My freshman year of college all students had to take a first year seminar that was seemingly but probably not randomly assigned. I was in a Public Art course which introduced me to a kind of artwork that I hadn’t really paid attention to before. Sure, I had pictures of me standing in the Robert Indiana ‘Love’ sculpture at the IMA, but I hadn’t really taken the time to think about how large, accessible art could impact on the community. The course really set me on a path of critically assessing experiences in a way I hadn't before (the liberal arts are such a scam, right). One of the pieces our professor really loved was Robert Smithson’s ‘Spiral Jetty.’ An earthwork piece (the most famous earthwork piece?) from 1970, as the name suggests, it spirals into the Great Salt Lake in Utah. It was large, it required movement to create and to view, it was shaped by the environment, it was transient and relied on humans for continued existence. And I didn’t get it. Who cares about some dirt and rocks you played with, even if you did it in a big way?
Over 20 years later I think I have a better grasp on the appeal. When I was 18, I was barely removed from childhood, from spending summers laying in the grass watching clouds, from arranging sticks in the yard, from seeing the vastness of the Milky Way when everyone else was asleep. Given my upbringing, I was still nature adjacent, used to planting and weeding and harvest, used to the wonder of coming across a wild blackberry bramble in the woods where there used to be a house. I didn’t have to make time to pull over a rock to look at bugs. Nature, and my scale in it, was still a part of the everyday. I still approached the world with wonder as the default.
I don’t want to say there is no more wonder in my life, as that is most certainly not true, but I do have to make time for it, like how Spiral Jetty forces viewers to. I could easily spend my morning walks concerned about work or my knees and pay attention to moss, to how the trees are changing. Spiral Jetty is ‘about’ a lot of things and while I still don’t wan to go to Utah, I finally appreciate the piece.
More on Spiral Jetty here and here! Image from this happy article about climate change!
Current trends I love
Mary Janes
Current trends I really don’t love
Flair jeans
Canadian tuxedos
Cargo pockets
I should probably write something about being a cis partner to a trans person? How to even start!
A crocus is up in my front garden! Go to bed little flower!
I made this Earl Grey, honey, and cardamom cake which is so good! I have to figure out how to half it so it’s a more manageable amount for 2 people.
My hair was greasy and dandruffy at the same time, no matter what expensive or basic shampoo or conditioner I used and it was getting worse. I decided to try Prose and it actually worked? I can even sometimes go 3 days without washing my hair, the dandruff is mostly gone, and I seem to be losing slightly less hair when I do wash? It’s not cheap, but I’ve also used more expensive products with poor results. Also it starts with a quiz!
Feeling like I have lots of reactions and opinions right now instead of ideas, which is frustrating and I don’t like.
Do you experience large, altered landscapes that are not created with solely artistic intent aesthetically? I’m having trouble wording this clearly. Because of your critical lens on public art, do you experience public non-art as art?
I ask because of things like The Hoover Dam, Sigiriya in Sri Lanka, or the Sutro Baths.
For me, I find them as compelling as public art, but differently, sometimes in a way that I prefer. Maybe. Still ruminating.