An installation for Common Ground, A dialogue Between Art and Nature, Acton Arboretum, Acton, MA, sponsored by the Acton/Boxborough Cultural Council, August - November, 1997

Gigapede took the form of a giant caterpillar, centipede or millipede. It was made from gray dogwood shoots, cornus racemora, cut at the Acton Arboretum in an area planned for a rhododendron garden. The gray dogwood shoots were clipped close to the ground, then selected, ordered, drilled and strung on 3/32" steel cable. The piece was completed in three days of intensive work by two people. Gigapede was sited at the beginning of the environmental sculpture exhibition, positioned to surprise visitors on arrival and lead them into the arboretum.

Gigapede evolved from conversations with Conservation Commission Member and Acton Arboretum Manager, Tom Tidman, about cutting of gray dogwood to preserve open land in the arboretum.

The sculpture celebrated insects and drew attention to the gray dogwood and its role in succession. Shrubbery, especially the abundant low growth kind, often eats up land when it is "let go". Usually, such growth is overlooked or seen as undesirable, yet it provides food and cover for birds and, by shading out grasses, eventually creates a seed bed for larger trees. Insects are often thought of in the same way, abundant, invasive and bothersome, yet their role as pollinators and transformers of landscape is powerful. Gigapede considered these roles in the cycles of organic growth at Acton Arboretum and asked, "what, in nature, is a help? a hindrance? and what are the best stewardship choices?"