INSTALLATION NOTES

The original concept of the Tidewater Project was to take the sculptures to a beach location and video and photograph them as the tide covered and uncovered the work. Using the tide cycle as a metaphor for the cycle of birth, death, and birth, I was trying to provide an opportunity to question our place in the world.

One of the pleasant surprises of the original installation was the interaction of the geometric shapes with the changing natural environment. The subtleties of light, wind, rain, and water patterns juxtaposed against the simple geometry of the sculptures and evoked a heightened awareness of the surroundings.

In bringing the sculptures to the reflection pond at Museum of Glass, I again provided the opportunity for this simple geometry to interact with the changing environment of light, shadow, wind and reflection. These shapes are the simplest of forms, the beginnings of architecture. They bring memories of doors, portals, exits, entrances, Malta, Stonehenge, Crete, and gathering places from around the world.

As if from some distant memory, they are at once familiar. An ancient innocence of simplicity. Mark Bennion, May 2005

Thoughts on the Museum of Glass, Tacoma WA installation, 2005-2007.

There will be those who will just walk by / they won’t stop and wonder about the shapes / why did he do this? / why is one turned sideways to the others? / they won’t feel the interaction with the wind / see the reflection of the sky interacting with the simple geometry / they will not see this in the rain / they just walk by because this is not something they expect / it’s not just a thing in a pond / they won’t understand that this is an interaction with a distant memory / a simple geometry that asks us to pay attention to this place / they just won’t take the time………..

There will also be those who will do all those things…..

I made this for them…..

Mark Bennion, 2005

TIME/REVELATOR - I am interested in projects that take some time to unfold as opposed to an object that is static. These steel plates, while appearing static, are actually distressing the grass underneath. As time passes, the grid will be shifted to reveal a shadow and thus begin the cycle of rejuvenation. Time/Revelator is a story about substance…death…transition…re-birth…continuity and revelation. Mark Bennion, 2008

GALLERY OF INSTALLATIONS