I set this up in the woods behind my house in the Autumn of 2022. I had wanted to set up a small piece (~3′ x 24″ tallest curve) to see how the clay I mixed reacted to the freezing and thawing cycles of our increasingly crazy winters. When Spring of 2023 came I realized that I had failed to take into account something rather important: the snow load. We might get some crazy rain in January but here in Namur, Québec we can easily get 3′ of snow. It’s still impossible to take a step outside without snow shoes. The clay pieces themselves were fine, but the tall curves cracked under the weight of the snow.

I considered this my first failure and left it at that.

…Except… at the end of October 2024 I’ve realized that there actually is moss growing all over the pieces. The spores seem to have caught in the crackle glaze! I will have to take into account the weight of snow, but it’s proof that if I can make objects with surfaces that will catch spores and encourage them to colonize.