Never Let You Go

Over the last few years I've been searching for, and collecting, dead trees that ivy vines have grown around, and carefully removing the trees (chipping them away piece by piece) so as to leave the vine structures intact. This is for the 'Never Let You Go' series of sculptures that I'm planning. 

'Never Let You Go (small standing version)', 2022, artist: Wayne Chisnall

My aim is to replace the tree sections with large colourful fabric sausages, giving the impression that the vines had grown around them and are squeezing them tightly. To help emphasis this illusion I've mostly been selecting specimens were the vines have grown thick and into roughly tubular encasements, almost like extra long, irregular rib cages. Of these vine networks that I've so far collected, the largest one is around 11 feet long. 

Pictured is a relatively small, test version that I made; mostly to test out how the sausage would look when threaded through the tube of vines. The larger versions will be displayed horizontally and I will probably employ a stretchier fabric. This test version is only vertical because it isn't as fully tubular as the larger ones and I wanted to see how it would look standing up on the more leg-like sections of vine.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the contrast between colourful fabric and the earth brown of the vines will work.