On the evolution of ideas

I am sitting in Corlear's Hook Park at Cherry Street and FDR Drive, waiting for the sun to go set. I did my first installation of the illuminated beacons for High Water Line, and am waiting to get some pictures of them after dusk. It seems as good a time as any to delve into the topic of the evolution of ideas. A number of people have asked how I went from the studio work investigating the relationship between built and natural environment to a community outreach project dealing with the specific issue of climate change.

When I look at the High Water Line project as a single, whole entity (the entire line, the beacons, the nature of the project), I see a seamless connection between it and my drawings, intervention installations, narrative works and my tendency towards obsessive. For some the connection isn't so obvious. So my friend Michele and I broke it down into a specific narrative the other day (a lot of which you could get from reading this blog in a linear manner).

My work has gone through a number of phases (as would anyone's of my tenure). The work previously being shown and developed was that which investigated the intersection between body and space. Or, to put it another way, humans and their environment (see the seed was already there). Last January, I wrote a blog entry about viewing a photo essay in Sierra Magazine about the shrinking glaciers. I was awed by the power of the visual message and I decided to make a conscious change in the direction of my work. About the same time, we had decided to move. As anyone familiar with the NYC real estate market knows, this can be an all-consuming task. So my studio practice was negatively affected. From that time until well after the move (my tiny studio at the new place was filled with boxes), my artistic practice was primarily that of drawing ideas in my sketchbook. These works were all explorations of specific environmental issues (deforestation, urban decay, migration, waste, genetics).

Alongside this, I was trying to come up with ways to get my work out and seen by more people (this didn't have to be galleries). I realized the easiest and best way to do this was to put it out on the street and in the parks right out in front of them. Would be pretty hard to avoid that.
I played with a few ideas and pretty quickly landed on the idea of marking the sea level rise sculpturally. Hence the genesis of High Water Line (nee Sea Change).

So the original idea was to create sculptural elements that were fairly elaborate and could be installed permanently around the city. For reasons of funding, fabrication, maintenance, liability and science (that this wasn't a concrete line), the idea quickly morphed into simple illuminated beacons installed in parks around the city, connected by a chalk line. (Sound familiar?)
It was in the process of writing about the project, for grant applications, that I began to better understand the project and all of the various aspects of it - performance, community, witness, etc.

Which leaves me here, waiting for the sunset, meditating on the project, and the relationship between humans and their environment.

By the numbers...

I have been thinking about noting the numbers involved in the High Water Line project, and after shifting 3,000 pounds of chalk - yep, you heard that right, 3,000 - now is as good a time as any!

I have had sort of a critical mass of community board meetings and parks meetings happening as the project and the summer holidays (for the community boards) rapidly approaches. So here are some of the numbers so far:

3,000 pounds of chalk moved from the truck into storage
208 ounces of pigment
444 paths drawn on my community walk map
13 community boards
8 community board meetings (so far)
9 parks department representatives
4 DOT representatives
2 NASA scientists
8 grant applications (so far)
50 miles of biking (approximately) the line
10 miles of walking the line
2,000 action packets
2 websites (new one coming soon!)
1 press mention (so far)

And we won't even go into budget and expenses yet...

It seems that a lot of what public art making requires is just plain old persistence. I have learned on this project what it really means to sell your idea and how not to take no for an answer. Don't get me wrong, there have been several times along the way where I have just thought - ugh! why am I even doing this? Then I pick myself up, dust myself off and plow on ahead. I do know that it is going to continue to be a hard process, but it is something that I am really passionate about, and when I do find people who are really excited about the project (the audience at Community Boards) or just plain super helpful - many of the people in city agencies - it can be a great boon to the spirit and buoy me back up again.

Speaking of people excited about the project, I am looking for volunteers to work on the project - so if you love talking to people about climate issues, and want to go for long interesting and meandering walks around NYC - contact me!

There are a couple of more hurdles to clear - the biggest of which is finding space to mix the chalk and pigment. If anyone has some outdoor space, studio space or storage space that they aren't using, don't care if it gets dusty and has access to power - definitely let me know! Special bonus if it has a loading dock. That would certainly be easier than shifting 3,000 pounds of chalk each month.

Top photo of natural pigments, courtesy of The Real Milk Paint Company.

In all the steel there was nature...

And in the nature there was steel?

