Peg

Artists Make Other Media Southeast Travel USA

Nature Connects and Pops with LEGO Bricks

Fun Fact #1: The name LEGO® is derived from two Danish words “Leg Godt” which mean “Play Well”.
Fun Fact #2: Judging from his award-winning LEGO art exhibitions, artist Sean Kenney knows how to play well!
LEGO enthusiasts in the USA Southeast are fortunate to have had access to two of Sean Kenney’s exhibitions recently:
. Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects® was on display at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Gainesville this past spring. The exhibition featured 15 amazing sculptures constructed entirely of LEGO bricks.
. Sean Kenney’s Nature POP®! is on display at Zoo Atlanta until early August. The exhibition features 40 LEGO sculptures with an unexpected twist.
Both exhibitions draw upon the way LEGO bricks connect to emphasize the interconnectivity of nature. They “challenge guests to consider: just as LEGO bricks interconnect, how is everything in nature interconnected?”
I had the pleasure of visiting both of these exhibitions and I’d like to share a few highlights in today’s blog post.
One of the first LEGO sculptures to greet visitors to the Nature Connects exhibition was a stunning, larger-than-life peacock. With its striking pose and vibrant colors, it was one of my favorite pieces. Viewing the sculpture from a few steps away, one would never guess it was constructed from LEGO bricks.

A closer look, however, reveals the familiar LEGO pieces and their blocky surfaces.

There are, as reported on the accompanying exhibit card, 68,827 bricks in this structure which took 625 hours to build. The Number of LEGO Bricks and Total Hours to Build were reported for all the LEGO sculptures on display. I overheard quite a few visitors discussing these data points and marveling at the effort involved.

This hummingbird sculpture, considered the centerpiece of the exhibition, is awe-inspiring. It is amazingly realistic with the hummingbird appearing to hover over the orange trumpet flower. The sculpture stands over eight feet tall!

Anyone who has ever played with LEGO is bound to wonder how this sculpture was made. I found an explanation in an Imagine Exhibitions’ interview with Sean Kenney. When asked about going from inspiration to creation, he replied “Each sculpture can have a different process. For example, the design of my “Hummingbird and Trumpet Flower” sculpture in [the] Nature Connects show just “popped” in my head the minute someone said “hummingbird.” I immediately had this vision of something that you could actually walk under, suspended as if by magic. Creating a spindly little nose and paper-thin wings built out of chunky LEGO pieces seemed like a wonderful challenge and, if done right, something that would look amazing. I spent about 4 weeks designing and planning this specific piece; researching images of hummingbirds in nature, choosing the perfect colors and designing the internal steel reinforcements, then about 5+ weeks building it.”

The below gigantic dragonfly sculpture was sensational. It is a Roseate Skimmer, “one of North America’s most beautiful large dragonflies … only the male is rosy-purple with dark red eyes, a purple thorax, and rosy pink-red abdomen.”

This dragonfly, along with all the other LEGO sculptures, was built in the artist’s New York City studio and shipped to the exhibition location. When asked “How are you able to make your sculptures structurally sound enough to withstand shipping, weather, and other unpredictable events involved with traveling exhibitions?”, Kenney answered “I work with a staff of artists in my studio who help me with my creations. Each sculpture is fully glued, steel reinforced, custom-crated, and designed to tour and last for the ages.
Even before a single LEGO brick is placed, my team and I do a lot of design work to figure out what the sculpture is going to look like and how it can physically work. We scrawl drawings on scraps of paper, gesture wildly, wield tape measures, hold metal bars with LEGO pieces glued to them pretending to be gravity, and all kinds of other crazy things that you do when you’re planning such a large endeavor.
It’s a lot of hard work for us to build the sculptures as sturdy and efficiently as possible, working around metal that’s welded slightly imperfectly, dealing with things getting too heavy or large horizontal things that want to crack in half, interlocking bricks as tightly as possible, building support beams inside, and all kinds of other physical hurdles.
But, working on large projects is my favorite thing to do! They’re the most fun of all, because they require a lot of creative planning, a lot of building, and they always end up creating a big “wow” for both parents and kids.”
Knowing these sculptures are reinforced with steel, I examined the dragonfly very carefully for evidence of internal supports and was able to spot a small section of metal between the body and wing.

This spectacular monarch butterfly is sitting on a milkweed bloom. As explained on the exhibit card “The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) depends on milkweed (Asclepias sp.) as a food source for its larvae, known as caterpillars. Monarch numbers are in decline due to a number of factors, including the decline of milkweed throughout the range. You can help conserve monarchs by planting native milkweed species and limiting pesticide use in your garden.” This is a great example of how, as a Smithsonian Magazine article puts it, “Sean Kenney’s works of art often call attention to endangered species and advocate for conservation”.

That same article goes on to discuss how lifelike Kenney’s sculptures appear to be. “One of the biggest challenges is trying to get the softness of [an animal’s] features and the expressiveness of the face right while using what is otherwise a very blocky, low-resolution medium,” he says. “To me, that’s one of the most fun things to overcome. When you’ve done it, you’ve really done it. You step back and are proud of it.” This deer doe and fawn are a case in point.

