"Kudzu" by Jan Girod-Green

Kudzu is a vine found in the Southeastern United States. It was introduced from Japan in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition where it was highly toted. I've been told by native Georgian's that they claimed it would help control erosion....but today it runs rampant. It grows over everything, trees, buildings...lore has it that it can grow a foot a night, so don't close your eyes. I'm orginally from Minnesota, nothing comes through the winters. The biggest shock for me 30 years ago when I arrived in Georgia was the size of Poison Ivy down here and Kudzu. When driving back from IQA in Chicago this spring I knew I was getting close to home when the roadsides had there own "monsters" watching us go by. The trees become anything you can imagine.

I knew I had my idea....the background for this piece is painted Lutradur (a fantastic stabilizer). Vines were achieved by zig-zagging sisal cord with thread, the leaves were done using water soluble stabilizer, a sheer fabric in a simple leaf shape and thread. The flowers....well I will leave that story for another time...