Prompted by a conversation in Street Art Favourites p.11-12, I think it would be lovely to open a Topic to wonder at the beautiful creations visual artists produce that are destined to have a very short amount of time to exist in the real world.
All Street Art by its nature is ephemeral, at the mercy of the elements and other people who could paint over them. But chalk drawings have even shorter life spans: David Zinn's loveable little characters, or the amazing 3D worlds opening up from the cracks in pavements are washed away by the first rain... As these already have a "home" in our Street Art board, I'd like to open this Topic thread for such things as art works created from sand and things found on the beach, ice sculptures, cake decorations, etc ...
Of course, there is a little element of cheating here, because if we can talk about these pieces, they have been "saved" in some way, documented in a photograph. But we all know that's just an echo of the real art work. And we can only sigh and wish we had been able to see them for real, in situ...
So here is the Thread to marvel at all the mindblowing effort artists put into their work that is here today and gone tomorrow, and delve a little deeper into their motivations.
Ephemeral Art
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NurseRatched
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I like this topic thread. As you said, Dee, "It's about experiencing the magic, the relief of self-expression."
I am not sure this fits in here, but this work of art intrigues me. The artist didn't know how long it would last, or if anyone would take an interest. No real financial gain, at least initially. As you can read in the description, the work was submerged for years! I hope to visit this place in the future; I have buddies in Salt Lake City.
Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, located at Rozel Point on the northeastern shore of Great Salt Lake in Utah, is one of the most remarkable examples of Land art. In 1970, assisted by a crew operating dump trucks, a tractor, and a front loader, Smithson displaced some 6,000 tons of black basalt rock and earth from the adjacent shore to form a coil 1,500 feet long and approximately 15 feet wide, winding counterclockwise into the lake. Created at a time when water levels were particularly low, Spiral Jetty was submerged in 1972. Droughts caused the lake to recede in 2002, and the sculpture has remained visible ever since.
“I like landscapes that suggest prehistory,”1 Smithson once observed. The site of Spiral Jetty was chosen by the artist for the lake’s unusual ecological and geological properties. The reddish coloration of the water, caused by the high presence of microbes, initially attracted Smithson to the north arm of the lake. The spiral shape alludes to the molecular lattice of the salt-crystal deposits found throughout the lake’s expanse, and in forming the work, he chose to use basalt boulders of hardened lava found along the peninsula, scattered remnants of the now extinct volcanos in the area.
The fractured landscape, fluctuating water levels, and the water’s salinity also speak of the artist’s preoccupation with the concept of entropy. Smithson envisioned an artwork in a state of constant transformation whose form is never fixed and undergoes decay from the moment of its creation. His thinking was equally shaped by his understanding of the third law of thermodynamics as well as a fascination in science fiction and popular science.
As a path for walking and looking, Spiral Jetty is a sculpture to be experienced. The act of traversing the earthwork is a prominent image in the eponymous film completed months after Smithson built the sculpture. Along with aerial shots of Spiral Jetty is a sequence of images of the artist running on the sculpture. Reaching the innermost point, Smithson gazes out at the spiral path, lake, and mountains. Spiral Jetty serves as a site from which to view the surroundings—the prehistoric environment that Smithson selected for it.
notes
1 Robert Smithson, “Conversation in Salt Lake City (1972),” in Robert Smithson: Collected Writings, ed. Jack Flam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), p. 298.
I am not sure this fits in here, but this work of art intrigues me. The artist didn't know how long it would last, or if anyone would take an interest. No real financial gain, at least initially. As you can read in the description, the work was submerged for years! I hope to visit this place in the future; I have buddies in Salt Lake City.
Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, located at Rozel Point on the northeastern shore of Great Salt Lake in Utah, is one of the most remarkable examples of Land art. In 1970, assisted by a crew operating dump trucks, a tractor, and a front loader, Smithson displaced some 6,000 tons of black basalt rock and earth from the adjacent shore to form a coil 1,500 feet long and approximately 15 feet wide, winding counterclockwise into the lake. Created at a time when water levels were particularly low, Spiral Jetty was submerged in 1972. Droughts caused the lake to recede in 2002, and the sculpture has remained visible ever since.