A gardening scene, complete with a grandfather planting, granddaughter watering (shown below) and wheelbarrow, drove home the message about the need to connect with nature. The exhibit card explained “Digging in the soil, watching plants grow from seeds, caring for plants and harvesting food from plants are fun, healthy and rewarding activities. Gardening is a great way to experience nature in an up close and personal way. Studies have long documented the powers of gardening when it comes to physical and mental health. Horticulture therapy often is used as a way to heal the body and soul. Did You Know? Gardening reduces the chance of heart attack and stroke.”

These Nature Connects’ sculptures were amazingly lifelike. Obviously, a great deal of attention was paid to the sculptural details including the use of color. As a result, seeing the second exhibition, Sean Kenney’s Nature Pop!, was a delightful surprise—the sculptures have the same realistic details but the colors are bold and deliberately unrealistic.
This Galápogos tortoise, for instance, is “typically colored to match its mud-colored surroundings” but rendering the sculpture “in bright red draws attention to its domed shape and massive size.”

In the midst of Covid-19, according to Smithsonian Magazine, Kenney was “dreaming up a ‘colorful, punchy and playful’ exhibition called ‘Nature POP’ that gives the natural world a new spin.” At the time, he shared his vision, “Imagine a lawn full of giant bunny rabbits in polka dots and stripes, or a neon-blue woodpecker on a lava-lamp tree trunk.” The woodpecker is just as amazing as Kenney promised. “The swirls of red, yellow and orange contrast with the monochromatic cyan woodpecker and transforms the tree bark into a lava lamp.” says the exhibit sign.

Zoo Atlanta announced “Art meets science meets engineering in the eye-popping work of artist Sean Kenney – inviting you to reimagine the amazing complexities and interconnections of the wild world in fresh, fun, and unexpected ways. Expect to find startling bursts of color and boundary-blurring feats of innovation as you encounter works of sculptural art throughout the Zoo.”
The Nature Pop! exhibition illustrates the wide spectrum of color in which LEGO pieces are made. Interestingly, the LEGO palette has evolved over time—new colors are introduced while old colors are discontinued. From what I could find, LEGO pieces are currently available in 67 different colors. I wonder how many of those colors are used in this sculpture of a Dodo Bird.

The signs for this exhibition invite visitors to “Think Like an Artist” and to “Think Like a Scientist”. This sign reads:
“Think Like an Artist: The colored striping on this dodo bird evokes a sunset … projected onto the dodo’s body—a visual metaphor for the extinction of the species. Think Like a Scientist: Though often portrayed as clumsy and awkward, dodos were aptly evolved for their habitat in Mauritius. Strong legs enabled them to maneuver quickly. Long, hooked beaks allowed them to defend themselves.”

A majestic polar bear sculpture, depicting a mother bear with three cubs, is constructed of 112,450 bricks and took 389 hours to build. “The blue striping of the polar bear evokes the strata of a core of ice, as if the bear itself were forged from a glacier. This symbolizes the loss of the polar bears’ habitats and the receding glaciers of the Arctic.”

A delightful collection of LEGO rabbit sculptures, executed in a variety of poses and unexpected colors and patterns, is on display throughout Zoo Atlanta.

“Think Like an Artist: This whimsical and quirky collection displays many differently colored and patterned rabbits. In nature, rabbits’ colors and patterns vary, but not quite this dramatically. Think Like a Scientist: Naturally occurring colors and patterns of rabbits include lilac, opal agouti, orange, frosted pearl, black, blue tortoiseshell, silver fox and sandy.”

Kenney takes pride in the fact he uses only standard LEGO pieces that are available to everyone. “None of my sculptures are made with special Lego bricks,” he says. “I use the same ones that children play with.” One Nature Connects announcement put it this way “Kenney uses only standard, off-the-shelf, commercially available LEGO® pieces for his sculptures – no special colors or shapes. Each piece is connected to another, and the sculptures are built within the rules of the LEGO system.”
The golden dragonfly sculpture shown below may look familiar—it’s similar to the Roseate Skimmer from the Nature Connects exhibition—but the fanciful colors give it an entirely different appearance. The exhibit card notes “This dragonfly is composed of five sculptures: each wing is its own sculpture attached with a piece of metal on the diagonal. The artist used a photograph of a dragonfly where light shone through the wings to make the veins visible; this was replicated through texturing with LEGO bricks and highlights the connection between the veins and the body.”

Kenney’s website describes him as “a renowned, award-winning artist and ‘professional kid’ who uses LEGO pieces to design and create contemporary sculpture”. It seems to me, the professional kid is most apparent in this black-and-white zebra with an orange bow tie and playful horizontal stripes instead of realistic vertical ones.

When asked how long he’s been building with LEGO bricks, Kenney, the professional kid, replied “I’ve been building and playing with LEGO toys my whole life, but I’ve been building LEGO models professionally since 2005. I was a total ‘LEGO maniac’ when I was a kid, and LEGO toys were usually the only toys I ever asked for when my birthday would come around each year. I kept building LEGO models all through childhood and even into my teenage and adult years. What I love about LEGO toys is that they’re just so intrinsically fun and whimsical… I don’t know that I’ve ever seen someone look at my work and frown.” I have to agree—his LEGO sculptures make everyone smile!

