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InspirationArt & Culture

Artist uses plant stalks and dandelion seeds to construct tiny, intricate sculptures

After spending some time at the National Trust’s Gunby Estate, Hall and Gardens in Lincolnshire last spring, German artist Christiane Löhr was inspired to create a series of tiny sculptures using materials she had found in its gardens, such as plant stalks, dandelion or ivy seeds.

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Closely packed white dandelion seed heads arranged in a dense rectangular formation against a pale background

Her artworks are reminiscent of everyday objects or imaginary architecture, and are surprisingly light and fragile, yet powerful and stable. Speaking of her work, Christiane said: “It concerns sculpture, it concerns perception. It does not at all concern nature. I am interested in form of the plants, not in their botanical features....I am a sculptor.

"My issues are sculpture and perception, form and space, the very concrete involvement with the given daily objects. It is another way of displacing space, or rather ‘sculpting’. That comes about by working with ordinary materials – that could be steel but I chose the organic. I am focused on the placement in space, on proportion, on what is happening between the formed space and the untouched space.”

An exhibition of her sculptures, as well as drawings, will launch at the Orchard Gallery, Gunby Estate, Hall and Gardens, Spilsby, PE23 5SS on 30th June. The exhibition will be open every day 11am - 4pm until 4th September 2016.

Via direct submission | All images courtesy of National Trust

White fluffy dandelion seeds arranged densely with small brown seeds and plant material embedded throughout, forming a spherical sculptural composition
Delicate sculpture by Christiane Löhr constructed from plant stalks with intricate linear framework forming an abstract head-like form
Delicate sculpture made from clustered dandelion seed heads arranged in an organic, cloud-like formation against a pale background
Tall wire-like sculpture by Christiane Löhr suspended from ceiling, with delicate plant stalks forming abstract cylindrical shapes at top and bottom connected by a thin central stem
Three delicate sculptural forms made from plant stalks and seed heads arranged on a white surface against a grey background
Christiane Löhr's delicate sculpture made from dandelion seeds and plant material, forming a textured cloud-like form with pale fibrous threads and green seed pods
Wire-like plant stalks arching over a spiky, dark cluster of dandelion seeds in Christiane Löhr's sculptural installation
Minimalist line drawing on paper showing organic plant forms with curved and straight lines intersecting vertically
Gallery interior displaying Christiane Löhr's intricate sculptures made from plant stalks and seeds under glass cases, with framed drawings on white walls
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