PIEDMONT DIVIDE
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
2011
-
Piedmont Divide was composed of two temporary sculptures. Hundreds of Emory University students participated in collecting, cutting and heat-shaping thousands of discarded, clear water bottles. The fabricated forms were then affixed to a custom-made net suspended above the University’s central quadrangle and attached to a temporary wood structure anchored just below the surface of Chandler Lake on campus. Both sculptures were designed to be dismantled via performances by the University’s Dance Department. Department Director Lori Teague choreographed these performances. The plastic parts were recycled again after the sculptures were dismantled.
IMAGES
Piedmont Divide, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 2011. The first sculpture was suspended from four mature pecan trees over the University’s central quad and measured 14’h x 26’w x 24’l. The second sculpture was anchored to a temporary underwater wood structure in the center of Chandler Lake in the University’s Lullwater Park. It measured six feet high above the water line with a horizontal diameter of 42 feet in a spiral configuration.
PIEDMONT DIVIDE
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
2011
Piedmont Divide was composed of two temporary sculptures. Hundreds of Emory University students participated in collecting, cutting and heat-shaping thousands of discarded, clear water bottles. The fabricated forms were then affixed to a custom-made net suspended above the University’s central quadrangle and attached to a temporary wood structure anchored just below the surface of Chandler Lake on campus. Both sculptures were designed to be dismantled via performances by the University’s Dance Department. Department Director Lori Teague choreographed these performances. The plastic parts were recycled again after the sculptures were dismantled.
IMAGES
Piedmont Divide, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 2011. The first sculpture was suspended from four mature pecan trees over the University’s central quad and measured 14’h x 26’w x 24’l. The second sculpture was anchored to a temporary underwater wood structure in the center of Chandler Lake in the University’s Lullwater Park. It measured six feet high above the water line with a horizontal diameter of 42 feet in a spiral configuration.
PROCESS
Each water bottle was cut into a long spiral strip. The base of the bottle was clamped to a convex form and stretched upward. Heat guns made the plastic malleable allowing the spirals to be straightened vertically into reed-like forms. The base of each bottle curved around the convex base forming a small basin.
For the installation on the campus Quad, a network of fishing line was strung, tied and stretched between four large trees. A long vertical hook-cut was made near the top of each plastic form to hold it to the net structure.
To support the lake installation, a series of stakes were driven into the lake bottom in an outwardly spiraling configuration. Horizontal lengths of wood connected these vertical stakes, serving as mounts for rows of the plastic reed-like forms as well as platforms for walking just below the water’s surface