“Lichenvision: Leaf Litter Living Room, Lakeside Home, and Zoom Date” (2021), 14 x 12 x 10 feet. Photo by Brian Kovach. All images © Melissa Webb, shared with permission
Lush, beguiling environments spill across floors and dangle from ceilings in the works of Melissa Webb. The artist dyes and crochets vintage fibers into mossy, botanical forms that when layered and stitched together, become enchanting installations evocative of forests and gardens. Shades of green tend to dominate the textile ecosystems as a nod to “growth, verdancy, and inevitable change,” Webb says. “Through my work, I imagine a reclamation of the earth by wildness—a less human-centered future where we learn to live and thrive in symbiosis with the natural world.”
Often paired or embedded with video projections, the site-specific installations position untamed growth in interior spaces like living rooms and industrial warehouses. For example, in “Local Authorities in the Spirit World Shape-Shift Through Time (We Call it Evolution),” Webb overlaid the soft benches and wooden architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright’s The Smith House with crocheted lichen, vines, and flowers. The altar-like “Verdantine Tabernacle” is similar, as it cascades outward with antique dolls, ceramic animals, and other found objects in the artist’s Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, apartment.
Webb is currently in progress on an installation at The Mill in Vicksburg, Michigan, and recently co-curated the exhibition Mending the Net for Detroit Month of Design, which will show “Verdantine Tabernacle” (shown below) through September 28. Explore more of her works on her site and Instagram.
“Local Authorities in the Spirit World Shape-Shift Through Time (We Call it Evolution)” (2021), 16 x 20 x 10 feet. Installation view at The Smith House. Photo by P.D. Rearick and the artist
Detail of “Local Authorities in the Spirit World Shape-Shift Through Time (We Call it Evolution)” (2021), 16 x 20 x 10 feet. Installation view at The Smith House. Photo by P.D. Rearick and the artist
Detail of “Lichenvision Lounge” (2022), video installation, four-foot diameter wood panels with embedded TVs, vintage lamp forms, electrical accouterments, depression glass, hand-dyed and crocheted vintage textiles, 14 x 10 x 12 feet. Installation view at Albert Kahn First National Building, Detroit, Michigan. Photo by P.D. Rearick
“Verdantine Tabernacle” (2023), hand-dyed and crocheted vintage textiles, pillows and stuffed furniture, assorted found objects, 13 x 10 x 11 feet. Photo by the artist
Detail of “Lichenvision Lounge” (2022), video installation, four-foot diameter wood panels with embedded TVs, vintage lamp forms, electrical accouterments, depression glass, hand-dyed and crocheted vintage textiles, 14 x 10 x 12 feet. Installation view at Albert Kahn First National Building, Detroit, Michigan. Photo by P.D. Rearick
Detail of “Lichenvision Lounge” (2022), video installation, four-foot diameter wood panels with embedded TVs, vintage lamp forms, electrical accouterments, depression glass, hand-dyed and crocheted vintage textiles, 14 x 10 x 12 feet. Installation view at Albert Kahn First National Building, Detroit, Michigan. Photo by P.D. Rearick
Detail of “Verdantine Tabernacle” (2023), hand-dyed and crocheted vintage textiles, pillows and stuffed furniture, assorted found objects, 13 x 10 x 11 feet. Photo by the artist
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