Artist
Statement for Web of Life
As I
got ready to make the "Web of Life" mobile, I
began by examining spider web pictures taken by the naturalists
at Edwin Warner Park. I looked at webs more closely, found information
on the Internet and checked out several books. The more I got
involved with the project, the more respect I found for spiders
and their environment. I wanted to make a mobile that continued
the themes I've been working on for years while commenting on
a specific aspect of nature. While I've always loved looking at
spiders in their environment, I never realized how many types
there are (38,000 known spider species), how many uses they have
for silk, or their wide variety of webs-not to mention their eating
or mating habits.
For the
mobile, I chose to make a funnel web, a dew-laden orb web and
an egg sac. I used several different gauges of wire because most
spiders extrude up to four types of silk. Orb weavers can make
seven.
As I
studied different types of orb webs, I was most intrigued by the
ones caught in the rain because that shows their beauty as well
as their strength. To get the same effect, I used crystal beads
strung on wire. I also included a small green spider on this web.
When orb weavers look for mates, they rhythmically pluck a web
to communicate with each other.
Like
most spiders, funnel-web weavers patiently wait for their prey
inside homes that look like tunnels. Their weaving techniques
may look unplanned, but they are by design. I made my funnel web
by weaving several different gauges of wire onto a frame then
forming it into a funnel.
To make
an egg sack, the female spins a thick mat of silk on vegetation.
After she lays her eggs, she covers them in several silk sheets
before finally coating the sac with a parchment like silk. I made
my egg sac by forming sheets of silk gauze over a wire base. The
bar hanging just over the sac is its support in the same way a
single blade of grass would be for a real sac.
Adrienne
Mason wrote my favorite spider-reference book, The World of the
Spider, which can be found at the local bookstore or through www.sierraclub.org/books.
In her book, she printed a quotation from one of my favorite children's
stories, E.B. White's Charlotte's Web.
"What
's so miraculous about a spider's web?" said Mrs. Arable.
"I
don't see why you say a web is a miracle-it's just a web."
"Ever
try to spin one?" asked Dr. Dorian.
My thanks
to The Friends of Warner Parks, as well as to the staff of Edwin
Warner for making this project possible and lending me support.
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