“I like landscapes that suggest prehistory,”1 Smithson once observed. The site of Spiral Jetty was chosen by the artist for the lake’s unusual ecological and geological properties. The reddish coloration of the water, caused by the high presence of microbes, initially attracted Smithson to the north arm of the lake. The spiral shape alludes to the molecular lattice of the salt-crystal deposits found throughout the lake’s expanse, and in forming the work, he chose to use basalt boulders of hardened lava found along the peninsula, scattered remnants of the now extinct volcanos in the area.
The fractured landscape, fluctuating water levels, and the water’s salinity also speak of the artist’s preoccupation with the concept of entropy. Smithson envisioned an artwork in a state of constant transformation whose form is never fixed and undergoes decay from the moment of its creation. His thinking was equally shaped by his understanding of the third law of thermodynamics as well as a fascination in science fiction and popular science.
As a path for walking and looking, Spiral Jetty is a sculpture to be experienced. The act of traversing the earthwork is a prominent image in the eponymous film completed months after Smithson built the sculpture. Along with aerial shots of Spiral Jetty is a sequence of images of the artist running on the sculpture. Reaching the innermost point, Smithson gazes out at the spiral path, lake, and mountains. Spiral Jetty serves as a site from which to view the surroundings—the prehistoric environment that Smithson selected for it.
notes
1 Robert Smithson, “Conversation in Salt Lake City (1972),” in Robert Smithson: Collected Writings, ed. Jack Flam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), p. 298.
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Dee
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Tibetan Sand Mandalas
The Sand Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from coloured sand. A sand mandala is ritualistically dismantled once it has been completed.
The Tibetan mandala is a tool for gaining wisdom and compassion and generally is depicted as a tightly balanced, geometric composition wherein deities reside. The principal deity is housed in the center. The mandala serves as a tool for guiding individuals along the path to enlightenment. Monks meditate upon the mandala, imagining it as a three-dimensional palace. The deities who reside in the palace embody philosophical views and serve as role models. The mandala's purpose is to help transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones.
These Mandalas are constructed from sand ground from stone or marble and dyed with natural colours. Typically, a great teacher chooses the specific mandala to be created. Monks then begin construction of the sand mandala by consecrating the site with sacred chants and music. Next, they make a detailed drawing from memory. Over a number of days, they fill in the design with millions of grains of colored sand. At its completion, the mandala is consecrated. The monks then enact the impermanent nature of existence by sweeping up the colored grains and dispersing them in flowing water.
According to Buddhist scripture, sand mandalas transmit positive energies to the environment and to the people who view them. While constructing a mandala, Buddhist monks chant and meditate to invoke the divine energies of the deities residing within the mandala. The monks then ask for the deities' healing blessings. A mandala's healing power extends to the whole world even before it is swept up and dispersed into flowing water—a further expression of sharing the mandala's blessings with all.
https://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/onl ... andala.htm
I've had the good fortune to see a sand mandala created by two Tibetan monks at the Tribe of Doris, over six days, and I was present at the ceremony of its destruction, and subsequent release into the stream nearby. It was a beautiful experience. We were also encouraged to create our own mini mandalas, and I've made one with my daughter. People participating in the workshops were given a choice of having their manadalas fixed with some hairspray to keep, or let them go, like they were meant to be. In the end there was no hairspray left, so there was no choice to be made. It had to go. It was a beautiful, humbling experience. Especially seeing the monks working all day, fussing over the tiniest details to make it perfect.
The Sand Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from coloured sand. A sand mandala is ritualistically dismantled once it has been completed.
The Tibetan mandala is a tool for gaining wisdom and compassion and generally is depicted as a tightly balanced, geometric composition wherein deities reside. The principal deity is housed in the center. The mandala serves as a tool for guiding individuals along the path to enlightenment. Monks meditate upon the mandala, imagining it as a three-dimensional palace. The deities who reside in the palace embody philosophical views and serve as role models. The mandala's purpose is to help transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones.