A workmate of mine asked yesterday if I had seen the Roxy Paine trees in "shake shack park" (Madison Square Park) yesterday - I did remember that I had seen a report on the installation of his boulders, but had forgotten about the trees.

I stopped by yesterday on my way up to Hangawi -

As I came upon the park I could begin to glimpse the sinuous branches of stainless steel - visible in amongst the still bare branches of the towering trees in the park. The juxtaposition of the buildings, real trees and stainless steel branches was a stunning and sexy interplay of line and light. I am anxious to return to see the trees in different light and even at night. The best sculpture is the centerpiece of two wind blown trees leaning into each other - their sleek branches intertwining with one another.

The two other pieces - one a large stainless steel boulder and the other a more chunky tree sited in a dirt area of the park are less successful. I think this is a result of the pieces being less graceful. The centerpiece is a composition of movement and agility - which makes sense among the varied lines of the natural trees - and it is surprising given the sleek metal of which they are made.

Roxy has always fascinated me with his use of technology and high-tech materials to recreate and examine nature and natural processes. It strikes me as an interesting experiment in man's desire to control everything around him. I have a friend who has examined the role of artworks like Roxy's in contemporary society, I will have to get some commentary from her on this work.

The exhibition opens officially on May 15, but it is all up now, so you could catch the trees and the Bill Fontana sound piece at the same time (Fontana's piece is up until May 1).

Many thanks to Madison Square Park and the NYC Parks Dept for bringing this fantastic work to Shake Shack Park!

You are cordially invited...

My hope at the beginning of the HighWaterLine project was to take you, my blog reader friends, along for the ride (at least partially). It has turned out that a lot of the work is about emailing, meetings and writing and re-writing proposals and promotions. It turns out that all that stuff isn't so interesting to blog about.

One thing I would like to do though, is to offer the knowledge that I have gained to others out there interested in doing public art projects. Here's where you come in...

First, if you have questions about the process, post away. I am happy to answer any questions people might have about the process - grantwriting, fiscal sponsorship, grant reporting, networking, working with partners, working with city agencies, community boards, fabrication, public outreach, press and marketing, etc. I will provide in-depth answers in whatever you are interested in learning more about.

Second, if you are interested in the process and want to witness some *live action* I have a LOT of community board meetings coming up, let me know if you are interested in learning more about the process, you can join me at one of the meetings. Just go to the highwaterline.org site and contact me.

Finally, if you really really want to get out there and see what it is all about, volunteer! I am looking for artists and environmentally minded folks to walk the line with me. There are a couple of ways to help, so go check out the timeline, and then contact me to let me know when you would like to help out!

(Top image - the glamour of making public art...)

Finding local sources

Since g-pup and I went on the low carbon diet it has been a lot of work finding foodstuff and recipes to support all the winter veg. So, in light of that, I have put together a bulletin board for people to share information on local resources. Check it out here: http://www.highwaterline.org/localsource/index.php and participate! Let me know if you have ideas for other topic areas.

Sea of People

It's this weekend folks! This Saturday join in on the action right here in NYC. As part of Step It Up, a worldwide call to cut carbon emissions by 80%, a group of good people have organized Sea of People. We will meet in Battery Park for a rally at noon and then walk along two lines on the east and west sides of Manhattan that mark the 10-foot above sea level line.

Check out the promo video here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=p0DfSCfdfBA

See you there?

the more you know the less you know

I am starting to feel a little like Neo when he took the pill. Now that I know all that I know it is really hard to look the other way or to forget it all. This applies to both the environmental issues that I am dealing with as well as the process of producing public art. (Is that allegory a little dated?)

I have been well pleased with the general reception regarding High Water Line within the ranks of the community boards and the city agencies with whom I have met. Today I met with the Brooklyn DoT commissioner. He was entirely open to providing the necessary support that I was seeking - mainly an okay from him regarding chalk marking on the street (since there is a city ordinance regarding it - but that speaks specifically to defacement). It is funny though the things one doesn't think about that the people closer to it do. He brought up the fact that since the line is blue, it would make people think we are doing construction on the street and they might call 311, so I should let them know about the project. Also about writing the url in the line - that may be considered advertisement (which AAA will be pleased to know is treated the same as grafitti), and therefore could be the problematic part of the project. So I am happy to work with them to figure out the best way to represent the project...

