Art for Water at University

Joni Doherty, Director of the New England Center for Civic Life at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH, saw 13,699 at the Sharon Arts Exhibition Gallery and invited me to be the Artist-in-Residence for the fall semester where I am facilitating an art installation designed and produced by students. We have a core group of about 12, but I think more will join us as the piece starts to take shape. After a concept meeting and brainstorming session, the students decided that they wanted to call attention to water use habits on campus, so they started collecting empty water bottles to use as their medium. How their peers relate to water on a personal level is also an important element, so they are taking a poll on feelings about water and converting the answers to messages that will be placed in some of the bottles. The bottles are being strung together with wire to create long chains which then will be used in a variety of configurations. Many departments on campus are getting involved. Wendy Dwyer, head of the dance department, is choreographing a dance about water to be performed by students within the installation. The dancers will be challenged by not knowing what their set will look like until the very last minute. Art videos are being created, sound about water is being composed to which the dancers will perform, poetry is being written, various speakers––from curators to scientists––are scheduled,photographs are being taken, and a documentary about this project is being made by a student. The big night is November 12, so we have a lot of work to do in not a lot of time. However, enthusiasm is running high, so I know they will create a spectacular piece of art for social change.

Art for Water

WATER: Mystery & Plight exhibition is over and the installation is packed up and stored at it's next venue, the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery at Keene State College in Keene, NH. The response to 13,699 at the Sharon Arts Exhibition Gallery was so positive and heartfelt. Lots of people emailed or sent me notes expressing their appreciation and the sign-in book was filled with supportive comments. My intention to raise awareness of global water issues through art was fulfilled and I am even more energized to continue this work. During the exhibition there was a film night at the local theater sponsored by the Harris Center for Environmental Education. People watched "The Water Front" which is about access issues faced by the poor in Highland Park, Michigan and the threat of privatization as a solution to fiscal crises. Afterwards there was a reception at the Art Gallery where guests were thrilled to receive an Innate Gear stainless steel water bottle. Later in the month there was a presentation by Water Quality Manager, Robert Wood, who had volunteered for Water for People in Guatemala. His slides of the Guatemalans' challenges in providing clean water for their families were moving. Robert also gave us all a lesson in the water challenges we face here in NH with storm water run-off, pharmaceutical pollution, algae blooms, bacteria, and development. Attendees received Innate Gear's awesome stainless steel water bottles.

I'm currently working on concepts for my next Art for Water installation, looking for venues for 13,699 for 2010 and 2011, and talking to a local university about working with students on an Art for Water installation this fall.

Here's one of the comments I received:

"I snuck in on Thursday afternoon before the opening and was completely blown away by beauty, the stature, the delicacy, the brilliance of your piece. But, I said to myself, "How can this beautiful piece represent the global water crisis? It's too beautiful, too delicate, too ethereal to transmit the tragedy, the desperation of those who are suffering in the midst of this crisis." Then, I thought of the many people dying and the souls those people represent and, all of a sudden, the delicacy, the ethereal quality, the beauty hit me: with the light shining on the piece the way it does, all those souls were shimmering, twinkling, sparkling like diamonds before my eyes, as if those who have died are still among us. It blew me away.

It is a transfigurative work of art, Christine. It is sensational, in the best sense of the word. It is beautiful and moving. It communicates the essence of the crisis loud and clear. It should travel far and wide.

Thank you for your creativity, courage and determination to mount such a show, and congratulations on a masterpiece."

WATER: Mystery & Plight

The opening reception on Friday night for WATER: Mystery & Plight at the Sharon Arts Exhibition Gallery far exceeded my wildest dreams of a perfect opening. The place was packed and it seemed like everyone was moved by 13,699 as well as Mary Lang's serene and mysterious photographs (www.marylang.com). The responses to my piece were heartwarming and insightful, pointing to an aspect that I hadn't considered such as using "S" hooks to hang the strings mirrors the tenuous environmental balance that victims of the water crisis are facing. Many commented how thrilled they were to be allowed to enter the installation and get close and be able to touch it.

At the opening, the volunteers who worked on making the installation, breaking it down, packing it up, and setting it back up again, as well as two of Sharon Arts' staff who put in extra effort to make the exhibit a success, were given Innate Gear's very cool stainless steel water bottles as a token of my appreciation. Thanks, again, to Innate Gear for donating such a great product to my cause.

Check out www.innate-gear.com to learn about a photo contest––Hydrate with Innate––where the prize is a $1000. donation to a charitable organization that provides access to safe drinking water! The winner also gets a case of Innate's very cool stainless steel water bottles. You can post photos and stories about hydration on their site and enter this worthy contest. Pass the word to all thirsty shutter bugs.

