'flora plastica' Barbara De Pirro
Since last November, I’ve been madly crocheting through mind-boggling mountains of brilliantly, colored plastic bags. Averaging about 6-8 hours a day, hundreds ...eeek nearly two thousand hours...crocheting through the same number of bags. My challenge was to transform this invasive, synthetic material into a floral extravaganza, titled ‘flora plastica’*.
This site-specific sculpture will initially be suspended within the Tacoma Art Museum's entry atrium in celebration of ‘Flora & Fine Art’. In the lobby for a month, then mid July it will be re-installed, settling into a new space also within the Museum.
'flora plastica' (in process) Barbara De Pirro
I arrived at the museum with 4 five gallon containers packed full of the completed sculpture and 2 large 're-useable' bags stuffed with all finishing materials and tools. The museum was closed to the general public which allowed me the space to spill out onto the lobby floor.
'flora plastica' (in process) Barbara De Pirro
Although the initial installation would be suspended 14 feet across the museums entry atrium, after 1 month, it would re-installed into a secondary spot....details to be determined. Keeping this in mind, I designed it in strands or individual components. This would allow it to take on various forms, adapting to different situations.
'flora plastica' (in process) Barbara De Pirro
These individual strands were threaded onto 1/8" airplane cable, able to securely withstand its full weight. If you look closely you can see that between each strand I strung a 1/4" bead to help maintain spacing even after gravity had its time to play.
'flora plastica' (in process) Barbara De Pirro
Centering the piece within the 14 foot span, each side was finished off with vine, leaves, pods and bee hives.
Special thanks to Museum Preparators
Cyrus Smith and Jeremy Mangan
It took all three of us to hoist it onto the lift
and four art 'Genies' to install !!
'flora plastica' Barbara De Pirro
Special thanks to Tacoma Art Museum and Tacoma Garden Club
…and of course, all my friends & family for providing me with this plastic abundance and for all your fantastic support!