I have lots of interesting meetings coming up this week, including another meeting with my designers, a meeting with the NYC Parks department - I am excited about that one - and finally rounding the week out with a meeting with a curator at Dumbo Arts Center to talk about coinciding the project with their Arts Under the Bridge Festival. It could be a wonderfully defining week!

There's been a lot of buzz about the Step It Up projects, including the Sea of People project. Make sure you take the time to dress in blue and come walk the line - it will be a great event (I helped them map the line!) Totally a great group of people, and the big rallies are just as important as my one-on-one conversations.

It's a big small world

It has been interesting to work on a project within the specific realm of arts and environmental issues. Is it a subculture or a genre? There are both a lot of people working on these issues and at the same time relatively few.
As I talk to more people about High Water Line, I find more crossover and you start to hear the same names over and over again. I was meeting with a friend at Eyebeam the day after my friends at Solar One were there, then my partners at Canary Project were meeting with Solar One the same afternoon that I was attending the Sea of People fundraiser. An advisor of mine had suggested that I look up Jane Marsching just a couple of days after another friend had put us in touch. Jennifer Monson of iLand and I keep crossing paths, and my designers at Pratt Design Corps are friends with CP's assistant... The list goes on.I had heard the name Alexis Rockman mentioned by the Precipice Alliance, and then again by Cynthia Rosenzweig. Most recently a friend of mine brought up his name after having met with LMCC about her own independent projects. Finally I took a few minutes (in between drawing maps and writing grant applications), to look more in depth at his work. A google image search brings up a huge list of fantastical images. I found some good articles on his work in the NYTimes, Wired and Orion Magazine. He paints this rich and luscious paintings of romanticized demise of the earth from the efforts of man (genetic alteration, global warming, etc). These paintings are layered with imagery of great and small creatures (rarely are humans in the picture - although on occasion). I love the bright colors and the detail and lighting which are imbued in the work. It is an interestingly fantastical image of human degradation of the earth and what comes after. I can't help thinking about how fun it would be to work with him on a 2-d 3-d version of Courses of Empire (the Acadia to Utopia series) that I have wanted to do for a long time. Don't be surprised if in between the next few public projects that I want to do, I squeeze in some time to do a sculptural interpretation of one of his works.
Top image: Dancer in iLand performance
Middle image: Jane Marxhing's Arctic Listening Post
Last three images: Alexis Rockman

Oh and--

If you want to contribute to the High Water Line project (money that is!) you can do so here!

From where I am sitting

A lot going on out in the world including: Ouch! and some good self promotion - this op/ed comes on the heels of me reading more about Brooks' report on "Who Really Cares." And addresses something I have been thinking about ever since seeing the photos of the retreating glaciers. It's something I have been guilty of (am working towards remedying that now) and that I see my friends all around me doing. We believe strongly enough in something to dedicate time and money (despite Brooks' report most people I know give quite generously to charities) and even heated discussions and an occassional rally or march. BUT, how many people are really willing to change their lifestyle, or make sacrifices, or put forth a great effort towards that thing about which they are so passionate?

Making the change -- we only *think* it's hard

Ever since writing this post, I've been thinking about my own efforts to reduce my impact on the world. As g-pup says, "don't we already have a lower impact than most people?" The answer is yes, we certainly do (we buy locally and seasonally, shop at goodwill for things we need - if we shop at all, we use CFL's, we compost, bring our own canvas bags to the store and recycle, turn off lights, don't run water, won't buy drinks in disposable containers), but I responded, "that doesn't mean we shouldn't do more." So, inspired by the No Impact Man and the book Gone Tomorrow, The Hidden Life of Garbage, we are working to a greater reduction in impact. We are cutting way down on the t.v. that we watch (we don't watch a whole lot already since we hate regular t.v. but we are reducing our watching by about 75%), reducing (trying to get to 0) the packaged goods that we purchase (I will be doing more and more farmer's market shopping since that drastically reduces the packaging and helps with the local buying), and deciding not to buy anything this year - and if we *need* to then we will do some environmental volunteer work to offset that purchase.

I am most looking forward to the efforts towards different types of entertainment, I think we might regain some of the time we seem to be so short on. G-pup is looking forward to doing more homebrewing for his beer consumption. We will still have to rely on transit for getting around (we live in Brooklyn, I work in Manhattan and he works in Jersey), but now that spring is on its way, we will be back on our bikes for most of our shopping and weekend commute needs.