More Info

You can learn more about Sean Kenney via the below links:
. Sean Kenney website which includes behind-the-scenes videos and an exhibition schedule
. This Artist Uses Thousands of LEGO® Bricks to Make Lifelike Sculptures of Animals – Smithsonian Magazine article
. An Interview with Sean Kenney, Artist Who Works With LEGO® Bricks – Imagine Exhibitions Blog post
Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects® was on display at the Atlanta Botanical Garden Gainesville location from March 4 to May 30, 2022.
Sean Kenney’s Nature POP®! is on display at Zoo Atlanta from May 13 to August 8, 2022. You can learn more on the Zoo Atlanta website.
Check out the LEGO website to see the latest and greatest developments in the world of LEGO Group including news on their upcoming 90-year anniversary celebrations.

Today’s Takeaways

1. LEGO bricks are a surprisingly effective art medium.
2. Larger-than-life replicas of birds and insects add wonder and charm.
3. Rendering recognizable forms in unexpected colors can make artwork pop.

Clay Gardening How Tos Make Nature

I Spy Something White

I spy, with my little eye, something that is white! A small flock of ornament-like, ceramic birds landed in my flower gardens this week.

I’ve been sprinkling the 4-5” birds amongst the shrubs and garden accessories.

Shooting the photos for this blog post was a fun photography challenge. I planned several shots in advance but I never imagined these bees (I think they’re Eastern Carpenter Bees) would make a cameo appearance!

Nor was I expecting this Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) to steal the show.

Anoles are tree-dwelling lizards native to the USA Southeast. We often see them around our porch and garden and, because they eat a wide variety of insects and spiders, we’re glad to have them. They’re fun to watch especially when the males extend their throat fans, called dewlaps, in a bold display of territorial ownership.

The idea to scatter a collection of birds throughout the garden originated from an exhibit at the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens in Nova Scotia. The exhibit was created by artist Shauna MacLeod of Black Crow Pottery. As explained by the artist “For this exhibit entitled “Bird Watching” in 2013, I produced 32 ceramic birds to commemorate the 32 years the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens have been open. They have been placed in the Gardens on the branches and stems of the trees and shrubs along a pathway for visitors to search for and enjoy. Every year we add one more bird to commemorate another year passing. I pose the question: are you watching the birds or are these birds watching you?”
I chose to make my collection of ceramic birds all the same. They’re made from a slab of clay in a half-knot design and glazed with a glossy white finish. The knotted ceramic birds are surprisingly easy to make—here’s how it’s done.
The first step is to prepare a paper template. I’m sharing my template in this linked download file: Knotted Ceramic Bird – Complimentary Download. Simply print directly or download to print.
You’ll need a slab of clay, about ¼” thick, big enough for the printed template. I use the slab roller at the OCAF School Street Pottery Studio where I participate in open studio days but you can create slabs by hand or with a rolling pin.

Simply lay the paper template on your clay slab and cut out the bird. I usually compress the clay with a plastic rib.

Cut out a small hole for the eye with a hole cutter or other suitable tool. Smooth the cut edges. Keep the clay moist by covering it with plastic while you’re working.

The next step is to form the knot. I’ve learned that covering the clay with damp paper towels prior to this step makes it more pliable and prevents the clay from cracking as it’s twisted into shape. Work slowly and follow the three steps described on the template to tie the clay bird into a half knot. It will look like this.

Allow the knotted bird to dry for an hour or two. Then cut a hole on the top of the bird’s back—this is where the hanger will be attached. Carefully smooth any rough areas. Let the knotted bird dry for the bisque firing.

The knotted bird can be finished in a variety of ways. I chose to dip mine in a glossy white glaze. After some trial and error, I learned the trick to getting an even coat is to hang the bird from some wire. Insert a piece of wire through the eye hole and bend it into a ‘U”. Then holding the top end of the wire, quickly dip the bird into the glaze. Hook the top end of the wire around something sturdy and let the bird hang to dry.
Another factor to consider is how to position the birds for the glaze firing. The standard rule in a pottery studio is any part of a piece that makes contact with a kiln shelf must be completely free of glaze. This is normally accomplished by leaving the bottom of a piece unglazed. These birds, however, have an irregular, non-flat bottom and won’t sit on a shelf. Typically, pieces like this are placed on stilts in the kiln. The kiln stilts worked OK but they left noticeable marks on the bird’s side.
I decided to try a different approach by building a simple bisqueware rack for the final firing. As shown below, the bird is suspended in the rack by its beak and the tip of its tail. The beak and tail must be left unglazed to prevent the bird from becoming permanently attached to the rack. I used a pencil to mark exactly where the bird touches the rack and then waxed those areas before glazing. With either approach, these birds require a little extra care when being loaded into the kiln. (Special thanks to Louise, Cameron and the other folks who load the kilns at the OCAF School Street Pottery Studio!)

To hang the knotted ceramic bird, insert a short piece of wire through the hole in the bird’s back. Use pliers to twist a small spiral knot into the bottom end and pull into place. Have fun finding the perfect spot for your new knotted ceramic bird and let the I Spy games begin!

