Protozoan Picnic Table, 1995, Polychrome Concrete, Carved cherry, maple, 37"w.. X 24"d. X 18"h.

Protozoan Picnic Table

This is not a picnic table, but the top does depict single-celled creatures having a picnic - eating, dancing, and...how shall we put it - dividing.  The legs and stretchers are abstracted from primitive life forms like vorticella and jellyfish medusa.  It  is made of cherry and maple  and a cast concrete top. 

About the concrete top:

This polychrome concrete technique - "painting in concrete" - was developed by Craig Nutt between 1994 and 1995. All the color is mixed into the concrete itself - the surface is not painted or dyed. 

Nutt has had a long-standing interest in concrete. Environmental sculptures by visionary artists such as Simon Rodia (Watts Towers) and St. EOM (Pasaquan) provided inspiration as to the creative possibilities of concrete. "When Portland cement and steel-reinforced concrete was first introduced as a building material around the turn of the century, there was a lot of excitement about its artistic possibilities. Very creative uses of the material can be seen in structures built by people like Henry Chapman Mercer and John Earley. 

By WWII, though, most of the use of concrete was as a quick and inexpensive structural material. It is truly the preeminent material of the 20^th century. Now, concrete is largely seen as an oppressive material. "I wanted to use it in a highly decorative way and combine it with fine woods and craftsmanship and to bring it into the home, " says Nutt.  The point, as with many other works by Craig Nutt, is to place commonplace objects or materials in a new context, to alter the way we view our surroundings.