All good things in due time

"Lithic Islands", my installation that I have been creating over the last year, is finally complete, minus the additional garden space, which will be installed this fall. My inspiration for creating these seven sculptures and a community garden space was fueled by my desire to bring the experience of appreciating our local insects and plants up close to local Austin residents. These sculptures will be surrounded by hand-selected central Texas native perennials and supported by an irrigation system that will be installed by the Austin Parks and Recreation Department to keep this discovery garden space healthy even during our most brutal droughts. 

Creating these sculptures was a journey of self-discovery and growth as an artist. I had only created a couple of smaller works using this method of ferrocement construction before creating this public work. Working three-dimensionally using this additive and subtractive process was a bit unwieldy at times, and I had to let go and trust the process several times. Unlike previous metal sculptures, where my outcome could be fairly measured and achieved well in advance of realizing the finished sculpture, through multiple maquettes, this process was much less structured. There were times when I was really wondering where the sculptures were going and had to let them grow into what they wanted to be and let go of expectations. Remarkably, they still turned out pretty close to my initial markups, though with a few more gaps for structural integrity's sake. ​

I learned way more about concrete than I thought I would ever want to know in this lifetime as well as my resiliency as an artist to power through the unknown. The formula I used allowed for it to behave a lot like clay, but with a much less forgiving working time. I am grateful to have received this opportunity to realize this retro futuristic, geologically inspired outdoor installation.  I can't wait to take official pictures of the full installation after the garden is installed.