCycle (machine that creates filament from scrap plastic) and for the potential of recycling the sculpted objects themselves to create new ones on the same site or a different site.
Utilizing air layering as a method of cloning and 3D printed sculptures as their protectors makes it so the art functions as a sculpture and a way to help the plant reproduce. Each sculpture is created from symbols of nearby areas as well as their history to connect them to places they occupy. Creating digitally sculpted objects and production ability of 3D printing, would allow this project to be a multi location installation and stay site specific through their sculptural design. Resulting clones will be used to beautify less forested areas as well as to create new green spaces in NYC’s urban areas such as urban gardens and parks. Together we can turn this project into a sculpture practice which combines urban reforestation, tree cloning and 3D printing.
Thesis Project Installation of Layers of Perception at CCNY
CCNY’s Gargoyle Graveyard as a site specific project
In order to first pilot the projects, I chose The City College of New York as a first site specific project. As an alum and grad student of CCNY, I was always inspired by their grotesque gargoyles. Gargoyles were used as water drainage and a deterrent of negative energies. They are a symbol for the flow of energy itself and guardians against undesirable arcane forces. The City College of New York’s gargoyles were my inspiration to pick CCNY as a site. In particular, behind Remembrance Rock there are dozens of gargoyles. Some seemingly intact and others deformed or headless. In this space there are two trees, an oak and elm tree. These two are perfect candidates for air layering and what better candidates than the trees surrounded by broken and deformed gargoyles.
3D scan a single gargoyle
3D scan of candidate oak tree
To connect the air layering to the history of CCNY as well as the meaning behind these forgotten protectors I am creating 3D objects based on these gargoyles and creating a mockup of the installation.
3D sculpture inspired by the gargoyles, the versatility of 3D allows for multiple designs and potential for modeling some of these to be exact replicas of these gargoyles as well.
The Big Picture for the Big Apple
NYC has millions of trees and hundreds of millions of branches which are pruned off and shredded into wood chips each year. This is a regular maintenance of trees and could be transformed onto a reforestation project, rather than just a regular pruning. With the help of NYC parks this project could reduce carbon emissions created due to the pruning process and use the clone trees to beatify NYC more each year!
Building with recycled materials
With funding, this project can become a recycling project as well, using plastic bottles to create filaments and print out the designs. ReDetec’s Protocycle+ can recycle plastics and help create sustainable materials as well as recycle old 3D prints.
This process can also be used to create printed container for cloned trees. Check out my preview 3D printed pots project for examples.