These Mandalas are constructed from sand ground from stone or marble and dyed with natural colours. Typically, a great teacher chooses the specific mandala to be created. Monks then begin construction of the sand mandala by consecrating the site with sacred chants and music. Next, they make a detailed drawing from memory. Over a number of days, they fill in the design with millions of grains of colored sand. At its completion, the mandala is consecrated. The monks then enact the impermanent nature of existence by sweeping up the colored grains and dispersing them in flowing water.
According to Buddhist scripture, sand mandalas transmit positive energies to the environment and to the people who view them. While constructing a mandala, Buddhist monks chant and meditate to invoke the divine energies of the deities residing within the mandala. The monks then ask for the deities' healing blessings. A mandala's healing power extends to the whole world even before it is swept up and dispersed into flowing water—a further expression of sharing the mandala's blessings with all.
https://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/onl ... andala.htm
I've had the good fortune to see a sand mandala created by two Tibetan monks at the Tribe of Doris, over six days, and I was present at the ceremony of its destruction, and subsequent release into the stream nearby. It was a beautiful experience. We were also encouraged to create our own mini mandalas, and I've made one with my daughter. People participating in the workshops were given a choice of having their manadalas fixed with some hairspray to keep, or let them go, like they were meant to be. In the end there was no hairspray left, so there was no choice to be made. It had to go. It was a beautiful, humbling experience. Especially seeing the monks working all day, fussing over the tiniest details to make it perfect.
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NurseRatched
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Just wow, Dee. So many feelings here. What an experience that must have been! It was absolutely mesmerizing to watch those monks.Near the end, I felt so anxious, though! Just knowing it would not last. (This is because of a saying that is me to a "T"-everything I've let go has claw marks on it". ) But, there was such beauty in the methodical way he scraped the colors together! Wow.
Interesting that there was no hairspray left (another testament to humans and their need to keep everything-
) & you had no choice but to let it go. How did your daughter feel about that experience?
Really thought-provoking! I'm still anxious about all this!!
Interesting that there was no hairspray left (another testament to humans and their need to keep everything-
) & you had no choice but to let it go. How did your daughter feel about that experience?Really thought-provoking! I'm still anxious about all this!!
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Dee
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If I remember well, she found it easier than me, NR! 
I still have a massive collection of both my kids' art work in the attic, from toddler age to their teens. I adored everything they've made and couldn't part with any of it. Like their art work was somehow their "extension" "manifestation", a part of them. Whilst the kids were already onto the next game, the next picture, the next adventure.
Doing that mandala was challenging for me. This was really for the moment, for enjoying the creation itself, taking pleasure in the colours, shapes, textures, spending time with my daughter, talking to the monks.
It was hard to think about creating art without an actual piece of art to show for it. Yet, it's just a matter of rewiring our brain about visual arts.
You don't necessarily need an end product. You can always make another one.
Children get this better, I think. They are the first to to undo their puzzles, destroy their LEGO creations... because otherwise, you can't do it again. And they seem to get that the important part is the making, the creating.
I also totally get the meditative aspect of creating art. It's wonderful to see even little children so totally absorbed in what they are doing. And their eagerness to make stuff all the time... it's such a pity that somehow this urge fades for so many when they grow up. Maybe, it's just suppressed, and could be easily reignited, given a chance?
I still have a massive collection of both my kids' art work in the attic, from toddler age to their teens. I adored everything they've made and couldn't part with any of it. Like their art work was somehow their "extension" "manifestation", a part of them. Whilst the kids were already onto the next game, the next picture, the next adventure.
Doing that mandala was challenging for me. This was really for the moment, for enjoying the creation itself, taking pleasure in the colours, shapes, textures, spending time with my daughter, talking to the monks.
It was hard to think about creating art without an actual piece of art to show for it. Yet, it's just a matter of rewiring our brain about visual arts.
You don't necessarily need an end product. You can always make another one.
Children get this better, I think. They are the first to to undo their puzzles, destroy their LEGO creations... because otherwise, you can't do it again. And they seem to get that the important part is the making, the creating.
