New work in winter fields

Dec 02, 2010

Photo: Marc Walter and The Sowers, Fieldwork’s newest installation

While most farmers’ fields have now been laid to rest, one just east of Maberly has recently come to life, thanks to the creative hands and mind of land and mixed media artist Marc Walter of Wakefield.

Walter’s work is the latest installation at fieldwork, a three-year-old ongoing outdoor art installation project that invites artists from near and far to design site-specific work in a field located on the property of Susie Osler, a ceramic artist and one of the four founding members of the collective. Walter uses natural and found natural materials to create works that in his words “aim to extract the emotional excitement of a particular site and transfer it into a work that can be shared with visitors.” Marc Walter did just that with “The Last Sowers”, which consists of two 15-foot-high human forms created from branches of poplar, maple and dogwood. Each appears with one outstretched arm to be sprinkling the ground with seeds.

With no preconceived notion of what to construct before his first visit to the site, Walter began, as he always does, by exploring the site, in search of a key that will tell him what and how his work will unfold. “When first walking the grounds I had this haunted feeling as if there had been some life here before and I was thinking it would be interesting to build people coming out of the woods to prepare the next cycle of the land.”

With the aid of orchard ladders, courtesy of neighbouring farmers, Walter spent five days building the forms. The process began with the building of two large earthen mounds. Each form was then built from the bottom up using long vertical branches that were crossed over with diagonal branches, giving them their structural stability. Hemp and raffia ties were used at certain points to strengthen the structures.

Walter has effectively highlighted the act of sowing by attaching lines and dangling pieces of raffia to each of the forms’ outstretched arms, which move and sway in the breeze, catching the viewer’s eye.

From a distance the forms are soft and natural and appear timeless, blending into the fields and forest that surround them. They possess an ancient, other-worldly quality - perhaps from a place and time where people paid homage to the earth and land in ways that we don’t often see today.

Walter is unsure how long The Last Sowers will stand but looks forward to seeing them change over time as precipitation, wind and erosion take their toll. “Like the majority of my works, The Last Sowers is ephemeral; the idea is to accept the fact that there is a cycle of life and death and the actual process of erosion and disintegration is also part of the creative process.”

Two other installations are also on site at fieldwork. Visitors can lend an ear to the “Aeolian Organ”, a work by musician, artist and writer Jesse Stewart who currently teaches at the School for Studies in Art and Culture at Carlton University in Ottawa. Constructed from various lengths of four-inch diameter ABS piping, each individual pipe is tuned and positioned to catch the wind, creating an ever-changing series of subtle harmonies. Named after Aeolus, the Greek god of wind, the installation is not only a feast for the eyes but also for the ears.

Last but not least, though harder to find, is a work by Dan Nuttall, called “Bewilderness”, located in the pines to the north of the field. Nuttall’s work takes viewers through a trail in the forest throughout which is located a series of separate pieces that will mystify and delight viewers who enjoy the unexpected and a challenging game of hide and seek.

For anyone looking to heighten their senses in the great outdoors, fieldwork makes for a worthwhile visit. From Sharbot Lake take Hwy 7 east to the first Old Brooke Road exit. fieldwork is located at the field just across from 2501 Old Brooke Road. For more information visit www.fieldworkproject.com.

fieldwork was made possible by a generous grant from the Ontario Arts Council.