The New American Lawnscape

Sarah Ball Baker explores the iconic symbol of the American Suburban lawns through her body of work; The New American Lawnscape. This obsessive American icon has made her ask the question “Why is the appearance of a lawn so important?”  While most conclusions have been unsatisfactory- the “seed” was planted when she was a kid. In her personal experience, The American Lawnscape has become a metaphor for a father's domain. A confine in Suburbia's private front lawn where he is free to indulge in his meticulous tendencies to the fullest, while eagerly submitting to the spectators of cultural and societal norms.

Baker has carefully selected samples of grass, sod, turf, fertilizer, grass seeds, soil, rocks and preserved them in resin. All samples of grass (with the exception of turf) were living as she began the casting process. Baker was expecting to examine the living grass but and instead, she fossilized the process from living to death.  This imperishable desire to retain nature in it’s most unnatural state links directly to the urbanization of the American Lawn.

The material choice of polyester resin was an overt decision for her. Resin is translucent, hardens quickly, is highly accessible and many resins can be plant-derived or synthetic in origin.

Once the resin hardened she scanned the molds at a very high resolution. In installation this allows the viewer the ability to completely investigate the materials. On this microscopic level with extreme detail, even the material and colors of the background, the air bubbles from the resin, and the wooden frames, creates a painterly like photograph.

The connection between the manual labor of maintaining a lawn and the labor in her own work is important in the resin molds as well as the sculptural work. On a larger scale she has transformed sod and turf grass by applying resin to only the surface with a paintbrush.  The handmaking element in her work bears testament to the hard labor of manicuring any lawn.