Found Object Installation at The Writer's Well, 2011-03

The Writer's Well Installation

I installed the found object installation on the 25th of February, creating the first scared space in the woods at the Writer's Well. I kept looking at the wire tomato cage, looking like a crown, adorned with red nylon fabric and couldn’t adorn it with anything else, so it was time. I also felt the rain coming and wanted to install it before it got wet in the woods.

I took a rake out with me to help hold down those thorny vines in the brier- patch, making a path.  I was clearing the Georgia pine needles off the machine, and could tell someone years ago had covered it with a nylon tarp which had deteriorated over time. I cleared around the area. There was this blue and white barrel that I rolled away clearing the area for a small flower bed in front of the sculpture.


I found a fireplace grate under all those pine needles and fit it between the legs of the washing machine, perfect fit for the foundation. I tied the tomato cage to the fireplace grate, and then secured it to the legs of the washing machine, using bio-degradable twine instead of wire or plastic. Now that the crown was secured I went to look for something I could make into a flowering pot.

I found this plastic white bucket with holes in the bottom that would work perfectly for a planter, having drain holes already, was perfect for the recycled planting soil, I got from discarded plant containers I found under the back porch deck. I filled the bucket with the potting soil, tilted it with the mouth facing north because the bucket wouldn’t fit into the opening to stand straight up. I guess could have started over to make it fit upright but that was not going to happen. I planted the seeds of the morning glories sent from my sister Diana Bruton’s garden, in Fresno California, in the center of the container, the heart so to say.

"While I was out there I did scare myself a couple of times, there is a space in the clearing that has certain energy. I thought someone was chasing me, I looked over my shoulders, and actually ran. Then I got a hold of myself, and saw some squirrels running around the trees, that had been watching me tie the red ribbons, I don’t know but this can be a magical place where artist can be very inventive, and writers can let their imagination go."

I made a pathway to the installation by tying red satin ribbons that I had made from a Victorian secret pajama top that Adilah Barnes, North Hollywood California, and founder of the Writer’s Well Sharpsburg Georgia donated, to trees and branches about 4-5 ft. apart to mark the way to the garden installation, this path was freed from those brier patch thorny-vines, I tied the limbs to each other so the trees as they grow will grow into a natural archway.


The sculpture looks like a crown sitting on top of the upside down vintage washing machine, it might look like junk thrown out there to some, but when the morning glories take seed, it is going to be a beautiful sight, also if it ever snows again in Georgia the red will stand out, like those two redhead woodpeckers I watched scale the side of a tree one afternoon. In the spring and summer, you won’t be able to see it from the house, because of all the foliage.



The sculpture stands about 8ft high, I made a little garden plot about 2’ x 2’ and scattered the "Hummingbird -butterflies" from Calumet City, Illinois and the “Bay-bay-kids” marigolds from Fresno California. This soil is really rich from the decades of overgrowth and undistributed ground cover. The woods have so many years of leaves as a ground cover when you walk on them it is like walking on a foam cushion that goes crunch, crunch. I did this installation just in time because last night there was a rainstorm. The seeds are being watered, as they will be for years to come.


I added Anne Tomlanovich’s, (Mosula Montana) metal plates to the installation, trays on top of the wood poles, that can be birdbaths or bird feeders. I don’t know what this machine is covering up, don’t want to know but it sits on top of two 4’ x 4’ studs up off the ground. I may throw some more flowering seeds underneath just so there is more than enough to start the garden growing. Once the morning glories take off, they will be a beautiful ground cover for years, decades to come.



Collection of the Writer's Well

The first words scribbled on the installation:

"I am sister of True Descent
Symbols of out beginnings-
I am the face of your daughters future
Vivid and Strong


I am Akata IaKeya the mother of all
the first wonder of the world

Love ME as you would love self
Knowledgeable - artist Jen Horton