Plants as metaphor

“Journey “ (Japanese barberry) (detail work in process), by Boston-based artist Ann Wessmann, in her show “Cycle,’’ at Kingston Gallery, Boston, May 31-July 2.

The gallery says (this has been edited):

“In her studio practice, Ann Wessmann explores themes relating to time, memory, beauty and the ephemeral, with a focus on the strength and fragility of human beings and the natural world. Her most recent work pays tribute to trees, and the natural world by extension, by focusing on a horse chestnut tree at her childhood home, in Scituate, Mass., and the 170-foot-long hedge on two sides of the yard. This tree and hedge have been a part of her life for almost 70 years, going through their cycle of life as Wessmann goes through hers. While Wessmann no longer lives full time at her childhood home, she takes care of the yard year after year in the continuing seasonal cycle.

“Wessmann’s process is close observation and discovery, gathering and sorting various plant materials — leaves, flowers, twigs, nuts and hulls — that fall to the ground from the horse chestnut tree. These materials are essential to the life of the tree, but they have served their natural purpose and are generally overlooked and discarded by humans. Wessmann finds them beautiful and compelling. The thorny hedge, which she has struggled to maintain for many years, caught her attention in the past year, and the installation “Journey,’’ made with hedge clippings, for Wessmann became a metaphor for the times in which we live.”

Leaves and trunk of a horse chestnut tree. There are far fewer such trees these days.

— Photo by Alvesgaspar

The fruit of the Horse chestnut tree. They are not true nuts, but rather capsules.

— Photo by Solipsist

What about mid-day naps?

"6052 days + nights (8.29 years) (vellum and insect pins on vellum-covered foam board), by Ann Wessman, in her show "Being Vertical + Horizontal,''  at the Kingston Gallery, Boston, through Oct. 2.

The gallery notes say that the exhibition "honors each day of life with a simple, repeating pattern of vertical and horizontal orientations representing the states of awake and asleep and day and night. The artist asks us to view her labor-intensive installation as a calendar.''

The horizontal pieces of paper, of course, represent night and the vertical ones day.