Jason Rutledge of Ridgewood Suffolk Farm leads his two Suffolk Punch mares in pulling locust logs at Selu to be used in a large scale art installation.
Heather Bell
RADFORD – Two rare Suffolk Punch horses are helping to make an art installation a reality at Selu Conservancy, moving heavy logs artist Charlie Brouwer will use to create a large scale piece at the site.
Monday, Jason Rutledge of Ridgewood Suffolk Farm and his two Suffolk Punch mares “pulled locust tree logs from John Bowles’ property at Selu to the site where “Hedgerow” will be constructed by artist – and RU Professor Emeritus – Charlie Brouwer,” said Dr. Steve Arbury, Radford University Professor of Art History and Director of the RU Art Museum.
“It all went well this Monday and next Monday promises to be another day of excellent sunny weather,” he added.
“Hedgerow,” is part of Radford University’s “Leaves of the Tree” exhibit.
“In the autumn of 2020, an ongoing series of tree-related art exhibitions and activities were launched at Radford University Art Museum and Selu Conservancy,” reads a description of the exhibit by RU. “These include two simultaneous exhibitions: “Leaves of the Tree”–celebrating the art of Charlie Brouwer and Jennifer Hand; and a juried exhibition, titled “More Leaves of the Tree”–featuring a selection of works by 75 regional artists accomplished in various media.”
Brouwer’s creation of a “Hedgerow” is part of that effort. According to RU’s description, the sculpture “will be made of dead locust trees gathered at Selu and locust lumber cut at local sawmills. The hedgerow will be up to 35-feet high by 100-feet long and eight-feet deep. Playing with the idea that all manner of things collect in hedgerows, this one will be filled with cut-out shapes of things associated with Selu such as leaves, animals, flowers, and stars. Over time, vegetation will naturally grow up in “Hedgerow” and fill it until it becomes a line of different types of bushes and small trees growing very close together, especially between fields or along the side of roads in the countryside.”
