Hull St. Pine Cone (H-001)
Richmond, Va
2017

Standing as a visceral and iconic artwork along the Hull Street corridor in Richmond, Virginia, the Pine Cone is a tactile site-specific installation.

The installation, comprised of 700 cubic feet of a waterproof resin and plastic plant mix, is supported by an steel pipe framework that is delicately inserted within an existing brick planter.

During the casting process, community members and library patrons will be invited to blow up hundreds of balloons and drop them into the artificial plant mix as it is being poured into the formwork. Once the UV protected plant material mix hardens, the molds will be removed, and the balloons will be popped and removed, resulting in hundreds of internal voids. The voids allow the weight and cost of the structure to be greatly reduced while still maintaining the sculpture’s strength.

The structural frame of aluminum pipe also houses outdoor LED strip lighting. The intersection of these light strips and the balloon voids will create internal light bulbs. Depending on the size of the void and its distance from the edge of the sculpture, each light source will have a different intensity and output, resulting in an unexpected experience of the Pine Cone at night.