LYNNE HULL
"LIFE RAFTS", ECO-HABITATS, AND HEMLOCK CEREMONY


Lynne Hull

 

Internationally recognized artist from Colorado, Lynne Hull, visited southwest Virginia in 1999 to conduct a three week-long community-based collaborative Mountain Lake Workshop sponsored by Virginia Tech's Department of Art and Art History, The Wilderness Conservancy at Mountain Lake, and funds from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.. This workshop was entitled “Environmental Habitats”, and engaged students and community members in craft-oriented, discipline-centered activities (gathering specific materials and treating them, weaving, carving, preparing ground, making structures, organic flotation devices, etc.) that utilized available natural materials to create (or simulate) natural animal habitats, as well as promote a greater awareness of the sensitive conditions of the natural environment.

Ms. Hull is a sculptor and installation-artist whose work specializes in constructing site-specific habitats for wildlife, often as the result of well-organized, collaborative workshops. Her workshop in September '99 focussed on the construction of six floating-habitat public "eco-sculptures" at several pond sites. The anticipated artworks are non-permanent, biodegradable structures made of local natural materials, and are intended to function as habitats for local wildlife. The art works will be temporary installations that will degrade naturally over a period of six months to a year or longer.

The workshop also included a special day of celebration at Mountain Lake to acknowledge the beauty of the native Hemlock trees - which are now mortally threatened by a nation-wide invasion of the Wooly Adelgid aphid.