Flat-Lays of Halved Walnuts and Other Shells Study the Diversity of the Botanical Fruits

Carya hickory sections. All images © Jonas Frei, shared with permission

During a visit to the Zürich arboretum, Jonas Frei came across a nut species rarely found in Europe. The Juglans cinerea, or white walnut, is native to the U.S. and Canada and has a ribbed, oblong shell that once cracked, reveals a sweet, fleshy innard. Its presence in the Swiss enclave dates back to 1887, when the botanist Carl Joseph Schröter planted a tree that eventually produced the non-native fruits and sparked Frei’s enduring interest in the plant genus.

Based in Schaffhausen, Frei is a naturalist, illustrator, and landscape architect whose interest in botany has taken him to gardens, arboretums, and parks throughout Europe and North America. He recently spent time in Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum after being awarded the James R. Jewett Prize, which allowed him to expand his research on the walnut and explore how it’s migrated over centuries. Much of his work is focused on making science easily digestible and visually intriguing to a general audience. “Research itself really is my goal,” he tells Colossal. “I want to understand the subject and make the knowledge accessible through my writing and the aesthetical presentation of the diversity of species and cultivars.”

Shared through illustrations and flat-lay photos, Frei’s studies have recently culminated in a book devoted to walnuts and hickories, which brings together the cultural, historical, and botanical importance of these diverse plants. “I was driven not only by my scientific interest in Juglandaceae but also by my enthusiasm for the aesthetics of their habits, leaves, and fruits. The readers of my book should be able to make their own journey of discovery through the walnut family, on the tracks I have uncovered with my research,” he says.

The expanded edition of Frei’s book, which includes updates from his studies at Arnold Arboretum, is available along with posters, prints, and a similar volume focused on hazelnuts on his site. Follow his latest research on Instagram.

 

Juglans sinesis

Juglans nigra

Junglandaceae

Corylus

Walnusshaelften

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Paper-Thin Ceramic Pieces Puzzle Together to Form Elegant Vessels by Ellis Moseley

All images © Ellis Moseley, shared with permission courtesy of Hugo Michell Gallery

Through a methodical and labor-intensive process of layering petals of thin clay, Adelaide-based artist Ellis Moseley creates elegant, airy vessels that appear to flutter where they sit. Using paper-clay slip—a fine-grained, lightweight, and durable ceramic medium made from mixing clay slip with fiber—the sculptures are composed of strips dried on a plaster bat. The individual pieces are then peeled away and applied to a smooth base. He begins at the bottom and works up in a loose spiral, retaining the delicate edges and emphasizing each vessel’s contours.

In his recent exhibition Heist at Hugo Michell Gallery, Moseley focused on a color palette of pastel pinks, blues, and greens, coalescing fine art and functionality. Find more of his slip-cast work on his website.

 

 

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Poetic Drawings by Yuria Okamura Meditate on the Sacredness of Plants

All images © Yuria Okamura, shared with permission

Melbourne-based artist Yuria Okamura intertwines sacred geometries with medicinal botanicals in her delicate drawings and wall works. Evoking animism and the Buddhist and Shinto beliefs she encountered during her childhood in Japan, Okamura’s renderings in pen and acrylic create sites for meditation and contemplation with symmetries, muted color palettes, and subdued, calming auras.

Often accompanying the smaller works on paper are large-scale patterns the artist draws on the walls surrounding the pieces to create immersive architectural installations. This pairing establishes “a temple-like space for enshrining nature,” she says, and together, the works emulate the quiet, reflective qualities of places of worship.

Some of Okamura’s works shown here are on view through August 20 as part of Melbourne Now at NGV Australia. Find more of her exquisite renderings on her site and Instagram.

