Photographic image captured on grass…
Photographic image captured on grass…
ARTISTS are experimenting alongside the scientists at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Aberystwyth.
Dan Harvey and Heather Ackroyd, artists best known for their grass covered furniture and buildings, are utilising the stay-green grass developed by IGER in their latest works.
The couple have discovered that by projecting photographic images onto grass in a darkened room, they can create beautiful images utilising photosynthesis whereby the darker areas of the image turn yellow and the lighter stay bright green.
"We have produced some tremendous effects and the detail the grass has picked up has surprised even us," said Heather. "To prevent the yellow areas from greening up again we have to dry out the clay canvas on which the grass is grown and that means the grass dies quite quickly and the image we have created is lost."
The hope is that the stay-green grass, which keeps it colour even after it has died, will give the pieces longer life.
On a more prosaic level, the stay-green grass could be used for lawns that will look good all winter. Benefits for agriculture include the higher protein content of the grass for forage production. TG
Dan Harvey and Heather Ackroyd create art from grass and give a whole new meaning to putting on the Ritz with this stay-green cloak.