More Info

You can download the project template here: Knotted Ceramic Bird – Complimentary Download.
Check out the Black Crow Pottery website to learn more about the talented Shauna MacLeod and her gorgeous artwork.
The Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens are located in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada. “In a beautiful setting overlooking a tidal river valley, the Historic Gardens is a premiere Nova Scotia attraction showcasing gardening methods, designs and materials representing more than four hundred years of local history.” I’ve visited these stunning gardens a few times over the years and welcome any opportunity to stroll through the 17 acres of natural and historic beauty.
You can learn more about the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF) on their website. Classes and workshops offered at the Watkinsville, Georgia, USA location are also listed. OCAF’s School Street Pottery Studio hosts open studio hours for those with clay experience.

Today’s Takeaways

1. Display small art objects in multiples for impact.
2. A knotted ceramic bird is a great project for learning to work with clay.
3. Consider tucking away little surprises in your garden to add a sense of discovery.

Nature Wildlife

Are Gourds for the Birds?

Nesting season is wrapping up for another year here in the US Southeast. It was a highly entertaining season for bird landlords. We had several repeat tenants and a few newcomers. Our favorite tenant has to be the Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis). These charming little fellows moved in early and set about the business of raising their families without any fuss.

We counted at least four broods scattered amongst the various housing options. The most popular choices were the wooden birdhouses I built a few years ago. I shared detailed step-by-step instructions for this birdhouse in the blog post DIY Bluebird-Approved Birdhouse Tutorial.

The bluebirds also tried some of our other rental properties including this fancy one purchased from a talented, local woodworker.

It’s fun to see the youngsters leave the nest and gain their independence. Here’s a juvenile bluebird checking out the birdbath.

This was the first year we had nesting Brown Thrashers (Toxostoma rufum). We had at least two pairs build nests in the flowering shrubs around the house. This is a Brown Thrasher sitting on their nest in our Lady Banks Rose.

I managed to get this photo of the Brown Thrasher’s eggs but it was a death-defying act! These parents are hypervigilant and quick to dive bomb anything that gets too close.

The juvenile Brown Thrashers also seemed to appreciate the nearby birdbath. Here one wades in, makes a few waves and then ducks under.

This rustic wooden birdhouse, which we call the Condo Birdhouse, was popular in previous years but didn’t see much action this year.

Here’s a Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) feeding the family in the Condo Birdhouse last year.

This is my all-time favorite tenant from the Condo Birdhouse—the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea). This bright, handsome songbird set up house two years ago but made only a few brief appearances this year.

Several Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) visited this season. These energetic little birds really know how to belt out a song!

The Carolina Wrens are not, however, easy tenants. They’ve shown zero interest in this wooden nest box despite the fact it was specifically sold as a wren house.

Instead, the Carolina Wrens have taken up residence in the most inconvenient places—one year it was in a decorative pot (shown below) and the next year it was in the outlet of our exhaust fan.

The Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) is a timid little songbird. It makes regular appearances but has yet to move into one of our properties.

This blog post would never end if I tried to list every bird we’ve seen. Instead, I’d like to consider what changes, if any, should be made for next year. Do we need to add some new properties? Upgrade or relocate any of our rental units? What building materials should we use? What features are most sought after?
It’s helpful to consider where these birds nest in their natural habitat. Most of them fall into the category of cavity nesters. In North America, there are about 85 different species of cavity nesters divided into three significant groups:
1) primary cavity nesters/ strong excavators
2) primary cavity nesters/ weak excavators
3) secondary cavity nesters.
Primary cavity nesters/ strong excavators, woodpeckers for instance, use their strong beaks to excavate their own homes from hard or soft woods. Primary cavity nesters/ weak excavators, chickadees and wrens for instance, can excavate their own homes but only from snags. Snags are dead trees that are left upright to decompose naturally.

The third group, secondary cavity nesters, swallows and bluebirds for instance, cannot excavate their own cavities and instead adopt those already made by the primary cavity nesters.
Further online research reveals how to best meet the needs of cavity nesters. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch website offers a comprehensive infographic explaining the Features of a Good Birdhouse along with various nest plans. Here’s a partial screenshot of the infographic.

The infographic contains great advice for wooden birdhouses. But ever since my recent introduction to gourds (see A Gourd Gathering… Wait, What?), I’ve been wondering about the possibility of using gourds for birdhouses. There are numerous online references for using gourds to house Purple Martins (Progne subis). The Purple Martin Conservation Association explains the appeal, “Purple Martins are native songbirds in the swallow family. East of the Rocky Mountains, Purple Martins nest almost exclusively in human-supplied housing. They are dependent on us for their survival. They are one of America’s most well-loved songbirds for many reasons; their chattering song, aerial acrobatics, insect-eating habits and their tolerance of humans.” Purple Martins like to nest in colonies and experts recommend starting with at least 6 to 8 birdhouses or compartments. Shown below are typical purple martin colonies with what appear to be PVC plastic gourds.

Aside from Purple Martins, I couldn’t find much online evidence that birds will actually nest in gourds. A detailed evaluation of NestWatch’s characteristics of a Good Birdhouse suggests a gourd could meet most of the criteria.

Additionally, different birds have specific requirements. NestWatch provides a wealth of information as well as nest box plans for nearly 60 species. Shown below, for instance, is the entry for the Carolina Chickadee.

