Viola's
So, of all the seeds of all the plants, why have I chosen the Viola for my artists book/sculpture/installation?
Well, for one thing it was the first wildflower, or weed, that came to mind that has been accepted into most people's gardens. Most people are happy to have a viola or pansy or violet in their garden at some point - especially in the winter to add colour and joy to an otherwise dull garden at that time of year. I often find them popping up in my garden, and rather than pulling them up and putting them in the garden waste, I will welcome it and water it, or even pot it up and give it pride of place on my patio table.
As a genus, researchers at Kew Gardens confirm the Viola as being native to Asia-Tropical, Europe, Africa, Falkland Island, Hawaii, Southern America, Northern America, Australasia and Asia-Temperate - so most of the world!
viola distribution map
It's also called 'hearts ease', which doesn't really have much to do with migration, but its origin is obscure. Some say it is down to the shape of the leaves, others that it can be used to ease a broken heart, others that it can be used to make a love potion...whatever the source of the name I think it is quite beautiful! I feel like we should all ease our hearts on the subject of migration - we (the human race) have been doing it since the beginning of time - no need for all the current drama - it will all be fine.
With my roots being in Stratford-upon-Avon, the viola is representative of this. Shakespeare uses another colloquial Midland term for the viola 'love-in-idleness' to describe the herb that casts the spell in a Midsummer Nights Dream:
Oberon:
"That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west,
And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league."
On an aesthetic level, the viola seed and seed pod are a great choice, with a triploid pod, each bearing numerous seeds, that has great architectural creative opportunities and a fascinating and dramatic explosive mechanism. As the seed pods dry out, each seed is eventually squeezed out in an explosive burst that can take the tiny 2mm seeds several metres from the parent plant.
On a practical level, I have many wild and cultivated viola's, violets and pansies in my garden that I can use as a primary resource (the above photo's are all my own from violas growing in my garden). Also, the science department had 3 slides of root cross sections, one of which happened to be of viola root which is rather fortunate! It's not a cliché - plants such as the dandelion and it's seeds and seed head have been used in so many works - the viola is much less obvious.
Well, for one thing it was the first wildflower, or weed, that came to mind that has been accepted into most people's gardens. Most people are happy to have a viola or pansy or violet in their garden at some point - especially in the winter to add colour and joy to an otherwise dull garden at that time of year. I often find them popping up in my garden, and rather than pulling them up and putting them in the garden waste, I will welcome it and water it, or even pot it up and give it pride of place on my patio table.
As a genus, researchers at Kew Gardens confirm the Viola as being native to Asia-Tropical, Europe, Africa, Falkland Island, Hawaii, Southern America, Northern America, Australasia and Asia-Temperate - so most of the world!
viola distribution map
It's also called 'hearts ease', which doesn't really have much to do with migration, but its origin is obscure. Some say it is down to the shape of the leaves, others that it can be used to ease a broken heart, others that it can be used to make a love potion...whatever the source of the name I think it is quite beautiful! I feel like we should all ease our hearts on the subject of migration - we (the human race) have been doing it since the beginning of time - no need for all the current drama - it will all be fine.
With my roots being in Stratford-upon-Avon, the viola is representative of this. Shakespeare uses another colloquial Midland term for the viola 'love-in-idleness' to describe the herb that casts the spell in a Midsummer Nights Dream:
Oberon:
"That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west,
And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league."
On an aesthetic level, the viola seed and seed pod are a great choice, with a triploid pod, each bearing numerous seeds, that has great architectural creative opportunities and a fascinating and dramatic explosive mechanism. As the seed pods dry out, each seed is eventually squeezed out in an explosive burst that can take the tiny 2mm seeds several metres from the parent plant.
On a practical level, I have many wild and cultivated viola's, violets and pansies in my garden that I can use as a primary resource (the above photo's are all my own from violas growing in my garden). Also, the science department had 3 slides of root cross sections, one of which happened to be of viola root which is rather fortunate! It's not a cliché - plants such as the dandelion and it's seeds and seed head have been used in so many works - the viola is much less obvious.
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