Porta Hedge

The Day After Christmas

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:32:27 +0000

There would be no Porta Hedge without the volunteer efforts of the 7,000 Evergreens project. This December 26, 7,000 Evergreens celebrates its second anniversary with a new song by Charlie Green. Please donate your old fake Christmas tree, volunteer, or plant a tree at www.7000evergreens.org

Porta Hedge Partial Wrap for the Holidays

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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 Partially Wrapped for a Pennsylvania Winter

Porta Hedge at Indiana University of Pennsylvania

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:52:58 +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.

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Halloween Bumblebees

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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.

Parents and Trick-or-Treaters Congregate Around the Porta Hedge

Bumblebee Twins

Another Bumblebee Visits the Hedge

Large Man in the Hedge Refuses to Sit on the Swings

The Reshaped World at the Washington Art Association

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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.

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Rest and Repairs for a Busy Hedge

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:54:17 +0000

9,000 miles and 35 days after its departure from New Jersey, the Porta Hedge has returned. The Hedge will be located at CENTRAL JERSEY TRAILER AND HITCH DEPOT for a couple of weeks where it will receive some much needed rest, maintenance and a few repairs. From there it will travel up through New York City and then into Connecticut in September for an exhibition at the WASHINGTON ART EXHIBITION.

Pegleg Porta Hedge

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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.

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Fish Eye Views

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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

Southwest Boulevard Open House

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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.

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The Gangs of Westport

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:03:17 +0000

Porta Hedge Tours Kansas Sunflower Fields

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Oasis in Kansas

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — 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

Close Encounters with a Fish Taco Truck

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:50:50 +0000

The proprietor of the Fish Taco Truck that pulled up behind us on 14th Street in Denver made a compromise with me – he backed up his truck long enough for me to get the Hedge door open (fortunately I was not in the Hedge when he pulled right up behind us) and then he pulled forward again until we were just barely touching.

Porta Hedge-Fish Taco Truck

Hello Fish Tacos!

Porta Hedge in Downtown Denver

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:18:43 +0000

The Porta Hedge is located at 14th Street and Araphoe Street in downtown Denver today. Despite Denver’s honorable initiative, GREENPRINT DENVER, which aspires to plant a million trees in the city (they are currently at 142, 491), the Porta Hedge is currently the biggest green object on the block. So you can’t miss it – stop in for a visit if you’re around.

Dinner and a Movie at Wal-Mart

justin.m.shull@gmail.com (Justin Shull) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:02:56 +0000

After an exhausting drive through the Southwest from Los Angeles to Colorado, we decided to take some R&R at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Castle Rock, Colorado. Wal-Mart provided everything we needed: a free place for the Hedge to stay, food to make dinner, and our new 42″ flat screen television. The Dreamworks animated film OVER THE HEDGE never looked better!

We were amazed at how inexpensive a 42″ flatscreen television is (rumors blame this on – or credit it to – the continued devaluation of the Yuan we are told). We were also surprised at how easily big boxes like Wal-Mart allow customers to return merchandise. Wal-Mart agreed to take the television back the next morning simply because we complained of it’s awkward fit in the Hedge. Nobody asked us if we bothered to measure the space before we purchased the television.

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