Gaia
Gaia
$6,000.00
Gaia - Gaea, Mother Earth, the Ancestral Mother, Mother of all life.
I created this bust in honor of, and in dedication to, Gaia, our Mother Earth. The greenery that I used was harvested from my yard here in downtown Los Angeles, and the Bigleaf Hydrangea and crystals were purchased from small merchants.
She is made of Jasmine vine, Passion Fruit vine, Lavender, English Lavender, Bay leaves, Great Bougainvillea, Bamboo Palm, Glossy Privet tree, Bigleaf Hydrangea, Amethyst, Rose Quartz, Black Rutile, Peridot, Lapis lazuli, Lapis Lazuli, Petrified Wood, Sea Shells, and wire.
Seeds
If you saw her at The Hive Gallery in downtown Los Angeles and took one of the seed packets, here is a little bit more information about each packet. Please tag me on Instagram (@artbymarariane) as they grow! I can’t wait to see how beautiful they become.
The California Wildflower Packet
• May include a combination of Clarkia Mix, Tidy Tips, California Golden Poppy, Baby Blue Eyes, California Blue Bell, Gold Fields, Farewell to Spring, Sky Lupine, Chinese Houses, Globe Gilia, Bird's Eye, Five Spotted.
• Please plant these outside to help Gaia spread her love. They can be planted in an outdoor pot or directly into the ground in native soil.
• This packet contains flowers that pollinators like bees and hummingbirds love.
The Lavender Packet
• They love the sunlight, to help them reach their full potential make sure they are placed near your sunniest window.
• Lavender not only smells amazing but contains many calming properties to remind you of Gaia’s love. After about 110-120 days you should be able to harvest some. With that harvest I recommend drying them out by hanging them upside down in a dark cool place (like a closet) for two weeks, then crush it up and put it in a little cloth case or a pillowcase and keep it by your bed to help you sleep.
• These Lavender seeds can also be planted outside just make sure they have plenty of sun. I recommend under a bedroom window so when they are in bloom and you have your windows the calming scent will float in.
The Coleus Plant
• This packet contains purple/maroon Coleus seeds although the leaves can come into maturity in a multitude of colors.
• Coleus loves to be in a bright room full of sunlight but not in direct sunlight, they don’t like to be the total center of attention and in the spotlight.
• REMINDER: when it starts to bud little white or blue flowers, they need to be pinched off or else it will go to seed and then die.
The Making of gaia
The Skeleton
For this piece, I made a mold of myself to build the skeleton and to shape the face and the hands. I first did paper-mâché on my face, then I did a masking tape mold of my body and made a pair of hands from paper-mâché off of the masking tape mold.
From there, I twisted wire to form a skeleton and sewed the paper-mâché face and hands onto the skeleton and then spray painted it.
The Build
After building the skeleton and pulling the different greenery from my yard, I started to cover and wrap her in the different flowers and vines. Her face and one of her hands is covered in the leaves from the Bamboo Palm, and the other hand is covered in Bay leaves and leaves from the Glossy Privet tree. Wrapped around and crawling through her body are Jasmine vines, Passion Fruit vines, Lavender, Great Bougainvillea, Bamboo Palm and Glossy Privet tree. Her head is filled with Lavender and Great Bougainvillea flowers and vines; her lips are made of English Lavender.
Once I put her all together I placed her in a mixture of cornmeal, borax, and non-iodized salt and let her sit for 7 days. That mixture is an eco-friendly alternative to the more commonly used silica drying beads. Placing and keeping her in this mixture for 7 days helps the flowers to not only last longer but to retain their shape and color, as well.
Final Stages
After leaving her in the drying mixture, I dusted her off and added her eyes, which are made of Black Rutile and Lapis Lazuli affixed onto sea shells that I found on the beach of Saint Malo, France. I then added the remaining crystals Amethyst, Rose Quartz, Black Rutile, Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, and Petrified Wood. Rose Quartz representing the heart, the Amethyst geodes as the lungs and the rest of the crystals were scattered throughout. Finally, I placed the blue Bigleaf Hydrangea in her hands. That flower, to me, was reminiscent of what Earth looks like from space.