Wednesday, December 12, 2007

A Very Test Tube Christmas

Seattle's Colors have transformed into something a little more festive than their previous incarnation. This is a living installation, in that each tube may be cleaned and refilled with specimens found near my home. These items were all collected from Magnuson Park on a Saturday stroll with my wife. 'Tis the season for red and white berries. The previous incarnation grew a variety of mold in the months between Seattle Colors V1 and V2, further emphasizing the living nature of this piece.

Here are the same berries - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet - after growing mold and being submerged in dilute bleach. I wonder what the next phase of Seattle's Colors will be? If you have any ideas for me, here's a fun craft: Download the image below, color it in and emailit to me. (Or just post a comment below.)

Merry Christmas! And please don't go out and buy stuff just for the sake of it. Consider crafting something personal, giving a gift of an experience or assembling a creative alternative to a store-bought item.

3 comments:

Drugmonkey said...

how about time lapse photography on the molding and decomposition?

thomas robey said...

The thought came to me only AFTER I reached the end. I plan to do a sequence in the future. Usually I put some flakes of paradichlorobenzene (mothballs) in the bottom to hold off the decomposition.

My latest thought is to find some holly, snowberry and Oregon grape and monitor their decomp over time. Perhaps it could symbolize the decay of the executive branch.

Drugmonkey said...

even artists need pilot studies I guess...