Nils-Udo

Nils-Udo

Clemson Clay Nest

Red dirt, bamboo, pine logs

80 ton installation, Clemson University, South Carolina

2005

Bio - Nils-Udo was born in 1937 in Bavaria. He has been doing environmental art since the 1960s, when he began to move away from the studio and painting. His works are created from materials found on site to respond to the surrounding environment.

Artist statement- “A steep grassy slope leads down to a hollow flanked by trees and located on the edge of a forest. Profound clay soil. The project reacts and works with the natural conditions encountered there. We dug and modeled the hollow for the nest deep into the bright red ground. Afterwards, we built the high nest walls joggling and wedging long pine trunks with one another. We lined the interior of the nest with green bamboo sticks narrowing more and more towards the inside. The nest ground stayed uncovered. Clay as a metaphor for birth and life.” -Nils-Udo

Background - Clemson Clay Nest is a massive 80-ton structure made with the help of many student volunteers from Clemson University. It was created with logs, bamboo and the red clay of the ground. The piece was carefully constructed in a circular form to create the image of being a birds nest. This art piece has since been deconstructed as it was considered a hazard to students at the university.

Nils-Udo’s piece shares many similarities to the pieces of this exhibit. It contains the swirling structure that Goldsworthy produced in his piece, giving the same idea of natures blending tendencies. It also produces the theme that we are all nature’s child as the nest gives birth to it’s offspring.