My Final Project
First are a few pictures to document my trip down to the riverside. I came across some beautiful things while exploring and I really enjoyed the walk I took down there, despite the cold. I explored quite a bit, trying to find just the right spot. As it turned out, the first little nook I came across was the best choice. There was a little path leading my right to where I wanted to be-the water.
This pile of sticks and mud and things looked a bit like a cairn to me.
I liked the above picture a lot because you could just feel the pollution in the river. While this photo is in black and white, the foam was a yellowish brown color, and you can clearly see the trash littered around.
Following is my final project and the piece that I left on the earth. I spelled the word "Persevere" out in rocks. I put it on a rock in the middle of the river, and made sure that the river water was touching it. I thought it could send out the message to persevere in hard times. To me, nature has always been this amazing, strong force. The strongest of which is water. So I thought, what could really persevere against water, yet still allow change? Well, rocks are the perfect example. To me, my piece may be simple but it sends out a strong message. Persevering against the strongest forces against you is hard, yet still possible. What is not possible is to go unchanged however. So I thought the best way to convey this would be with rocks against water, and Robin Lasser's Precarious piece really inspired me to write out words to help convey my message. I hope everyone who sees this can get a sense of what the deeper meaning to me behind it is.
I thought about somehow gluing the smaller rocks down to the bigger rock to see how long they would stay and if the water would actually change them over time, but in the end decided that there was probably no type of glue or adhesive I could find that wouldn't be damaging to the river...I figure it already has enough pollution, right!
Since the above picture is kind of small, it is hard to see. However, I specifically chose this location not only because the large rock was smooth enough for me to spell the word out and the water so close, but there was more then that. In the far distance in the above picture, you can (barely) see rows of townhouses at the top of a hill. I used to live in one of those townhouses overlooking this very part of the river, and it was beautiful. But, while I lived in that apartment, I had a lot of terrible things happen to me. Probably too much to go into any detail about. I don't live there anymore for those reasons. The point of this is that I persevered against all the negative things that happened to me there, and now I am a stronger person because of it. I now know that I have the strength to overcome the forces that are put against me. This piece is a testament to that strength.
Below is a small cairn I created to mark my way. At first I was a little confused how a cairn would mark any sort of direction, but then I found a spot where this large wooden log pointed right to my location at the river had been and figured that would be perfect for me.
The end! Hope you enjoyed it. :)
8 comments:
I think this is such an interesting piece. The black and white photo has nice value tones, but I think the color photos is so much richer. I like that you didn't try to attach the rocks to the larger one; it leaves the piece open to change by the environment, which I think is one of the most fascinating parts of earth art.
WOW, I really like this. I love how you changed the word, but yet they are still similar. I love the underlining meaning with using persevere and then the interaction between that and the water and how it changes the piece. Good job, I'm sure this look a long time!
Those are some pretty sweet shots!!! With the weather being so nice, it makes me want to go to the river! I like the black and white switch ups but I'm going tohave to agree with whoever said that the color really enriches the piece. The downward shot of all the smaller rocks on the shoreline is AWESOME! Were you really going to glue rocks? Haha...I didn't even know that was possible!
p.s. WOW, I need to go to Italy.
Very nice - I really enjoyed the accompanying dialog and narrative - and the pic with the text at the bottom showing the far distance also is great! Reference to the text would have been a nice addition. And, your use of the cairn was great - good job ...
Nice job! I love the connection it seems to have with the surrounding environment (with the water, and leaving it near the riverbank). The water will eventually change the piece over time, so it'll be interesting to see what happens to it. Are you planning to go back sometime in the future?
Thanks guys! I appreciate the input. It was tough trying to come up with an idea for earth art that really meant something to me and would suffice for a good grade, but this was really the only thing I could come up with, so I'm especially happy that it turned out well. I like the composition of the black and white photos, but I have to agree...the color ones are much nicer looking. In some of them, I tweaked the contrast and brightness so that the colors would pop out a little more.
Nice job. I like the connection you made between the rocks and how water is a strong force. Also, I think your location for this is perfect, because so many people will see it.
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