Water Like Music

The piece I created is called “Water Like Music.” It is about the movements of water and the formation of waves in the wind. It should be read like a music partition, from top to bottom.

  Water Like Music is the anatomy of a wave forming, flattened and reorganized on wires with pulleys so that the wind can fill in the material and make the waves flutter or move. I wanted the wind to play its part in my story, just like it does in Nature. Light and wind are parts of the narrative.

I drew patterns of wave shapes and cut them from sailcloth. The material with its transparency and its suppleness has a beautiful softness. I then sawed 49 crystal beads on the front and back of the waves. When the sunlight touches the beads at the right angle it refracts and creates splashes of light reminiscent of water splashes or droplets. These light patterns can be seen through the material.

I attached small pulleys to the waves and threaded the wire through the pulleys before fixing the wires to a wooden frame.

 Water Like Music is a celebration of our natural world. The mountains that surround us with their lakes and rivers, the turbulent or gentle winds that are ever present in our days and the light that gives the sky its intensity create sceneries as precious as jewels. It is this interconnection that I wanted to portray in a frame open to the elements.