Justin Shull » porta hedge

‘Watching Wildlife’ Video Release

Justin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:44:01 +0000

Watching Wildlife, a recent video I created for an upcoming exhibition titled Frame of Reference: Dioramas in the 21st Century at Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, NY, is now available for viewing on this site and on YouTube and Vimeo.

Read a full description of the project.

Porta Hedge @ Eastfield College, 2011 ‘Temporary Occupants’

Justin — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:52:09 +0000

The Eastfield College Department of Visual Arts presents the second annual installment of Temporary Occupants, April 8 – May 6, at Eastfield College. Artists have been invited to create temporary site referential responses to various spaces in and around the campus. These individual projects encourage viewers to reconsider the notion of artistic “space” and how works are to be presented and viewed. Temporary Occupants presents art objects as situations to be discovered rather than viewed in any formal or expected way. Artists include Courtney Brown, Mickey Bruce, Matt Clark, Kristen Cochran, C.J. Davis, Lanie Delay, Eric Eley, Lance Jones, Justin Shull, Sunny Sliger and Marianne Newsome, Sour Grapes, Jenny Vogel, Lizzy Wetzel and Kathy Windrow.

Join the Visual Arts Department for a reception for the artists on Saturday, April 9 from 6–9 p.m. Mingle in the lower courtyard between the “L” and “C” building and enjoy tacos as you listen to records spun by DJ Jeff Ross, then roam around campus with artists and friends to locate the work. Maps will be available at the reception. Please park and enter at the Performance Hall on the west side of campus.

For more information visit http://efcvisualarts.blogspot.com/

Eastfield College, one of the seven Dallas County Community Colleges, is located at 3737 Motley Drive in Mesquite, just north of I-30.

February Snow in Dallas

Justin — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:19:39 +0000

Even Dallas gets snow storms. Daniel McCarthy recently took this photo of the Porta Hedge and the Terrestrial Shrub Rover on Dyer Street blanketed in (real) snow.

Terrestrial Shrub Rover and Porta Hedge in Dallas Snow - Photo by Daniel McCarthy

Porta Hedge @ Free Museum of Dallas Remote Site

Justin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 22:55:22 +0000

Situated in a concrete front yard on Fondren Drive, just beyond the intersection with Airline, the Porta Hedge (Birder’s Retreat) is currently providing one University Park household some privacy and a bit of evergreen to look at out their window. From the Porta Hedge’s concealed interior space, individuals also have the opportunity to observe neighborhood birds (weather and temperatures permitting.)

Drive-by visitors are encouraged. Visits to the interior of the Porta Hedge are by appointment only. If you would like to spend some time inside the Porta Hedge, please contact Justin Shull to schedule a visit.

FREE MUSEUM OF DALLAS – REMOTE FMOD PAGE & ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

‘Artificial Green’ Released by Greg Gleason

Justin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:22:42 +0000

Greg Gleason accompanied me in New Jersey, Washington D.C. and Baltimore in late spring of 2009, documenting the construction of the Porta Hedge – Mobile Observation Lab, an installation at the U.S. Botanic Garden and some artificial tree planting. Greg recently compiled our conversations about my projects and our outings into a short documentary Artificial Green.

Porta Hedge Partial Wrap for the Holidays

Justin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:39:46 +0000

The Porta Hedge will take a hiatus from road touring this holiday season. And what better time than now to wrap the Hedge, so that it might partake in the holiday spirit while sited in the deep snows of western Pennsylvania this December.

Although we found early in the Summer Tour that having the Porta Hedge wrapped while traveling at high speeds had adverse effects, it does add a certain element of mystery to the object...

Porta Hedge at Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Justin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:07:26 +0000

The Porta Hedge contributed briefly to the holiday cheer in the Oak Grove at Indiana University of Pennsylvania as students prepared for finals and the holiday break. IUP grad student Bifei Cao helped decorate the Hedge with LED Christmas lights and we successfully field tested the Porta Hedge solar system's capabilities to power Christmas lights in addition to its internal power demands. For a quick look at the benefits of using LED lights, see Gizmodo's review The Pros and Cons of LED Christmas Lights or the Washington Daily Globe's LED Christmas: Lights offer holiday glow, energy savings.

Many thanks to Kyle Houser, the gallery director at IUP who brought the Porta Hedge to campus!

Jessica Longobardo’s Leaf Tattoos in the Porta Hedge

Justin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:18:01 +0000

For the exhibition Engineering Eden at Allegheny College, artist Jessica Longobardo compiled three handmade booklets for three of her friends, each of whom comes from a distinct bioregion in the United States. Each booklet includes a map illustrating the distribution of tree species in a specific region and drawings of those trees’ leaves.

Longobardo then tattooed each of her friends with the leaves representing the trees native to each person’s home region. For the exhibition, Longobardo photographed the tattoos and displayed the photos along with the booklets.

As the exhibition’s closing event, Longobardo set up a temporary tattoo parlor in the Porta Hedge (which is technically native to no region, but available to any region with roads) on the Allegheny College campus and invited passersby to find out what trees grow in their hometown, and then to select one of those trees as a basis for a leaf tattoo.

More photos at the Porta Hedge Travel Blog

Ginko Leaf Tattoo in the Porta Hedge (A Non-Native Request)

Handmade Leaf Booklet by Jessica Longobardo

Sugar Maple Tattoo by Jessica Longobardo

Halloween Bumblebees

Justin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:19:55 +0000

The Porta Hedge stopped over in a small suburb in Syracuse, New York for Halloween this week. Our hosts served candy to trick-or-treaters from inside the Hedge as parents congregated at its door, asking if we made it as a prop for Halloween. Highlights include our first Bumblebee visitors and a large inflatable man.

