Emergence from Winter

PLACEHOLDER TULIPS

Every year tulips planted by the last residents on this place open their petal-jaws and unfold bright red and yellow over an old stone laundry sink below the house. I’ve taken a picture every year since I came here. The tulips offer new expressions of themselves each year, that follow recognizable patterns. We could be fooled into thinking they are the same tulips. The background has been changing as the place evolves, as the work moves through.

---

REVEALING FORM
Much of my creative work this year has been involved with restoring the landscape around the studio and house. This winter we cleared tons of ivy, opening up Trickle Creek and its draw below the house. The creek drains ten or fifteen acres to the east and north. The watercourse rises by the blueberries at the top of the Refuge and runs down into Puget Sound, nine or ten months of the year. Decades of neglect and abuse had caused the old creek to present more like a drainage ditch and garbage dump when I first arrived. It flowed out of sight, silent through weeds.

Local ivy magician Daniel Marcotte directed a team that cleared the draw and brought in hundreds of reclaimed plants to restore the natural forest understory. While that was going on, Bill Lenker brought in many tons of granite boulders to define and ground the watercourse. 

Now flowing water sparkles, and sings, strengthened every time it rains. An occluded acre of the place has been opened up. At first it all felt too exposed; there was a sense of vulnerability. Now as the Indian Plum gets into full leaf, and the ferns begin to unfurl, it feels like revelation. Perception carries farther into the depths of the forest; dimension has been somehow doubled. The whole place feels larger—the invisible brought to light.

---

ONGOING DANCE
 
Ring Dance No. 2/ CORE has been on Percival Landing in downtown Olympia, holding the ground at the corner of State and Water streets since last June, as part of the city’s year-long Percival Plinth outdoor sculpture exhibition. 

You already knew that, right? What you didn’t know is that a couple of weeks ago, Olympia's Parking Business Improvement Area decided to buy the piece for their Project for Public Spaces “Placemaking” initiative. Thank you, Olympia PBIA, for the recognition and support! Place it well. Sometime this year the piece will be moved to a new location downtown, not yet determined. I’ll let you know when I know. The rings will keep dancing in public.

While Ring Dance No.1 and No.2 make their way in world, No.3 and No.4, a relational set of two, entitled “DUET,” are still available. You can see them up by the entrance to the Refuge, by the blueberries.

---

NEXT DANCE

Last week I finished a smaller Ring Dance, composed of 30 six-inch steel rings sliced from an oxygen tank. The piece measures 42” tall, and stands in a space roughly 16” in diameter. I had this one galvanized and powder-coated, in fire-engine red. It stands out in a complex outdoor or landscape placement, and is small enough to be indoors as well. The working title was “Tiny Dancer” which has a fairly obvious baby-boomer cultural reference. Now that it’s finished, the piece begs to be called the more timely “OXYGEN.” Which do you prefer? [The piece has been sold, and lives in Milwaukee.]

Be well,
Don