It seems like a lot to take on with the ongoing work on the project, but in a way it all kind of makes sense to do it now...

I had fully intended to really track the entire process of this project in this blog back when I started. It's possible (very likely in fact) that I might have been a little naive at that point about how much work this would actually take. Now that I am well into the thick of it I hardly have time to think about it, much less blog.

So why this rare posting? I am on a train ride back from a community board meeting in Coney Island, it's after 9 so it's a long local ride. On the way to the meeting I was thinking about the project in the context of fear. Because let's be frank here, I have never done anything even near this scope and scale - this is my first public work, my first funded work (other than stipends for gallery shows, which is nowhere near the scale). Why would I not be a little afraid of taking on this project? Honestly, I was, and at times I still am. Sure I have fear, but the cool thing is by pushing through the fear, that's where one can achieve great things. And thinking about that while riding the B train through a vast array of neighborhoods (where it is elevated) and thinking about walking around this city that I love, talking to so many different people about something that I care deeply about? Well that is really really freaking cool.

So I have been contacting Community Boards and attending meetings to present the project and the response has been resoundingly supportive. Now if i could just get those pesky permits in place...

Inspiration...

Sometimes this project seems pretty big and overwhelming. I keep myself inspired by these two women, Majora Carter and Wangari Maathai. This morning I watched Marjora's TED speech online. I use a quote of Wangari's on my emails.
Both of these women are amazing in their strength and vision. They fully understand the interconnectedness of environmental issues and social justice.
Wangari's tree planting program associated planting trees to empower women and local communites. Majora's has fought against NYC planning policies that unjustly and unevenly placed the most detrimental industries in the South Bronx. Her projects have built community and opportunity while reinvigorating the waterfront and creating new green structures throughout the neighborhood.

For more information:
Sustainable South Bronx
Green Belt Movement


I certainly dedicate this project to these two amazing visionaries!

Bearing witness...

I have been wonderfully, crazily impossibly busy with the High Water Line project, things are falling into place and it has been a great process - more on that later. First a few musings....

I was just reading Elizabeth Kolbert's Field Notes from a Catastrophe. I am in the first chapter which is relating stories from the Arctic - stories about physical and dire changes that are taking place in the landscape and having direct impact on people's lives. This got me to thinking about the process of bearing witness (I've been thinking about it a lot lately in relation to HWL), and the act of relating stories of experience. Clearly the people living in the arctic have many first hand stories to tell of the changes their world is undergoing, what do we, in NYC have to tell? I am seeking to find stories about people and their own experiences with climate change. I am offering to bear witness and carry these stories on. It may be direct stories, people displaced by weather occurrences, it may be stories about their own thoughts and feelings about climate change, and it may be stories about not having any stories - people who don't know or talk about climate change - and why is that?

It's an interesting thing how much we can put things out of our minds (war, global warming, financial difficulties, etc) and go on living our lives without thinking about it. We are a stubborn species. Because I am working on this project, I think about climate change ALL the time. I look around me and wonder if anyone else is thinking about it. I am hyper aware of the things that I do. (And the things I have not done - yet). The fact that someone like me who is so aware, hasn't changed ALL my light bulbs to CFL's (most of them though) - all the people who aren't thinking about, how much (or little) are they doing?

The changes are going to have to be on a massive scale. We will all have to make big changes in our lifestyles to reverse the trend, and given our capability to deal with great change in the face of great need (think of the rationing during previous wartimes) I think we can do it. But I do think we will need a little bit of a push.

I also think it is important for each individual person to feel like they have the ability to have an impact. So this project is about getting out there, having the difficulty conversation, listening and provide the resources for people to make their own action.

In the palm of your hand

Just found out about a really stunning and beautiful project, "Of All the People in All the World" at MassMOCA. It is a "mind-blowing art installation/performance piece/statistical study unlike anything you have ever seen" (thats from the MM site), by the UK artist's collective Stan's Cafe.

I always think that large numbers are really complicated for out minds to understand. In fact, apparently the largest number we can comprehend is about 100,000. I think that might even be a stretch, I would consider that for most people it is a lot smaller than that.

