Thursday Salute to Originals: Everlasting Spring Sculptures
Here at our Cleveland headquarters, Old Man Winter is still in town, and honestly, he’s quickly wearing out his welcome. With the single digit high temps and several inches of snow expected throughout the week, spring doesn’t seem like its coming any time soon. However, this week, amidst the ice and snow, we stumbled upon some intriguing botanical sculptures that have us feeling a little more optimistic about the return of spring!
Spanish artist and sculptor, Ignacio Canales Aracil, uses spring’s calling card – flowers – to create spectacular forms in his series called The Fragility of Time. Now, obviously plants aren’t the most conventional of materials for sculpting, so he gets some cool points there. But there’s more to his works than just simply piling up a bunch of plants.
Each flower is carefully selected, picked, and then artfully woven onto rigid molds. The plants are then pressed, dried, and lightly varnished. When the forms are removed, intricate, colorful, and extremely delicate botanical shells are revealed.
With waif thin, almost ghost-like silhouettes, these sculptures remind us of the fleeting delicacy of new spring buds. And the vibrant colors and dynamic textures preserved in unexpected shapes evoke the anticipation, renewal, and joy that comes with warmer weather each and every year.
In the meantime, with a tightly gloved hand, we salute Aracil and his botanical sculptures for eternalizing the essence of spring and for warming our spirits – at least until the next snowfall. Who knows, maybe Old Man Winter will take a peek at these sculptures and be inspired to finally take a hike? Given this track record this season, though, we won’t hold our breath!
Image Credits: Bored Panda, PatternBank