“When you travel through barren, frozen country with only a hound at your heel, you learn to look for light where nothing is supposed to grow. I forged the Arbor as a tribute to the long road—to the quiet defiance of three generations of wild growth rising together out of cold iron, waiting for the celestial fire to break through the dark.”— Hannelora Johansson
The Biological Tension: A 40-Million-Year Lineage
To capture the rose in structural steel and copper is to engage with one of the most enduring evolutionary and symbolic narratives in living history. Tracing its botanical lineage across a 40-million-year epic—from late Eocene fossil deposits through centuries of mythical and dynastic reverence—the genus Rosa has survived through relentless adaptation, balancing delicate organic blooms above an armor of defensive thorns.
In The Midnight Aurora Arbor, this tension is translated into architectural metal. Hand-hammered at the anvil and stabilized through thermal fire, the sculpture honors both the fragile biological organism and the enduring memory of living things. Rather than a static botanical study, the Arbor rises as an ascending spiral armature that carries three distinct generational cycles of the wild rose: an immature protective bud, a half-opened flower, and a full crowning master bloom.
Artist: Hannelora Johansson
Title: The Midnight Aurora Arbor (The Great Branching Rose)
Dimensions: Height: Approx. 45–50 cm | Spread: Approx. 38–42 cm (Multi-tiered architectural spread)
Classification:
[FE](Ferrum / Thermal Oxide Painting) &[AR](Argentum / Precious Alloy Fusion)Materials & Medium: Hand-forged low-carbon mild steel, hand-chiseled acanthus foliage, molten weld-bead textures, flame-drawn thermal interference oxides, flame-sweated molten silver solder crests, and cold-set optical crystal mounts
Protective Sealant: Sealed hot with museum-grade Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax
Architecture: Ascending spiral steel armature supporting three generational stages of the wild rose (furled bud, adolescent bloom, crowning master flower) with textured leaf collars
Provenance & Studio Origin: Dogs in Space Studios / Hannelora’s Emporium
Exhibition Status: Exhibition Archive / Studio Masterwork (Reserved for 2026–2027 Museum & Gallery Submissions)
Provenance Benchmark / Insurance Valuation: £1,850 – £2,200
Inquiry Route: Inquire Regarding Exhibition Loan, Curatorial Placement, or Bespoke Commission
The Alchemy & Workshop Metallurgy
Built as a monumental centerpiece of the studio, the Arbor bridges the physical resistance of heavy industrial mild steel with the fluid brilliance of molten silver. The sweeping acanthus leaves were hot-chiseled from heavy plate, their margins bordered with intentional molten weld beads to create a rugged, organic bark grain that echoes ancient forest relics.