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Julia Barton: "Resurrection"
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4/29/2005  Renowned British landscape artist and Savannah College of Art and Design artist-in-residence Julia Barton is transforming the weed-filled courtyard of the old Chatham County Jail in Savannah, Ga.,, which has remained unused for more than a decade, into a living sculptural installation called "Resurrection."The former jail, located at 235 Habersham St. in historic downtown Savannah, was built in 1887. It was acquired by SCAD in 1989. SCAD converted the 42,884-square-foot, three-story stucco Moorish revival style building designed by Harry P. and Kenneth McDonald into Habersham Hall, which now houses the SCAD athletics department offices. Barton's work will incorporate native south Georgia plants and industrial materials to showcase the building’s history. To that end, she has prepared for the installation by exploring the native plants that already thrive in the area and researched the history of the building and the courtyard, which housed the jail’s two original cellblocks.  The installation will feature a scaffolding walkway that echoes the jail’s original floor pattern, while several of the original cell divisions will be reconstructed using aluminum mesh and steel cable. Plants found within the building — including the resurrection fern, an epiphytic plant that shrivels and appears to die in periods of drought, only to revive to a bright green after rain — will be arranged into colonies of single species planted within each semitransparent cell."Resurrection" will be open to the public April 29–Sept. 30. Regular exhibition hours will be Thursdays and Fridays, 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; and Sundays, 1–4 p.m. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Vacant buildings colonized by plants often become a living entity, growing and changing with the seasons and passing years. This type of location — an empty carriage house under construction near Keys Hall in Savannah, Ga. — provided the ideal setting for a special weeklong installation titled "It's Alive." "It's Alive" featured 11 different pieces of artwork created by graduate and undergraduate students in the sculpture course "Botanical Formations: Collaboration with Nature." See how the students, under the guidance of professors and Barton, use their artistic research, turning "vacant" into "vivacious" almost overnight. About the Artist  Barton is a British sculptor with 17 years of experience creating hortisculptures in landscapes and gardens in England, Scotland and France. Her work has been exhibited at the International Westonbirt Festival of Gardens, the Scottish Plant Collectors Garden and the 11th International Garden Festival, among others. She previously served as an artist in residence at Levens Hall Garden in Cumbria and the Newcastle City Art Trust in England.In addition to her installation work in Savannah, Barton taught SCAD's summer 2004 Botanical Formations — Collaboration with Nature class, a special topics course in the sculpture minor program. Many of Barton’s students from the course volunteered their time and expertise to help her clear the courtyard and identify plant species to make the space ready for the installation.
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