I did the same evaluation for the Carolina Chickadee nest box requirements and it appears, that by selecting the right size gourd, these criteria could also be met.

My next step will be to build a few gourd nest boxes while exploring options to meet the NestWatch specifications as closely as possible. They should be ready for the next nesting season. Then we’ll see if gourds really are for the birds!

More Info

See the previous FanningSparks blog post, DIY Bluebird-Approved Birdhouse Tutorial, for step-by-step instructions to build a birdhouse for bluebirds.
In the blog post, A Gourd Gathering… Wait, What?, I share my experience attending my first Gourd Gathering and delve into the world of gourds.
NestWatch, by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “is a nationwide monitoring program designed to track status and trends in the reproductive biology of birds, including when nesting occurs, number of eggs laid, how many eggs hatch, and how many hatchlings survive. Our database is intended to be used to study the current condition of breeding bird populations and how they may be changing over time as a result of climate change, habitat degradation and loss, expansion of urban areas, and the introduction of non-native plants and animals.” The NestWatch website has many great resources including:
. Features of a Good Birdhouse Infographic
. Right Bird, Right House Interactive
The Purple Martin Conservation Association (PMCA) “is the world leader in research, education and conservation of Purple Martins, North America’s largest swallow. … The PMCA serves as a centralized data-gathering and information source on the species, serving both the scientist and Purple Martin enthusiast.” See their website for more information.

Today’s Takeaways

1. Find out which birds you can build a nest box for in your region and habitat with the NestWatch Right Bird, Right House tool.
2. Learn how to build good birdhouses with NestWatch reference materials.
3. Leverage NestWatch resources to learn more about birds and nest monitoring.

Decorate Exteriors Gardening Nature

Count Only Sunny Hours

Hooray for summer! Long days… glorious sunshine… the perfect time to think about sundials!
For centuries, sundials were the primary means of keeping time. The oldest known sundial was found in Egypt and dates from about 1500 BC. Sundials continued to dominate until the 19^th century when mechanical clocks took over. Nowadays, sundials are more likely to decorate a garden or outdoor space than to serve as a timekeeping device. But, with careful planning and attention to detail, they can do both!
I’ve seen many sundials in my travels. Let’s take a closer look at a few of these classic instruments. This sundial, at Middleton Place in South Carolina, is an attractive garden feature. The sundial is displayed on a pedestal in a wide-open area where it can easily catch the sun’s rays.

This type of sundial is referred to as a horizontal sundial. It has a flat plate with an elevated, angled arm called a gnomon.

Hours are marked on the flat plate. The sun casts a shadow under the gnomon. The shadow hits the hour markings to indicate the time. According to the shadow on this sundial, it was close to 4:00 when I took this photo.

Here’s a less formal take on the horizontal sundial. The rustic wooden stand and minimalistic dial and gnomon are prefect for its Carolina Beach setting.

Many sundials, especially horizontal models, are inscribed with a brief, meaningful phrase. The sundial pictured below features the popular motto: “I Count Only Sunny Hours”.

A Book of Sundial Mottoes, compiled by Alfred H Hyatt and published in 1903, provides a variety of suggestions. Many of the mottoes were originally in Latin. A few examples are shown below. “Without Shadow Nothing” is my personal favorite.

Not all sundials have a flat surface. Armillary sundials, sometimes called shadow clocks, represent both a terrestrial globe and a celestial sphere. Armillary spheres are known to have existed in ancient Greece and China. Mechanical versions evolved to serve as planetarium devices for observation and teaching.
Although they are noticeably different from the horizontal sundial, an armillary sundial also keeps time by using a gnomon to cast a shadow on an hourly scale. The below armillary sundial was spotted in Chester, Nova Scotia. It is known as the Parade Square Sundial and anchors a small public garden. The sundial is huge—I’d guess it’s about 9-10’ tall—which allows for an unusually precise time scale with 5-minute increments. Notice the below photo was taken between 10:25 and 10:30.

Here’s another example of an armillary sundial. I spotted this one at the Keukenhof spring gardens in Lisse, Netherlands.

Hemispherium dials are yet another model of sundial. This one, from Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina, is a charming sculpture by Brenda Putnam (1890-1975).

I believe the sundial pictured below would be called a bowstring equatorial sundial. It was also spotted at the Keukenhof.

This stunning artwork, spotted at Stichting Land Art Delft in Delft, Netherlands, is a wonderful, modern spin on the sundial. I’m guessing it would be considered a vertical sundial.

I pulled several different sundials into the below image for a side-by-side comparison. Models of a bowstring equatorial sundial, vertical sundial, armillary sundial, hemispherium dial and horizontal sundial are included.

