Creative path through Harvard Forest
When artist David Buckley Borden arrived at the modest shack that serves as his Harvard Forest workshop, he found a shelf still loaded with old gear and field equipment — holdovers from the building’s previous life as a storage shed. His first thought was to clean house, but as he went through the objects, he understood that each said something about the forest and the people who work there. Left-behind stuff turned out to be exactly what he needed. “I thought, what’s this junk?” Borden said. “Then I realized: This is where I need to start the project, with the material culture of the place.” In the months since his September arrival, Borden, who creates 3-D installations with environmental themes, has been gathering more material. He’s been rooting around the forest, shadowing workers, talking to scientists and picking up their discards, which to him are pieces of a visual puzzle he’s slowly assembling...