2X4 Landscape
last night i went to the opening, at the Henry Art Gallery on UW campus, of a new exhibit by Maya Lin. she's probably most well known for the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.
the following is an excerpt from the program:
Systematic Landscapes is centered around three large-scale installations, each of which puts the viewer into a distinctive relationship to the scale and shapes of the land. "2x4 Landscape", a hill or wave form built of 50,000 boards set on end, is both a familiar fragment of landscape and a model expanded to massive scale. "Water Line", a floating wire-frame topographic "drawing" of an immense undersea formation, can either be walked under or viewed from above. "Blue Lake Pass", a 3D translation of a Coloroado mountain range, is made of layers of particle board, segmented into a grid and then pulled apart to create walkways through the landscape strata.
The show also includes several other pieces, including a beautifully simple rendering of the entire Columbia River system formed entirely of straight pins stuck into the wall, a set of three pieces from a collection called "Bodies of Water", and an entire room dedicated to a series of environmental art installations throughout Washington state, installed over the last two years, called The Confluence Project. It is described online as "a grand collaboration between Lin, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Lewis and Clark Commemorative Committee of Vancouver/Clark County, and the Friends of Lewis and Clark of Pacific County. The models and designs on view mark sites of contact along the Columbia River between Native Americans and the Lewis and Clark Expedition."
It was a really powerful show -- "Water Line", in particular, really floored me when I first saw it. The pin-rendering of the Columbia slowly drew delightful laughter from me, and I'm now inspired for a new motorcycle trip to experience the Confluence Project.
The show officially opened today (Earth Day, how fitting) and runs until Labor Day. I strongly encourage anyone who appreciates maps, earth shapes and/or environmental art to attend. it's well worth it.