stonewave: Semaphore Squares

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Semaphore Squares

An unseasonably cold and wet summer continues. There was a slight break in the clouds around the 4th, but things have stayed in a rather Scandinavian state of being in general. So this week I spent cleaning the beach of the wood-slick that washed ashore after the last rains. The silver lining to the wood-slick is that usually if I try to make anything that contains driftwood it is almost immediately burned, but now, there is so much lying about that the pyros are ignoring my piddling wood sculptures. So ....

I've been making little squares and filling them in with sticks. I like the woven feel of the wood.
There is something about the way they catch the light when they change direction that makes them infinitely more interesting than your average pile o' sticks...

There is also a pleasing affect caused by the different types of wood, the different colors of bark, thicknesses etc. This circle never got finished because the 4th of July crowd trampled it overnight and I have yet to repair it, but I think it was going in an interesting direction, so I will try to revive it.

Here are the three squares together. They remind me of those little semaphore flags you used to see on boats. I don't know why they remind me of that, but I'm going to stick to that story. If I get a chance and can stay ahead of the ravages of time and indifferent beach-goers I plan a fourth square. We'll see how it plays out.

This week the Stonewave was vandalized again. Somebody keeps pulling stone out of the sculpture. Sometimes it is just malicious stupidity, but this time it was theft. Somebody is hauling the stone away, which I find to be even more maliciously ignorant. When these events occur I go around a couple of days in this kind of fog. I feel dislocated. It is then that I especially appreciate when people give positive feedback about the sculptures. It helps pull me out of the malaise. So thanks for sharing the comment, anonymous.