Despite the remarkable differences, all of these sundials are timekeeping instruments—they all have markings to indicate the daylight hours and they all use the shadow of a gnomon to indicate the time. Chances are, I’ve tried to read the time on all of them—I can’t seem to pass a sundial without checking! More often than not, I compare the Solar Time on the sundial to the Clock Time on my watch, iPhone or camera. More often than not, the times are close but rarely are they exactly the same. I have always wondered why.
How to Read a Sundial
After considerable research and some serious puzzling, I think I have the full picture on reading sundials. A key point is that, because a sundial uses the moving shadow cast by the sun to keep time, the actual interaction between the sun and the Earth must be taken into consideration.
My most important finding is that the exact location (ie longitude and latitude) of the sundial impacts how the sun’s shadow will fall on the sundial. The sundial itself must be calibrated for the location’s latitude. Thus, a generic, off-the-shelf sundial cannot tell time reliably.
Step 1: Check the sundial for messages or markings that indicate it has been customized for the location. If so, find the shadow on the hour markings and take note of the Solar Time.
My second most important finding is that there are three calculations which must be applied to the sundial’s Solar Time to determine Clock Time. You may want to dust off your elementary school science skills for this next section! The first calculation is called the Equation of Time.
Equation of Time
. Sundials work because the Earth makes a complete rotation on its axis every day. The Earth’s axis isn’t perpendicular to the plane of the Earth, it is tilted at an angle of about 23.5°. The Earth’s orbit isn’t circular, it is actually an ellipse. The Earth’s tilt and its elliptical orbit cause the length of each day to vary slightly.
. Clock Time ignores this difference and is deliberately configured to treat all days as exactly 24 hours long.
. This causes a variance between Solar Time and Clock Time. Depending on the sundial’s location, it can vary from being about 14 minutes 20 seconds slow around 12th February to being about 16 minutes 23 seconds fast around 3rd November. Solar Time and Clock Time coincide on four days of the year: 16th April, 14th June, 2nd September and 25th December. The cycle repeats every year. The below graph illustrates the Equation of Time.

Step 2: Consult a detailed Equation of Time chart (or use an online calculator) to manually adjust the Solar Time by the number of minutes indicated for the relevant day of the year.
Longitude Correction for Time Zones
The second calculation is called Longitude Correction and it has to do with Time Zones.
. Clock Time is standardized into time zones. A single time zone covers a range of longitudes. Each time zone is identified by a specific reference meridian which lies midway between the east and west bounds of the zone.
. Solar Time is specific to the single meridian in which the sundial is located.
Step 3: Adjust the Solar Time to match what the reading would be at the time zone meridian. This is done by calculating the difference between the sundial’s longitude and the reference meridian of the relevant time zone. Then adding or subtracting 4 minutes for each degree of difference: subtract the minutes if the sundial is east of the reference meridian or add the minutes if the sundial is west of the reference meridian.
For instance, a sundial in my garden would be located at 83⁰ West in the Eastern Standard Time Zone. The reference meridian for this time zone is 75⁰ West. So, I would have a difference of 8 degrees, to the west of the reference meridian, and need to add 4 minutes for each of those 8 degrees. The result would be an increase of 32 minutes on my Solar Time.
Hours of Daylight
The third calculation is easier since daylight savings time is a familiar concept.
. A sundial is calibrated for either Standard Time or Daylight Savings Time.
Step 4: Determine if the sundial is set to Standard Time or Daylight Savings Time. Add or subtract an hour if needed.
Once again, I’m on the lookout for sundials. I’ll be searching for one which has been calibrated to match its location so I can try the Solar Time to Clock Time conversion. Admittedly, it will be much faster and easier to just check my phone for the time!

More Info

Check out the North American Sundial Society website for more information about sundials. The society is an association of people from a wide variety of disciplines who are interested in the study, development, history, and preservation of sundials. The website includes a directory of sundials in North America.
An interactive calculator designed to help compute the impact of the Equation of Time on a Solar Time reading can be found on the PLANETCALC website. See Equation of Time online calculator.
More information about the public gardens and towns mentioned in this post can be found at these linked websites:
. Middleton Place in Charleston, South Carolina, USA
. Town of Carolina Beach in North Carolina, USA
. Town of Chester in Nova Scotia, Canada
. Keukenhof spring gardens in Lisse, The Netherlands
. Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, USA
. Stichting Land Art Delft park in Delft, The Netherlands

Today’s Takeaways

1. Sundials are the earliest known instruments for timekeeping.
2. Modern sundials can be both decorative and functional.
3. With careful planning and attention to detail, sundials can be used to determine Clock Time.

Events Make Other Media Travel

A Gourd Gathering… Wait, What?

“You should come to the next gourd gathering” she said as she wrapped my purchase. “The next what?” I asked, stunned. She went on to explain gourd gatherings are annual events where gourd artists and enthusiasts get together to share, learn and socialize. These get togethers are typically hosted by local gourd societies. So that’s how I ended up in Cherokee, North Carolina at my first Gourd Gathering.

Yep, there are a lot of gourds at a gourd gathering! There is, also, a lot of beautiful gourd art. Vendors sell everything from unfinished gourds (as pictured above) to specialty gourd art supplies to finished artworks. A series of workshops, hosted by enthusiastic instructors, offer attendees the opportunity to try new techniques, learn new skills and make interesting projects.
Gourds, I’ve learned, provide artists the rare opportunity to work with a blank slate that’s three-dimensional. Gourds can be painted, stained, dyed, carved, burned, cut, drilled, sculpted, trimmed, and embellished in thousands of different ways. Gourds are amazingly versatile!
Talented artists can turn a simple gourd into a piece of fine art. Here’s an example I saw earlier this year at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, North Carolina. Titled Ancestry, this beautiful gourd artwork was created by Michele Tejuola Turner. She says “I am a contemporary craft artist whose work tells the African and African American experience through story. My chosen media, American gourds and African calabashes, offer a three-dimensional canvas that connects me to the land and stories that inspire me”. She uses a power tool to carve images and words into the gourd. Then adds depth and detail with vibrant acrylic paint.

