Week One // Extraction
Kicking off the extraction phase of this project, we are digging into the VIP of our studio: the trees. I am developing analytical drawings that represent the lifecycle and constituents of the Sugar Maple tree (Acer Saccharum). Sugar Maples, known for their syrup and strong, light colored wood, have a major and critical presence in Northeastern regions, claiming their title as the national tree of Canada. While Sugar Maples do have a presence in Arkansas, they are rapidly moving north as our climate changes. Fond of cool, shaded, moist slopes, sugar maples thrive in moderately cool climates, and are moving away from our state quickly. Given the relatively southern location of Garvan Woodland Gardens relative to our campus, this tree may not be a viable contender for this project.
However, hard maple wood is generally not used for larger structural projects, its smooth, consistent grain and diffuse porous structure allow it to be stained and sanded consistently. It is most often used for cabinetry, furniture, flooring, and specialty purposes. Perhaps there will be an application for hard maple on a small scale in our project in the future, because of this my goal for my drawings is to present the critical strengths and challenges of sugar maples to my fellow classmates.
After conducting and synthesizing research on sugar maples, I attempted two drawings which would represent the data. For the lifecycle drawing, I attempted to map out the response of sugar maples toward different forestry practices, in order to inform a potential harvesting strategy down the line. While I originally tried an isometric projection to give the drawing depth and legibility, it wasn’t a successful approach due to the constraints of our 9.5” x 9.5” drawing template. Moving forward, I’m moving towards a more orthographic, diagrammatic approach to make the information legible at such a small scale.
For the constituents drawing, I modeled it after an infographic to reveal the tactile and material character of hard maple, both refined and in the wild. The drawing needed more material clarity, and to convey more information. I also am hoping to contextualize the information in this drawing to show how the grain structure and materiality of hard maple could be useful in our project. Aside from this, I tried some new graphic strategies in these drawings, and had great success in my experiments with color, type and blending raster and vector graphics.
Moving forward, I will be refining these drawings for a final critique in the coming week. The drawings in progress are shown below, and updated drawings will follow this week. Stay tuned!