 

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Looks Fishy: Andrey Savin Greets Marine Denizens in His Vibrant Underwater Portraits

All images © Andrey Savin, shared with permission

Skirting the sandy sea floor or floating amidst anemone fronds, the subjects of Andrey Savin’s portraits can’t help but act a little fishy. The photographer meets most of the marine species in the waters around where he lives in the Philippines, fascinated by their enigmatic habits and unique interactions. “The most interesting moments for me are when I observe relationships between living creatures of the same species or interspecies relationships,” he tells Colossal. A finalist for the 2022 Close-Up Photographer of the Year contest, he highlights each individual’s distinctive traits, from snaggleteeth to speckled scales, and their remarkable aquatic home.

Savin is currently working on a project investigating how to take high-quality video with smartphones underwater, along with a continuing focus on capturing animal behavior. You can find more on his website, Instagram, and Behance.

 

 

 

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Spikes, Interlocked Rings, and Bold Bulges Sprout from Megan Bogonovich’s Otherworldly Ceramic Botanicals

All images © Megan Bogonich, courtesy of Kishka Gallery & Library, shared with permission

“There is a tree on my road that has been cut very strangely to accommodate a power line, and I think about that tree a lot,” says Megan Bogonovich, who envisions the otherworldly potential of human touch on the environment through playful, botanical sculptures.

Based in Norwich, Vermont, Bogonovich recognizes nature’s immense capability for adaptation and strength in seemingly inhospitable spaces. “The whole dandelion growing out of a pavement crack thing,” she says. Her works embody transformation and abundant growth, and unusual colors, shapes, and textures arise in surreal combinations. With bulbous bases, spiked protrusions, and interlocked petals, the works imagine “the batty possibilities of what could be growing in the universe or what might be the first thing to sprout up after an environmental disaster.”

Rooted in play and the “ceaseless goofiness” of reproduction, the sculptures evolve throughout a lengthy process. Bogonovich begins by hand-building small geometric and organic forms like cones, tubes, ovoids, and textured patches made with drilled holes, cuts, and everyday objects like buttons, which she then casts in plaster to make a mold. “If I cast 30 molds one day, by the next day I have a set of slip-cast tinkertoy-type parts that I can alter and bend or duplicate. It’s a lot of labored build-up to get to a point where I can work spontaneously and impulsively with a material that would otherwise want planning,” she says. 

 

These malleable forms are then fired and readied for glazing, a slow, meticulous process that involves several layers and bouts in the kiln at varying temperatures. “The sculptures are matte white when they first come out of the kiln. I let a lot of pieces build up before I start glazing,” Bogonovich says. “I get used to being surrounded by ghost flowers, so when the tide changes to color it feels like a big shift in the studio.” Like nature, glazing is unpredictable, and the pastel pinks, bold oranges, and mottled hues add a whimsical, playful element to the works. “I live in the woods in Vermont, and at this time of year, there is so much green. It’s nice to imagine bright yellow tree trunks or hot pink maple leaves,” she says. 

Bogonovich works with Kishka Gallery & Library, where she recently held a solo show, and has sculptures on view through May 20 at SPRING/BREAK Art Show in New York. Find more of her pieces on her site and Instagram.

 

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Ruslan Khasanov Brings Cosmic Phenomena Down to Earth in His Mesmerizing Short Film ‘Space Iris’

All images © Ruslan Khasanov, shared with permission

For more than ten years, Ruslan Khasanov (previously) has been enthralled by the ecstatic effects of light, color, and movement, which he expresses in an ongoing series of photographs and videos. Composed of a mixture of liquids like water, oil, and paint, he captures hundreds of high-resolution images that are then edited into a short film titled “Space Iris,” which is accompanied by an original composition by Fabio Fonda. “The iris, with its intricate patterns and colors, shares a striking resemblance to the vibrant and colorful cosmic nebula,” Khasanov says. “Just as the eye is a window to the soul, the nebula serves as a window to the vast universe beyond.”

You might also enjoy his earlier projects “Eye” and “heterochromia iridum,” which you can find among many other pieces, on Behance and Vimeo.

 

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