It’s hard to believe this work started out looking like these bottle gourds.

Gourds grow in a surprising variety of forms. Gourds are actually the hard-shelled fruit of the Cucurbitaceae family. This large family of tendril bearing vines also includes pumpkins, squash, melons and cucumbers. This gourd plant was spotted at a local botanical garden.

The gourds of most interest to gourd artists come primarily from Lagenaria siceraria plants and are known as hardshells. Based on their general shapes, hardshells can be divided into four types—basket, bottle, long and dipper.
Basket gourds are round and lack a neck. Popular shapes include cannon ball, basketball, tobacco box, canteen and bushel basket gourds. Pictured below is a selection of cannon ball gourds.

As implied by the name, basket gourds are ideal for making baskets and other vessels for carrying and storing. It’s not surprising that gourds are often combined with basketry. This gourd, created by Marianne Barnes, has a gorgeous woven rim called a Double Wall Cherokee Run. By the way, this is the purchase I mentioned at the top of this blog post. I tucked a few pieces of lace, crocheted by my Mother, into this pretty gourd as a special remembrance of her.

Here’s another example of basketry applied to a gourd. Pine needles are coiled, and embellished with beads, around the rim of this gourd.

Bottle gourds generally have a bulb at the base and a neck at the stem. Popular shapes include martin, penguin, powder horn, kettle, Chinese bottle and miniature gourds. Pictured below is a selection of martin gourds.

Gourds have an extensive and fascinating history. “By far the most common uses of gourds in all cultures were as containers and vessels. They were used to store every manner of supplies, wet and dry, food and utility, domestic and otherwise. Hauling and storage of water was of paramount concern in every tribe regardless of locale. Gourd dippers, ladles, and containers representing all periods of civilization are seen in museums throughout Africa, Asia, the Western Hemisphere, and the Pacific Islands. … all manner of foods were stored in gourds … gourds were also used as cooking and eating utensils. Native Americans boiled food by dropping hot rocks into gourds filled with liquids. Many gourd ladles from Middle America and the Southwest are scorched on the bottom, evidence of their use to pour and spread batter on the cooking stones. … Gourds were also used as birdhouses and feeders. European explorers noted gourd birdhouses in native villages in North America.” reports The Complete Book of Gourd Craft.
Martin gourds are still used to make birdhouses especially those for purple martins. Pictured below are a few outstanding examples of gourd birdhouses.

One of the workshops I attended at the Gourd Gathering was Wood Burned Martin Birdhouse Gourd with Jeanette Egan. We learned how to use a Walnut Hollow Solid Tip Creative Burner with its various tips to burn a design into a gourd. Here’s how mine turned out.

Long gourds are generally long and narrow with no distinct bulb. Popular shapes include long, banana and snake.
Dipper gourds generally have a bulb at the base and a long thin neck extending to the stem. The necks may be straight or curved. Popular shapes include short-handled dipper, mid-size dipper, long-handled dipper, club and maranka. Pictured below are two selections of long-handled dippers—one with long straight handles and the other with long curvy handles.

Gourd artists often use gourds as the foundation for a sculpture. They build up and shape the figure with Quikwood Epoxy Putty, polymer clay or other sculpting material. This startlingly realistic garter snake, by artist Cara Bevan, is created from a dipper gourd, epoxy clay and acrylic paint.

Miniature gourds, typically 4” or less, grow in a variety of forms. They are popular for making jewelry, ornaments and sculpted figures. This cute little chicken was created by Cara Bevan from a mini spinner gourd, clay and acrylic paint.

I purchased a few unfinished gourds at the Gourd Gathering so I’ve been seeking inspiration for gourd art. My newest Pinterest board, Gourd Art – FanningSparks Favs, contains over 100 ideas.

More Info

The Gourd Gathering at Cherokee is an annual event. The 2022 event was held in Cherokee, North Carolina, USA. You can learn more about this fun-filled event on their website or Facebook page. Many thanks to the organizers, instructors and fellow students who kindly answered my many questions and generously welcomed me into the world of gourds!
The American Gourd Society promotes interest in all activities relating to gourds: cultivation and artistic shape manipulation, historical uses, gourd show competition, craftwork, and artistic decoration. There are active chapters in several USA states as well as in Canada. These organizations sponsor gourd gatherings, festivals and shows across the country. You can learn more on the American Gourd Society website. Upcoming events are featured on the Calendar page.
I also mentioned the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA in a previous blog post. In Shadows at Play I share photos from the fascinating art installation Flying School (Ecole d’aviation) by Diane Landry.
The Complete Book of Gourd Craft was written by Ginger Summit and Jim Widess.
Check out my new Pinterest board, Gourd Art – FanningSparks Favs, for lots of gourd inspiration.

