Dan Ladd- Collaboration with Nature

These images of my work are not made in the studio, gene spliced or photo-shopped — but created outdoors in nature.  I make art within the living botanical world using trees, tree roots, gourds and fungi as my medium.

I respond to their growth with creative suggestions, interventions and intentional shaping.  However, it’s crucial to note that the eventual result is out of my control.

These pieces are made in collaboration with the plant.

I wait in suspense for a response from the plant to my creative intervention.  The reply I may receive, and the intriguing results, are frequently unexpected and surprising. Over the 38 years of my exploration in this field, forms have been created that have never been seen before, provoking questions (and frequently disbelief) from viewers.

This is quintessentially unusual work

 At a time in our culture of pronounced nature deprivation, these artworks offer compelling examples of a sustained, engaged and interactive relationship with the natural world.