I have just finished installing the crocheted river of “Mater Matrix Mother and Medium” on the campus of Agnes Scott College in Decatur/Atlanta, as part of a show about artists considering the whole gambit of water issues, entitled “Still Water” at the Dalton Gallery. It opens tomorrow, Oct. 8th , from 5-8, with a walk-through presentation of all the artworks by the senior art students from 5-5:45.
Here’s what curator Lisa Alembik has to say
“Still Water” explores the complexities between humans and water in the environment, from the breakdown of systems that we think we control to the creation of community by the commonality of water memories and culture. Agnes Scott is a geographically significant location for such a topic as the college rests on the Eastern Continental Divide, situated so that rain falling on the north side of campus runs to the Gulf of Mexico, while that which falls the south side eventually drains to the Atlantic Ocean. Artworks, located in the gallery and on campus grounds, include a range of media: from couches in the student center lounge that discreetly store water, signaling the “Potential Inevitability” that individuals will soon need to amass private water supplies (Steve Jarvis, GA), to exquisite quilts introducing topographic views of sensitive environmental sites on which we humans have encroached (Linda Gass, CA), to three-dimensional maps of the Chattahoochee watershed made of delicately cut-paper (Lauren Rosenthal, PA).
Water brings nourishment and takes it away. It dries up to disappear; it saturates and overflows the banks. It may arrive from afar, traveling hundreds of miles to reach us in the form of a plastic water bottle, or it may arrive from a river only a few miles away in the guise of the tap water we get from our faucets. Its potential is constant, yet it changes dramatically with circumstance. The artists in “Still Water”, whether purposefully or not, promote working towards solutions for a realistic future vision of sustainable growth. With the swiftly spinning planet becoming smaller every day in the face of our increasingly globalized consumer culture, the importance of opening clear routes of communication to translate the overlapping languages of water is critical to our time. Our survival depends upon the health of this essential compound. In the exhibit various circumstances are explored as these artists dredge up answers from silent waters.
If you do happen to be in the Atlanta area, my installation is located near the corner of College and McDonough Streets, as well as another segment in stunning giant magnolia tree deeper in the campus in front of Campbell Hall. I fell in love with the tree, and just had to work in it, even though it was far from where I needed to install the span of the piece.
Pictures all coming soon! It has been raining a bunch, preventing me from bringing my camera out there.
mater matrix mother and medium 