METAL FABRICATION

COURSE

Metal Fabrication/Sculpture, 2017

PROFESSOR

Tanya Crane

SCOPE

Intro / Various Scales / Steel Manipulation / Sea Level Rise / Water Crisis /

INFO

By exploring metal, I ended up exploring the global issue regarding water meant to me at a physical yet poetic level. I took this studio parallel to my thesis, and learned how to alter found materials in order to reveal the concerning facts I was researching. I used my time in this studio to experiment how we could use other mediums to create conversations that cannot be avoided and spread awareness about climate, water, and integrity.

Is Boxed Water Actually Better?, 2017

Most of us have been there: Paper or Plastic?

Although this water company has in fact chosen to sell a lifestyle that implies we should depend on plastic way less and improve packaging and shipment methods, it does not change the treatment the water undergoes in order to end up in this semi-recyclable carton.

The water goes into a reverse osmosis and ultraviolet filtration, a highly effective technology in removing several impurities including toxic heavy metals. Today, watersheds in New England are heavily impaired mainly because of their long history and usage during the industrial revolution up to today. Some are impaired due to heavy metals found in the sediment.

The sculpture brings to conversation both the filtration process the water has to undergo to remove these metals and the certain lifestyles we have chosen and adapted.

Floating, Market Square, 2017

Market Square has been a focal point of gossip, news and meetings since the 17th century. It has a long history and is deeply embedded in the American culture. The square has experienced high hurricane water levels during the Great Storm of 1815 and the Hurricane of 1938 – flood waters reaching up to 13ft. and 8 in. above the mean high water level. As the more pressing matter of climate change urges cities to adapt, some of our historical buildings and sites will become more vulnerable to flooding and someday be located below sea level. The Market Square is currently on a floodplain of both 100 and 500-year flood, bringing to attention the implications that would bring a higher water level.

Today, most people lack the urgency of this existential danger when it comes to water. We live in an irrational state of risk denial and are unaware that we all live in floodplains. To begin to fathom what the future could hold for Providence, this small intervention disguises the cliché of the "blue water line" used in many flood awareness ads, creating a new dynamic line people can inhabit. The intention of introducing a foreign plant to the site was to create a dialog between the water’s potential level and potential 100 year flood level in the year 2100 with our ground. The lily pads appear to be floating but could potentially be floating on water at the end of the century.