Dan Ladd is an American artist who works with trees and gourds.
... He shapes and grafts trees, including their fruits and their roots, into architectural and geometric forms. Ladd calls human-initiated inosculation 'pleaching' and calls his own work 'tree sculpture'.
Dan Ladd Bibliography
Reviews
Hobson, Jake, "The Art of Creative Pruning", Timber Press, London 2011. ISBN 978-1-60469-114-6
Zadick, Madelaine, "Plants as Artistic Creations", Botanic Garden News, The Botanic Garden of Smith College, Fall 2011
Scheidler, Andrea, "Dan Ladd Takes Art to Its Natural Limit" BRATTLEBORO REFORMER. October 12, 2006
"Moulded Gourds", VESCH MAGAZINE photo essay. Kiev, Ukraine, Fall, 2006
Cassidy, Patti. "Forsooth," ACREAGE LIFE. April, 2006, Saskatchewan, Canada
Temin, Christine, "Plant Images Sprouting with Life", THE BOSTON GLOBE. Sept. 26, 2003
Lloyd, Ann Wilson, "Extreme Nature", unpublished catalogue for solo art show, University of Massachusetts, February, 2000.
Zimmer, William, "The Body, Ever the Subject, Never Out Of Style." NEW YORK TIMES, August 8, 1999
"Silo Meets Satellite Dish In the New New England" By Grace Glueck, Art Review, The New York Times, Sept. 4, 1998
Fifield, George, "It's Alive: Artists Work with Living Tissue", ART NEW ENGLAND April/May, 1998. Vol 19, Number 3
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping
http://www.enotes.com/topic/Tree_shaping
http://www.iputney.com/article.php?story=20061010100406461
Selected exhibitions and grafted tree projects.
2010
Botanical architecture demonstration exhibits at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Queeche, Vermont. Comprising grafted tree sculptures and forms.
Stone Walnut and Arch Walnut at Walnut Acres, Iowa City Iowa, in conjunction with David Dunlap, University of Iowa, Studio Arts Department. Two grafted tree forms.
Tilt Sycamores, three trees for Halls High School Outdoor classroom, Knoxville, Tennessee. With TN Water Resources Research Center, Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, University of Tennessee. Grafted trees sculpture in outdoor classroom.
2009
Sycamore Bench and Crepe Myrtle Arch. at the Kanapaha Botanical Garden, Gainesville, Florida.
2008
Lattice X Trees, Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood, Daniel Chester French National Historic sight, Stockbridge, MA. June-October
2003
Plant Matter, New Art Center, Newton, Ma., Sept.- Oct.
2002
Three Arches. Three Sycamore tree arches, Pittsburgh, commission. At the Frank Curto Park, Bigalow Blvd., under auspices of the Studio for Creative Inquiry, College of Art, Carnegie Mellon Univ.,and the City of Pittsburgh. June- July
2001
Tree and Marble Block, invited commission. Tree planted over a marble block. The Carving Studio, West Rutland, Vermont. August
2000
Solo Exhibit, Extreme Nature, University of Massachusetts Hampden Gallery, Amherst, Mass. Jan. 28 - Feb.29
1999
Nature Process, Univ.California San Diego Art Gallery, LaJolla, Ca.,Oct.2 - Dec.12
The Nude, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield,Conn. June 6 - Sept. 12
The Invitational Exhibit of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City March 14 - April 11