I also totally get the meditative aspect of creating art. It's wonderful to see even little children so totally absorbed in what they are doing. And their eagerness to make stuff all the time... it's such a pity that somehow this urge fades for so many when they grow up. Maybe, it's just suppressed, and could be easily reignited, given a chance?
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Moonchime
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Amazing works Mz NR and Mz D.
The Smithsonian Jetty looks incredible, although I fancy I might prefer looking at it from above rather than to walk around it, even though that is not what is suggested by the information. I love the idea that he sought materials from the past as part of the ever changing creation. You really must visit NR and tell us how it really feels to walk that spiral!
I think Dee that you became involved in a form of meditation when you made your mandala. At least that's how I view the feeling of peace and harmony you nurtured whilst in the productive process. As the monks know that the "letting go" is very much a part of the whole process maybe they approach the whole thing differently from the start - it isn't complete until it moves on - that's a key part of its purpose.
I think as children get slightly older, they too show investment in creations they have taken a long time over; very young children live so much in the moment and knocking things down is often more entertaining for them than building things up; it's loads easier too. Of course if you don't like your work in the first place then destroying it can be very satisfying - eradicating failure.
I made my sister's wedding cake(she's been married a long time) and it was only recently that I realised that there is no photo of my masterpiece. I have to admit I felt a bit miffed; I wanted to see whether it was as I remembered it and show my children. They don't listen to my stories the way they absorb a picture.
Thinking about the fabulous sand mandalas - you really do have to check there's no drafts don't you?
The Smithsonian Jetty looks incredible, although I fancy I might prefer looking at it from above rather than to walk around it, even though that is not what is suggested by the information. I love the idea that he sought materials from the past as part of the ever changing creation. You really must visit NR and tell us how it really feels to walk that spiral!
I think Dee that you became involved in a form of meditation when you made your mandala. At least that's how I view the feeling of peace and harmony you nurtured whilst in the productive process. As the monks know that the "letting go" is very much a part of the whole process maybe they approach the whole thing differently from the start - it isn't complete until it moves on - that's a key part of its purpose.
I think as children get slightly older, they too show investment in creations they have taken a long time over; very young children live so much in the moment and knocking things down is often more entertaining for them than building things up; it's loads easier too. Of course if you don't like your work in the first place then destroying it can be very satisfying - eradicating failure.
I made my sister's wedding cake(she's been married a long time) and it was only recently that I realised that there is no photo of my masterpiece. I have to admit I felt a bit miffed; I wanted to see whether it was as I remembered it and show my children. They don't listen to my stories the way they absorb a picture.
Thinking about the fabulous sand mandalas - you really do have to check there's no drafts don't you?
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Dee
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I think this is it, Mz Moonchime, you've just explained it perfectly. It really is the process of the creation (and subsequent destruction) that carries the beauty, the prayers, the joy. You're only concerned with the actual artwork to make it as perfect as you can, like how you would want to sing a song or perform a dance. Then it's done, - it's gone. Until the next mandala, the next song, the next dance. I think I really love that. And you're right, it was a form of meditation. The best kind."As the monks know that the "letting go" is very much a part of the whole process maybe they approach the whole thing differently from the start - it isn't complete until it moves on - that's a key part of its purpose."
Having said all that, it would be lovely to see a photogpraph of your sister's wedding cake! Hm.
For different reasons though.
About the sand and wind... lol. The sand they are using is very dense. Fairly sneeze proof, I think.
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NurseRatched
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It isn't complete until it moves on! That is something to think about. What you've both said about children and their "art" struck a chord, too. Very perceptive chat here
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Dee
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"Tony Plant, with his trusty rake in hand, creates some of the most beautiful designs out of sand. For over twenty years, he has visited the most exposed coastal lines in the world, so that he can produce works that will enchant anyone lucky enough to stumble across his artwork. Timing is everything, as the designs his rake wields are only intact for a sliver of time. They exist only until the tide sweeps them away."
http://www.tonyplant.co.uk
http://www.tonyplant.co.uk
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Dee
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