Four Floods and Drawing for a City Public
2021
cedar, cast aluminum, came glasswork, wild foraged ceramic, rainwater, shadow
A faceted glass monocle attached to cast aluminum hoop sits hangs off the top of a 13-foot cedar pole in the middle of a public sculpture park in Dallas, Texas. Four handbuilt ceramic vessels whose form is something between an “X” and a flower have been embedded into the ground, serving as repositories for rainwater. Small ecologies of insects and worms are attracted to the vessels. As the vessels drain over time, they slowly water the grass around them.
This work is examines the social and environmental impacts of civic tourism in Dallas, Texas. The glass monocle is a shallow, two-dimensional rendition of the Reunion Tower in Dallas, where tourists are invited to have a cocktail at the rotating bar 561 feet in the sky inside the “Geo Deck” overlooking the Trinity Floodplain. The ceramics vessels are inspired by the Trinity Floodplain, which is a proven flood risk for the surrounding neighborhoods while also being a beacon of local biodiversity and tourism. The “X” forms references the act of geographical location, but they also reference the Made while attending Sweet Pass Sculpture School--a residency program focused on Blackland Prairie ecology.