Pauline Garavan
visual artist
The central work was Grass in a Box, perspex box, compost, grass, 31 x 43 x 15 cm. Grass seed was planted in the box and allowed to grow. This piece inspired all other works in the series.
One of those pieces was 219 Days, photographs, wood, 38 x 240 cm. The grass was photographed daily throughout the academic year as it grew, a total of 219 days. This work was a pictorial record of the grass growing.
I cut the grass twice during the year and made paper from it. With this paper I made The Coat, grasspaper, dried grass, thread, wood, 15 x 12 x 11cm. The concept behind the coat was on how grass covers much of the Planet like a garment. Grass is ubiquitous: it grows as both animal feed and our own food in the form of cereal, and it covers both ‘wild’ places and manicured lawns. The pattern for The Coat consisted of eighteen separate pieces cut out from the grasspaper and glued together. The coat hangs on a wooden stand with thread wrapped around the top to provide the resting place. Another piece of grasspaper encircles the base of the stand. This was dampened with water and grass seed sown into it. The grasspaper was kept damp and the grass grew up around the stand and coat. It was then allowed to dry out.
Another work was 219 Constituents, made up of 219 small clay pots, each one corresponding to each day that the grass was photographed. They were made using clay from my garden and then fired in a kiln. Each one was fashioned on my finger and measure about 5 x 3 cm. Into each pot a single grass seed was planted. The pots were exhibited side-by-side and clumped together. They represented the contrasting presentation between the individual and the collective.
This concept was further explored in the two paintings, Grassfield, oil on board, 30 x 15 cm, and Stalk, oil on board, 30 x 15 cm.