Clemson Nature-Based Art

Touch the Earth is a series of videos that explore the inspirations and processes behind Clemson's Nature-based Sculpture Program. The videos are a valuable resource for understanding the art form and are available through Clemson University.

Contact: Ernie Denny, Nature-based Sculpture Program Facilitator, 864-656-2458, edenny@clemson.edu

To learn more about the project, click on the videos below.

Touch the Earth 4

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Touch the Earth
Episode 4
Ernie Denny's vision of a nature-based sculpture program was inspired by a dream about children playing inside a giant bronze flower. The program's "gallery" would be nestled amid rolling hills of the...
Touch the Earth - Artforms & Materials | A Natural State - Episode 6 Touch the Earth 5

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Touch the Earth
Episode 5
The nature-based art form blends natural materials, manmade construction and landscape into mysterious expressions of our relationship to the earth. The Serpent Mound in Ohio attributed to the Adena...
Spotlight 1

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Spotlight
Episode 1
Clemson's Nature-Based Sculpture Program reinvents the art gallery as an outdoor experience where the sculptor's hand is revealed through exploration and discovery. There are no signs to lead visitors...
Landscape Architecture Professor | A Natural State 3

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Landscape Architecture Professor | A Natural State
Episode 3
How do you define nature when its definition has changed through the centuries? The definition and idea of "art," "nature"and "natural" are difficult terms to pin down. Technology and our evolving...
Touch the Earth - Artforms & Materials | A Natural State - Episode 6 Touch the Earth 7

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Touch the Earth
Episode 7
Artworks in the nature-based sculpture program are categorized as "ephemeral" and "extended ephemeral." Ephemeral work has a relatively short life span. Works like Patrick Daugherty's Sittin' Pretty...
Collaboration 2

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Collaboration
Episode 2
The Nature-based sculpture program is a collaborative project between artists, and students and teachers from a broad range of university studies. Horticulture, landscape architecture, English...
Touch the Earth 6

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Touch the Earth
Episode 6
Several art forms and concepts are experienced through the nature-based sculpture program: Experiential: "Allowing the viewer to experience the sculpture by entering its space allows the viewer to...