New Artist Book: Kudzu – The Vine that Ate the South

I never heard of it before, which is odd since it was first introduced a the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. Now, it is all around me. Every area has its own invasive species and I knew the ones in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US. But until I saw Kudzu – a highly invasive vine in the Southeast, I can honestly say I did not know the meaning of the word “invasive”. Kudzu was planted, like many things, with all good intention by the Civilian Conservation Corps to stop soil erosion on slopes and hills. It actually is not a bad looking vine and I can see why it was an attractive idea at the time. But this vine is such that it covers thickets of full grown trees and reaches out from stream banks giving the feeling that you have encountered the plant from the Little Shop of Horrors

Well, I tend to make books about things in my environment that seep into my conscious and don’t leave until I express it. So though it is not quite yet finished, here is my book on Kudzu – the Vine that Ate the South. To make it, I had to block print many, many leaves and glue them onto “vines” I made out of twisted paper. Using mixed media, I made a forest scene that the vines are covering. Below is the almost finished book and images of it in progress.