Anyway, this project give vision to the numbers game. There are huge piles of rice on view, each single grain of rice (that's small) represents a single person. Like you, or me. The piles are then measured out to represent various statistics, such as the number of people in the US in prison, or the number living in gated communities, number of illegal aliens etc.

It is such a wonderful, shocking and powerful image. They have been doing this around the world (UK, Australia, US, etc).

Maybe they can do one representing the number of people who will be forced to migrate due to climate change...

(Natalie Jeremijenko is showing at MassMOCA right now too)

Simply Brilliant (and brilliantly simple)

I haven't had much time for much of anything outside grant applications and community outreach (which, yes thank you, is going well!).

But in a tiny bit of downtime that I took this evening I went to read a friend of mine's new blog - gushgallery.com. I've read her writing before and always enjoyed it, but reading through it again this evening I realize how incredibly brilliant she is (don't blush its true!). I am really glad that she has a blog, as I think its a perfect outlet for her.

Mostly she writes about simple stuff, her morning routine, laundry, life in NYC, but its written with unabashed candor and a beautiful sense of humor.

Seriously, go read some. And be sure to leave comments, because she will appreciate that.

the name game

With some feedback from a couple of resources, I am changing the name of the project from "sea Change" to "High Water Line."

I am working to update the website: now at highwaterline.org.

Here's the reason for the name change. Originally conceived as a smaller project, with more of an artistic bent - the cleverness of the name "Sea Change" seemed to suit it well. As the project has grown, and the project becomes more about outreach, public interaction and attention on global warming, a more direct and understandable name was needed. Hence, "High Water Line."

IPCC for you and me....

Favorite IPCC headline (courtesy of Grist) "IPCC, Yeah, you know me"
Favorite footnote in IPCC "Summary for Policy Makers": In this Summary for Policymakers, the following terms have been used to indicate the assessed likelihood, using expert judgement, of an outcome or a result: Virtually certain > 99% probability of occurrence, Extremely likely > 95%, Very likely > 90%, Likely > 66%, More likely than not > 50%, Unlikely < style="font-style: italic;">Very unlikely < style="font-style: italic;">Extremely unlikely < 5%."
Favorite gratuitous scientific term in IPCC SPM: Anthropogenic (from Merriam-Webster: of, relating to, or resulting from the influence of human beings on nature)
Number of acronyms in IPCC SPM (including IPCC and SPM): around 20
Favorite IPCC SPM acronym: LOSU (level of scientific understanding)

So that was a fun read. Nothing really surprising, wouldn't expect there to be with 192 countries having to sign off on it. And this is only the first of four reports. I am holding out for the April release of the affects of climate change (this was the scientific basis report).

Also pretty interesting about Gore getting nominated for a Nobel.

Isn't it a built in assumption?

Was catching up on some blog reading last night - read a few of Edward_ Winkleman's posts, including this one, on (paraphrasing) artists' egos.

I couldn't wade through all of the comments, there was too much snarkiness and sniping and big art-y words to keep me interested. So maybe this was already stated in the comments, but I prefer to keep my comments here.

He was basically talking about whether or not successful artists think they are great artists. I find this an interesting question, since in my opinion all artists must think they are great artists. I certainly do. If you are a person willing to spend the time, money and energy creating art beyond, say grad school, then clearly you must think your art is worth seeing, and therefore at some level of greatness.

Any artist who is modest about their work is either lying , being disingenuous or just not thinking clearly about their position. I'm pretty sure a lot of the 'loser-ism' that artists wrap themselves in (those who chose to), is just part of a costume - putting on the artist persona.

I know there are many times where I look at my art and think - "wow! that is so f-ing awesome!" -- I've put up shows that made me weep because I thought they were so good. (Now, maybe it still didn't entirely meet my high expectations, but I still thought they were great).

How many artists walk into galleries and more often think "my art is better than this" than "this is the greatest artwork i have ever seen." Admittedly, I have seen (and written about) some pretty great shows, but I generally think of my art as being on par with that other great art.

I just find it hard to believe that one would desire to thrust mediocrity on the public eye. Its just not true.

temporary website in place

I just built a temporary website for Sea Change - it's at www.seachange-nyc.org - right now it's propagating itself across the world wide web. Let me know if/when you can see it and if you have any feedback (particularly if there is information you would like to see up there that isn't yet).