Bubbling up: Lorrie Fredette @ Crotch

Although the forms are similar, the effect of the Crotch projects of Matt Stolle (January) and Lorrie Fredette (February) could not be more different.  Where Matt's black sphere appeared to come from without and insinuate itself in the crotch of this tree, Lorrie's bone colored balls allude to a source deep within the tree, bubbling forth from that source as if forced out by an internal pressure.

The work, simply titled Balls consists of dozens of small balls made of beeswax and tree resin placed in the crotch and tucked into a nearby knot hole in the tree.

 Is this how sap appears before the warming temps cause it to flow?
Like a kind of arboreal roe, Balls reveals the pre-Spring fecundity of the tree ready to burst forth once the hard Winter subsides, an presents a sense of all that might be stuffed within that gnarled coarse bark.

My habit this Winter has been to periodically trudge out to see to what degree the Crotch projects have been obscured by or released from the snow cradled by the tree's branches. 

Buried under heavy snow for the better part of two weeks, Balls reemerged last weekend, cutting thin translucent line in the dark hulk of this tree.

Lorrie Fredette lives and works in Saugerties, NY.