I began my creative process by viewing both banks of the Columbia River and sketching the elements I saw, including water, trees, a ship anchor, and an air traffic control tower. I decided my sculpture would portray only three physical elements – earth, water and sky.
My previous sculptures portrayed earth with beads. This sculpture required large beads, so found art — plastic lids from grocery store containers — became my beads. This required knit fabrics, so D’Anne, my color-oriented friend, accompanied me to the fabric store. Three hours later, we had a beautiful palette for river rock. I desired a perky riverbed to compliment the multicolored sky and contrast with the main component of the sculpture, the Columbia River.
Friend Tori and I then spent a week wrapping knit fabric circles around 60 plus container lids, gathering fabric on the bottom of each lid so it could be inserted into the camouflage mesh fabric my teen nephew helped me find at a local surplus store. After I’d shaped and secured the mesh onto the wood frame, I inserted each lid and stitched it securely, creating the suspended, knit-rock riverbed.
One more thing: many other people contributed found art in the form of mesh bags from grocery store produce. I inserted these brightly colored mesh bags amongst the stones to visualize the percolation of creative thought that is required for all creative actions to occur in the stream of life.
Coming Soon: Sculpting the River
