At first glance they look like delicately decomposing maple leaves, but take a closer look and you'll find that the lace-like veins of these leaf sculptures are actually stitched with human hair!
Jenine Shereos started collecting these "skeleton leaves" years ago after finding them on a hike in California. At the time, the Boston-based artist was experimenting with human hair as a medium, having already stitched locks of her own hair into pillows and books.
The parallel in nature between fallen hair and fallen leaves inspired Shereos to recreate the skeleton leaves using strands of brown hair. The resulting work, "Leaves," is a four-piece sculpture of maple leaves that look remarkably real, with the only clue to their origin being the fine wisps of hair that extend from the points of each leaf.
A single leaf takes months to laboriously stitch together, and though Shereos admits that using human hair might have that "ick" factor, "I love the idea of working with an everyday material that you would think of as maybe even kind of gross and transforming that into something completely different than what it was before," she says.
Read More: Jenine Shereos' 'Leaves,' stitched with human hair at Los Angeles Times
MORE LEAF ART ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• Leaf Cut Art by Lorenzo Durán
• Fallen Leaf Artwork by Jessica Baker
• Turn Thumb Print Leaves Into Family Heirloom
(Images: Robert Diamante via Los Angeles Times)
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Human hair was use on dolls back in the early 1900's but this just doesn't do it for me.
I think I'll skip this one.
Beautiful but a little creepy. There was a story a while back where someone was doing similar work to create lace-like jewelry....at least these aren't designed to be worn.
Rick Wright, a Philadelphia-based photographer, also uses human hair in his artwork. Creepy and beautiful:
http://www.wrightartstudio.com/portfolios/artp/insecta/insecta.html
Somewhat along the lines of Victorian hair keepsakes. http://recollections.biz/blog/?p=296
yah I'm with the 'ick' factor on this one too! Just knowing what iit is made out of would erase the beauty for me.
They're gorgeous if I can just get past the gross part. But if it were composed of my loved ones hair, I have to admit, I'd cherish it.
Oh, hell no!
They are beautiful. I could almost get past the hair issue if only the fly-away strands of hair were trimmed. Seeing them creates a visceral reaction in me.
Ewwww and Wow at the same time :/
Morbid to me: you of course know the Victorian tradition of "mourning lockets" complete w/ the deceased's lock of hair, etc. Oh--and also "yuck."
The fine, tedious, laborious nature of this work is so appealing. Yet, the ick factor is so repelling.
I find it more than just ick, I would classify it as disgusting. Ugh!
Why is everyone so grossed out by hair? It's hair! Most of us have it. It's not like it's a bodily fluid. It's dead. It doesn't carry diseases. It can't infect you with anything.
I think the leaves are beautiful. They are like more delicate renditions of hair flowers I saw at Heritage Park in Calgary years ago, an artwork that very few people still knew how to do.
I don't know why hair grosses me out, but like one person said, it produces a visceral reaction. The leaves are pretty, as long as I don't have to touch them.
@OLIVIA I know I asked myself the same question why does the thought of using hair gross me out and then I tried to say to myself it is just hair and hair is not gross. (well for the most part). But yeah......it did not work it just gives me the creeps thinking that is made of hair. So I can only guess the reason is most of the time when hair is not on someone's head, we identify it as being in places that would make it gross e.g. someones food, in a dirty sink, in the shower...etc. I guess hair not on the head is usually ick, Therefore hair art "ick".
The book The Shipping News introduces chapters with old-timey information about knot tying, and one of the examples was that sailors used to weave items like butterflies out of their beloved's hair to take on long voyages. When I think of how many people must have never seen each other again, I can get over the ick factor. In the days before photographs, that's such a wonderfully romantic way to hold on to someone.
@Akay, Yes, but big difference between your beloved's hair and random hair.
GROSS.
ew.
Yeesh.
Interesting, but no, I'll pass.
I'd rather have the real thing. Much cheaper, and...well, real.
If the artist can follow this muse and make a go of it, more power to 'em.
I think I'm among the few who actually like this. Hair doesn't bother me; things made from hair don't bother me. If you've never seen some hair keepsakes/art in person I recommend you search them out, they're very impressive.
WOW, the newest version of Victorian hairwork! I've always found it creepy cool, but I am partial to vintage oddities.