The Reshaped World at the Washington Art Association

Justin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:07:09 +0000

Visit the WASHINGTON ART ASSOCIATION galleries in Washington Depot, Connecticut from September 19 – October 19 to see the Porta Hedge on view as part of the exhibition The Reshaped World. The Porta Hedge will be open to the public during gallery hours, and in the Main Galleries, visitors can see work by artists Mark Abrahamson, Marcia Clark, Cornelia Kavanagh, Justin Shull, Maggie Sullivan, and Tom Zetterstrom.

Pegleg Porta Hedge

Justin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:30:21 +0000

We’re still prematurely wearing through tread on the Porta Hedge’s rear passenger tire. When we stopped this afternoon at a service area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike we realized that the tire was completely bald with white chord showing, so we left the Hedge at the parking lot with a crew member inside while we acquired a new tire in the nearby town of Everett.

Porta Hedge Waits Without a Wheel

Mont Clair Cornfields Conceal the Porta Hedge

Justin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:01:14 +0000

Thanks to the invitation of LAUREN EWING, the Porta Hedge and its crew stopped over at a 200-year-old historic farm in Vincennes, Indiana on our way back east. Lauren’s brother Mark Ewing and his wife Rebecca, who own and operate the 500 acre farm, recently placed it in a conservation trust that will preserve it from encroaching development in the future.

Started in 1806 by Nathaniel Ewing, who received a commission from President Thomas Jefferson to become a receiver of public lands, the farm still produces corn, soybeans, and wheat, and has groves of old and young pecan trees, walnut trees, sugar maples, and hazelnut trees.

Mont Clair has plenty of trees, but not a single hedge. The farm also has a pack of coyotes who wander through at night and devour the barn cats. Enter the Porta Hedge: mobile observation platform for spotting coyotes and dissuading them from entering onto the property.

We learned, however, that the two Great Danes who recently joined the Ewing family are excellent coyote deterrents. There’s also the fact that the Porta Hedge is shorter than the surrounding corn (hedge on stilts?)

Alternatively, after seeing the modern dwelling that Lauren recently designed and had built at Mont Clair, we decided that the Porta Hedge could make a stylish, modern, prefab landscape element. Look out for Lauren’s home in the November issue of DWELL Magazine

Mark Ewing Discussing Soy Bean Crops

Chloe and Duke Scout the Soy Fields for Intruders

Porta Hedge at Mont Clair

Chloe and Duke Join Chris in the Porta Hedge

The Porta Hedge in Front of Yellow Corn #2

Lauren Ewing at Her Home at Mont Clair

Kansas City Chalkboards

Justin — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:54:16 +0000

We had over 300 visitors in the Porta Hedge Friday night during the First Friday gallery event and the chalkboards filled up quickly with autographs, doodles and the occasional observation.

Fish Eye Porta Hedge Photos

Justin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:52:13 +0000

Here are a couple of photos from the Southwest that we shot with our fish eye camera.

Porta Hedge Opens up in the Desert

Porta Hedge Crew at 115 Degrees

World of Hedge Branches

First Friday on Southwest Boulevard – Kansas City

Justin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:45:22 +0000

Singer songwriter MIKAL SHAPIRO joined the Porta Hedge crew yesterday evening at the intersection of Southwest Boulevard and Baltimore Avenue during Kansas City’s FIRST FRIDAY in the Crossroads Art District. In addition to enjoying Mikal’s performance, visitors were invited to come inside and explore the Porta Hedge’s observation lab. Many of the visitors expressed their enthusiasm at the possibility of using the Porta Hedge to observe their neighbors.

The Gangs of Westport

Justin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:27:49 +0000

Upon arriving at our host’s house in Kansas City, we were informed that the neighbor had reported seeing a gang on our host’s front porch a few evenings prior. The neighbor called the police, but no gang was found. We decided to help out the neighborhood by conducting an observation session late last night. The results are documented in this video.

One Month on the Road

Justin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:14:20 +0000

Believe it or not, the Porta Hedge has been on the road for a month since it started its national tour at the beginning of July. Despite a replaced tire, scorched plants, and bare spots where branches have succumbed to the 65+mph winds, the Porta Hedge is holding up quite well on the road. Perhaps better than the team driving it around. We’re taking a two day layover in Kansas City to recuperate and to perform a neighborhood watch on W 39th Terrace. In this area of Kansas City armed robbery is still a reality despite the beautiful architecture, manicured lawns and watchful neighbors.

Porta hedge Arrives in Kansas City

A Hedge Among Sunflowers

Justin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:03:17 +0000

Porta Hedge Tours Kansas Sunflower Fields

Oasis in Kansas

Justin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:20:03 +0000

The Oasis in Colby, Kansas is not just a mirage. With a Starbucks, Baskin Robbins, Quiznos and Chester Fried Chicken, the Oasis has everything weary travelers require to break up the lush monotony of corn and sunflower fields.

Oasis in Colby, Kansas

No Tree Donations at REI

Justin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:11:05 +0000

Having heard about the man-made brook and aspen grove at Denver’s REI store, we decided to stop in for a visit. The brook and trees were delightful, but the real surprise was on the inside. If you walk through the front doors and turn left, looking up over your left shoulder you will see an excellent selection of artificial evergreen trees! There must be at least a dozen varieties on the mezzanine, but REI was not willing to part with any of the trees, despite our request that they donate one to the Porta Hedge to fill in the bare spots that have developed on our tour.

Artificial Evergreen Selection at REI