Seeds and Pods

ceramic pods by Alice Ballard

It is almost spring here and while it's too early to plant, I've been thinking about seeds. When you look at the forms of seeds, particularly magnified, they are astonishing: complex, organic, sculptural shapes. Some artists have taken seeds as inspiration or even a medium. Here are a few and their extraordinary work.

American ceramicist Alice Ballard's work features a lot of seeds, pods and other organic forms. She explores pods as a feminine form, like a womb, detailing textures and colours with wall-mounted pods. She has been exploring these ideas for years and yet still finds endless new variations.

ceramic pods by Alice Ballard

ceramic pod by Alice Ballard

ceramic pods by Alice Ballard

Carved sycamore seeds: 1 x 60 cm x 25 cm x 10 cm
1 x 48 cm x 18 cm x 9 cm by Liz McAuliffe

Seeds and pods appear in New Zealand artist Liz McAuliffe's bigger than life sculptures. By blowing up the minutiae of biological forms, she draws the viewers into to consider nature more carefully.

Abizia Pod, Size (h w d): 80 cm x 15 cm x 5 cm, acrylics on carved wood by Liz McAuliffe

Honesty Pods by Liz McAuliffe

American sculptor Pamela Sunday's work reflects natural forms, many reminiscent of microscopic seed forms. She has moved from the fashion world to build a sculptural practise inspired by science and nature, and exhibiting worldwide.

ceramic sculpture by Pamela Sunday

ceramic sculpture by Pamela Sunday

ceramic sculpture by Pamela Sunday

German artist Christiane Löhr's artworks include a collection made with plants including seeds. Piles and structures of delicate plant material take on organic architectural shapes and patterns.

Kleine Fläche little surface, 2007
airborne seeds, 5 x 20 x 35 cm by Christiane Löhr

Löwenzahnkissen dandelion cushion, 2009
dandelion seeds, 18 x 43 x 37 cm by Christiane Löhr

 

Kleiner Turm little tower, 1999
ivy seeds, 16 x 13 x 10 cm by Christiane Löhr

Korean artist Heejoo Kim's metalwork jewellery incorporates beautiful natural forms of pods and seeds if you want these beautiful forms to wear.

Necklace, Enameled copper, leather and thread by
Heejoo Kim

 

Brooch by
Heejoo Kim

Brooch by
Heejoo Kim

Cometary

Caroline Herschel, linocut by Ele Willoughby (aka minouette), 2014

I'v been working of late on this linocut of astronomer Caroline Herschel (16 March 1750 – 9 January 1848), known for her discovery of at least 8 comets, and in the process, I've come across all these historical images of comets, which I thought I would share.

Comets have long been interpreted as harbingers, of often terrifying events, though sometimes of wonderous things to come. When something new appears and moves through our heavens, it's not surprising that they have been recorded, especially when obvious even to the naked eye.

a depiction of a comet that may have been an aurora borealis, 1527, Germany, anonymous

from Kometenbuch, written in 1587, a book containing descriptions of comets and hand painted illustrations.

[Notable comets of the period 1577-1652]

Types of cometary forms, illustrations from Johannes Hevelius' Cometographia (Danzig, 1668)

'Halley's Comet' & 'Enckee's Comet' from The Phenomena and Order of the Solar System, c. 1843.

Reynolds' Series of Astronomical Diagrams. Comets and Aerolites

Flowers of the sky, by Richard A. Proctor. New York, A.C. Armstrong and son [1879?] p.24

E L Trouvelot - The great comet of 1881. Observed on the night of June 25-26 at 1h. 30m. A.M

French paste comet brooch, c. 1950, Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Hair

Illustrations of hair seem to be everywhere lately (actually, for a couple of years now). Perhaps it's another Victorian allusion, what with their hair ornaments, jewellery and other (possibly morbid) memorials?


Ghost of a Tether, Gala Bent, 2010


The Transmogrification Stunt, Gala Bent, 2009


Unicorn, Gala Bent, 2009


Star Wars, a hair portrait by Mr Bingo


Guns n Roses Hair Portrait by Mr Bingo


The Mighty Boosh Hair Portrait by Mr Bingo


Entire inside, Title of the project: Everything is connected, pencil drawing, size A1 (840mm*600mm) by Eika Dopludo


Into the nature, Title of the project:
Everything is connected, pencil drawing, size A1 (840mm*600mm) by Eika Dopludo


hair meditation © Eika. pencil drawing, size: 200см*150см


Presendential hair portraits by Christina Christoforou (who published a whole book called 'Whose Hair?')


Sister by Langdon Graves


Side by Langdon Graves


Heir by Langdon Graves



Bear Arms (2011) pencil crayon on paper
14 x 11 in. by Winnie Truong


Glamour and Abscess (2010)pencil crayon on paper 36″ x 48″ by Winnie Truong


Hard To Win Over (2011)pencil crayon on paper 48″ x 72″ by Winnie Truong

Jeweller Melanie Bilenkar ups the ante by actually using hair as a medium for illustration in her work. (I could do a whole other post on sculpture employing hair as well). She writes, “The Victorians kept lockets of hair and miniature portraits painted with ground hair and pigment to secure the memory of a lost love. In much the same way, I secure my memories through photographic images rendered in lines of my own hair, the physical remnants.”


Solitaire, Brooch (2009)
3 1/4”" x 2" x 1/2"
8 x 5.1 x 1.2 cm
Materials: Gold, ebony, resin, pigment, hair
by Melanie Bilenker


all by Melanie Bilenkar (via The Jealous Curator)