I used a google map image of a tiny oxbowed prairie river bordered by grasses and foliage to develop the concept image for Inscribe 2.1. The patchwork of tessellated fields stretched out beyond, intersected by the geometries of roads and buildings. I love this patchwork. I have always found it mesmerizing to watch the land from an airplane. The shapes are wildly varied and complicated from the air but on the ground we experience the landscape as seamless and coherent.
When I sat down to discuss this next commission with the client, the idea of taking a topographic perspective made sense given the client's affinity for landscape and pattern in fields and natural forms of trees, rocks and rivers. I found aerial images of riverways and foliage in the Chicago area in interaction with the geometries of surveyed roads and farmland alongside the randomness of fields and crops and buildings.
Inscribe 3.1 is the next step in the series that considers our interaction with the land. A river form is a powerful dynamic form, constantly changing and evolving over time. Fractal lines result from this intersection of the natural world with the built world. Living in urbanized settings requires new ways of seeing and connecting with the land.
Full set of images of Inscribe 3.1 can be seen here.