Today’s Takeaways

1. Gourds provide artists the rare opportunity to work with a blank slate that’s three-dimensional.
2. Gourds can be painted, stained, dyed, carved, burned, cut, drilled, sculpted, trimmed, and embellished in thousands of different ways.
3. Gourds are amazingly versatile.

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Stop and Smell the Lavender

On a quiet country road in the foothills of the North Georgia mountains, there’s a small lavender farm called Red Oak Lavender Farm. It’s located near the city of Dahlonega known for its role as the gateway to the Appalachian Trail.

It’s an enchanting place especially during the month of June when the lavender is in bloom. Spiky blooms in gorgeous shades of purple and blue spring from mounds of silver and green foliage. The air is filled with the distinctive, fresh scent of lavender. Informative signs identify the different varieties and highlight their primary features. Here are a few examples.

Visitors to the farm have free rein to explore the lavender plantings. Most of the lavender is planted in carefully-tended, well-spaced rows. According to the Red Oak Lavender Farm website, “Lavender needs air space to dry up some of the humidity and wetness caused from rains in summer”. Growing conditions in Northern Georgia differ significantly from the ideal conditions, ie hot, dry summers, cold winters, limited rainfall and dry, rocky, alkaline soil, which allow lavender to flourish in places like Provence, France. Don’t expect to find those Instagram-famous views of mile-long rows of deep purple lavender running off into the horizon. Instead, you’ll find a more accessible, scaled-down version of those beautiful views.

A closer look reveals a myriad of bees and butterflies amongst the blooming wands. The soft yellow wings of this Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly (Phoebis sennae) are a striking contrast to the purple lavender blooms.

A Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) goes about its business on the distinctive flower of some French/Spanish Lavender (Lavandula Stoechas). This is the same variety of lavender I grow in my own flower garden (see my previous post Weaving Lavender).

Red Oak Lavender Farm is a shutterbug’s paradise with thoughtfully-placed features, such as this curvy, white gazebo, providing pretty focal points.

Lavender is obviously the main attraction but there are several other floral displays. This cheerful patch of pastel-colored yarrow complements the barn quilt perfectly.

A huge bed of dahlias—over 900 bulbs—promises an amazing floral display later this summer.

A visit to Red Oak Lavender Farm wouldn’t be complete without checking out the gift shop. The cozy shop is a feast for the eyes and nose. Bunches of lavender, such as this recently-harvested culinary lavender, are hung to dry.

A wide variety of Red Oak Lavender bath and beauty products, handmade with lavender from the farm, are on offer.

One might even spot a copper still used to distill essential lavender oil. It takes an astonishing amount of work to reach the stage where a lavender grower can distill their own lavender. “Approximately three pounds of lavender Intermedia flowers are required to produce just 15mL of lavender essential oil. We recommend you have 500 mature (year 3) lavender plants to be able to steam distill to give you enough lavender essential oil for the year. … That’s a lot of lavender needed!” explains the Red Oak Lavender website.

Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t resist taking some lavender home with me. I chose a large bouquet of dried Intermedia Lavender.

A scan through the latest home decorating trends confirms dried flowers and grasses made a comeback. The trend is attributed, in large part, to an increased focus on sustainability. Dried flowers also have the advantage of needing no water so they can be displayed in a variety of innovative ways. To that end, my new dried lavender blooms are perfect for an idea I’ve been planning to try—a wooden display block. I’ve noticed some European home decorating sites, as well as Etsy artists, are arranging dried flowers on long, narrow wooden bars. My Dried Lavender Wooden Display Block is a slight twist on that idea. Here’s how it turned out.

It’s a super simple project—there are only a few steps as shown in the image below.
1. Start by choosing a nice piece of wood and cutting it into a rectangular block. Mine is about 4½” long x 1½” deep x 1” high. Decide how you want the lavender to be positioned. I chose a wavy line for added interest.
2. Drill a series of holes. I drilled 16 holes, spaced about ⅜” apart, about 1” deep, with a ⁷⁄₆₄” drill bit. A piece of tape on the drill bit helped me bore the holes to a consistent depth. Sand the block.
3. Lay out the lavender stems to select an attractive arrangement. I chose to vary the height of my stems—cutting each one about ½” longer than the previous one.
4. And, there you have it… your very own Dried Lavender Wooden Display Block. It’s the perfect size to tuck away on a bathroom vanity, living room side table or bedroom nightstand.

More Info

Lavender wands, made with ribbon and freshly-cut lavender stems, are another easy lavender project. Check out my previous blog post, Weaving Lavender, for instructions.

To learn more about Red Oak Lavender Farm & Shop in Dahlonga, Georgia, USA, check out their website or Facebook page.
The Georgia Farm Bureau sponsors a special outreach program called Farm Passport. “The Farm Passport features over 90 farms included in Georgia Farm Bureau’s Certified Farm Markets program, which was created to help people discover where their food comes from, meet the farm families who grew the food, and create lasting memories with loved ones as they travel the state.” You can learn more on the Certified Farm Markets Farm Passport section of the Georgia Farm Bureau website.

Today’s Takeaways

1. Investigate sources for fresh, farm-raised goods in your local area.
2. Consider supporting a local farmer by paying them a visit and purchasing their products.
3. Explore possibilities for incorporating dried flowers and grasses into your home décor.

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