In mid to late-May 2010, I placed two of my pieces outside in my yard as an experiment. I wanted to see how mixed media on stiffened fabric would do outside in the elements in New England.
Over the past two years, I've been watching and documenting Weathered Fences #7 and Weathered Fences #8, and I'm happy to report that both pieces are doing very well out of doors.
Weathered Fences #8 is in my front yard, under a large maple tree. From May thru early-November, it's shaded most of the day, and has only late afternoon sunlight on it. The rest of the year, when the tree is leafless, it has sun on it all day long. This piece has been rained and snowed on, was buried in a snowbank (that had road salt) for many months two winters ago, and has had winter moth spray fall on it a few times. Besides a little fading of the fabric and a little staining from the rusting pipes holding it up, it's doing very well.
Weathered Fences #7 is in my back yard, and gets full sun every day. From late May until
I cut it back in late fall, my fall blooming clematis grows on it, the grass
(and weeds) below sometimes brush against the bottom, and a few times it's
blown over during high winds because the legs of the frame aren't buried deep
enough. As with the piece in my front yard, this piece has also been rained and
snowed on, and was covered in deep snow for many months two winters ago. After
all of that, this piece has a little mildew and green staining, and a small rip
on the bottom right where I attached it to the frame, but other than that, it's
doing quite well.
I also
have a few other sculptures, made by other artists, in my postage stamp size
yard. I also watch them as they weather (or get eaten by squirrels!). I can
honestly say that my work is doing quite well in comparison, and I'm very happy
about that!
What I
don't know is how my work would do in more humid climates. I should discuss
sending some small work to friends in the Pacific Northwest and Down South, in
exchange for them taking a picture of it and sending it to me every few months,
so I will know.
This experience has led to two temporary outdoor public art installations, Fence/Curtain 1.0 at the ConstellationsCenter in Cambridge, MA that recently ended, and Fence/Curtain 2.0, which I'll be installing in early-July at the Boston Center for the Arts in Boston, MA.
