Cardoon Seed Head - A deconstruction Sculpture

The seed collection is in essence, a durational collection of artworks. Made using seed from crops grown on the artists farm or by the artist in her garden. While making the collection the artists explored the seed as nucleus of life, from sowing to food production which informed the methodology as it moved and shifted in process. Some of the pieces in the collection, like the deconstructed seed head were in process for several years. For this selection, I explored the seed head caps from some Cardoon vegetables that I planted from seed a few years ago.   The seed I originally planted grew, produced a crop, some of the crop was used as food, the rest left to flower and give nectar.  When left the flowers then go over to produce seed heads.  Some of the seed feed the local wildlife and,  this seed head produce a soft down.  In early spring, the birds started to collect the down to line their nests.  The remaining seed I collected and re-planted.  What was left was the cap or receptacle that held the seed. Seed and down can cling to the receptacle for many months. I experimented with placing, showing the detached elements seperately and in a grid. While visually impactful placed in the grid system and seeing the heads in their natural state. I wanted to think more about other ways of exploring this work. Cardoons are of course food. Wanting to explore this element, I was Inspired by chefs who deconstruct dishes.  Chefs who give a new visual perspective on an old favourite I decided to deconstruct the cardoon seed head.  I wanted to 'feel' the placing and shaping and while making this work I visualised the cardoon gently bursting from the centre out. What resulted was the work shown here, which measured 1mx1m.  Visually it shows the cardoon from the inside out.  From a methodology perspective the process pushed me further than simply placing, into deconstructing, visualisation, exploring culinary methods and technical challenges of handling and fixing (apart from the seed cap in the centre, each piece of this has a microscopic needle at the tip, that when handled incorrectly can give a sharp sting:

Sculpture:Environmental on Other

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:39.4 W x 39.4 H x 2 D in

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