Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky (work of art)
Artwork Info
Key Ideas about this Work of Art
- This sculpture functions like a camera obscura, or pinhole camera. As light passes through the hole in the roof, it creates an upside-down reflection of the trees and the sky on the ground. Viewers can observe the natural world around them (and beneath their feet) while they are inside the structure.
- Artist Chris Drury creates interactive, nature-based sculptures and art installations. His work encourages viewers to think about the connections between humans and the environment.
- Drury has created 16 cloud chambers worldwide. Only two are located in the United States. Each cloud chamber is made from natural materials that are native to the area in which it is built.
- In 2021 the roof of this sculpture was showing signs of decay. With the artist’s approval, the roof was restored using logs from rot-resistant trees that are native to this area.
Learn More
Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky is one of the first site-specific, outdoor installations commissioned for the Museum Park. A site-specific work is designed for a particular location. It is also interconnected with the location. This art installation was designed and built by British artist Chris Drury in 2003. The structure is located in a wooded area of the NCMA Park. It is made from stone, cement, earth, and trees and plants that are native to the southeastern United States. Drury is best known for creating nature-based sculptures and art installations that highlight the connections between humans and the environment.
This interactive sculpture operates like a giant camera obscura, or pinhole camera. A small opening in its roof projects an upside-down image of everything above the chamber onto the floor and the walls inside it. Instead of looking up, the viewer looks down and sees the trees and sky on the ground inside the structure.
People who have never experienced being inside cloud chambers sometimes question the difference between looking up at clouds and seeing the image inside a chamber. In fact, these experiences are quite distinct . . . It is an altered image, slightly blurred, dim, like a scene from an old movie or a dream.
Chris Drury
Drury has designed and built 16 cloud chambers in different locations around the world. His only other cloud chamber in the United States is at Vanderbilt University in Brentwood, Tennessee. All of Drury’s cloud chambers are made from natural materials that are native to their surrounding environment. These interactive structures are designed to be peaceful spaces that bring the outside in.
After 17 years of use and exposure to the weather, the pine roof of Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky was showing signs of decay. NCMA conservation specialists consulted with Drury before restoring the roof in 2021. They reconstructed it using logs from the black locust tree. The black locust is a naturally rot-resistant tree that is native to this region.
tags: environment, experiential, photography, reflection, change, movement, light, sensory
Additional Resources
Resources for Teachers
- Explore a classroom activity inspired by Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky.
- Watch a video about Chris Drury.
- Visit the artist’s website to explore the cloud chambers he has created throughout the world.
Resources for Students
- Watch a time-lapse video of the inside of this sculpture.
- Create a pinhole camera.
- Create an art project using materials found in nature.
Images
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Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky
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Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky, interior view.
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Drury, Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky, 2055_12 (SL23176-03), interior view
Pinhole projection of sky and trees in an interior view of Chris Drury's Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky in the NCMA Park