Show Time

The opening at the Sharon Arts Center Exhibition Gallery is three days from today and thanks to lots of effort from many volunteers, 13,699 is complete and installed! I finished the piece on June 17, uncorked a bottle of Champagne and shared it with some friends, and then on my birthday, the 20th, started to take it all down. It took about 24 work hours over three days to disassemble the lines of bottle caps as each one had to be wrapped around cardboard. The frame and grid were moved and installed on Thursday, the 25th, and on Friday we started to unwrap lines and rehang them in the gallery. We finished yesterday with the fun part of adjusting each bottle cap on its line, and setting the lighting. The gallery space does wonders for 13,699 with a beautiful blue gray wall behind it for contrast and dramatic lighting casting shadows on the floor and the wall. After working on this project for such a long time, it feels unreal for it to be complete and installed.

Innate Gear has made a generous gift of stainless steel water bottles to this project. They will be awarded as prizes at two events that are scheduled during the exhibition. The Harris Center for Conservation Education is sponsoring a film, The Water Front, and discussion night on July 14th and Robert Wood, Water Quality Manager, will make a presentation on July 25th on his work in Guatemala with Water for People. Many thanks to Innate Gear for supporting me in my effort to raise awareness about water conservation.

Exhibition Countdown

The exhibition, WATER: Mystery & Plight, opens at the Sharon Arts Center Exhibition Gallery (www.sharonarts.org) on July 3. 13,699 will be installed and photographs of surfaces of water by Mary Lang will be displayed. Mary's photographs are abstract, contemplative color fields where scale is uncertain. Check them out at www.marylang.com. I'm co-curating this exhibit with Susan Callihan (www.suecallihan.com) and we've been busy taking care of all of the details of putting an exhibition together. The exhibition postcard is printed and at the mail house and the press releases are about to be sent out. Meanwhile, I've been trying to finish 13,699 and it's almost there! I need about 100 more lines to fill in some sparse areas and fortunately friends are showing up to help out with the final push. Once it's complete, however, it all has to come down string by string so that it can be moved to Peterborough. Colleen Clark, video artist, volunteered to film me talking briefly about the installation. Check it out on changents.com. There was another String-A-Thon at Harlow's Pub, which was successful. On May 16 I participated in Children in the Arts Festival in Peterborough, NH by setting up at the Sharon Arts Center Gallery for drilling and stringing. There was a steady stream of children and adults who helped out. The Starving Artist in Keene, NH invited me to do a presentation and have a stringing session in May. After working on 13,699 for such a long time, I'm very excited about displaying it in public. The opening is July 3rd from 5:00 to 7:00 and the exhibition will be up through August 2nd.

Busy Times & Good News

The past six weeks have been a blur of activity. I made a presentation to 7th graders at the Salem Academy Charter School in Salem, MA. This group was considerably younger than all of the others that I've worked with, but they hung in there. The first String-A-Thon at our local pub, Harlow's, was a huge success and will be repeated on Tuesday, May 12. Eleven people showed up to string bottle caps and drink beer. They managed to string 114 lines! Two weeks ago I did two presentations at New England College in Henniker, NH and the Art Club kept all of my equipment for the week so that they could drill bottle caps and string them. Their efforts culminated at NEC's Earth Day Festival. St. Paul's School had an Earth Day Festival as well and thanks to inclement weather, more students showed up to my presentation and managed to string almost 200 lines. I made a presentation about raising water awareness in NH schools at a Department of Environmental Services' Drinking Water Source Protection Workshop last Friday. I was given a display table where I had a bowl of bottle caps and many participants stopped to ask what they were all about. It was fun to talk to water professionals and environmentalists about the project, which certainly was unique at this extremely technical workshop. My friend, Randi, came up from Boston for the weekend to help me hang all of the strings that had been piling up. We made a major dent in the pile and as a result, the installation is coming together beautifully. Yesterday I received a grant award from the Anne Slade Frey Charitable Trust of Hanover, NH, for which I am very grateful.

Art for Water: Walk for Water in Portland, Maine

Sunday was World Water Day and and in Portland, Maine SOH20, Food and Water Watch, Maine Water Allies, and Take Back the Tap organized a Walk for Water followed by a celebration at the North Star Cafe. The weather was warm and sunny one minute and freezing, snowy, and windy the next, but there was quite a crowd gathered to walk 4 miles, which represents a common distance that people have to walk in order to get water for their homes and families. There were huge puppets, The Leftist Marching Band of Portsmouth, NH, dogs, children, and citizens of all ages concerned about global water issues and water privatization issues close to home. After the walk, everyone congregated at the North Star Cafe on Congress Street to hear from the sponsors, The Leftist Marching Band, poets, and yours truly giving a presentation about my installation project. It was pretty exciting to spend the better part of the day with so many people who are active in trying to protect water resources in Maine.