Monday, May 11, 2009

The Wave Field


Liz sent me a link the other day to a story in the Times about a new sculpture installation by Maya Lin at Storm King Art Center in upstate New York. I have wanted to go there, but have not as yet. Anyhow, there was mention of a similar sculpture "The Wave Field" installed at the University of Michigan in 1995. "Wait!" I thought - "I am AT the University of Michigan!" How cool is this, to find out about the artwork while I am here. So I took an hour between the end of the lectures and dinner to drive over to another part of the campus and see the work. It is lovely, and calming, and playful. It was also VERY difficult to photograph. This is one view - there is also another which I may post at another time. What I did do was slowly walk around on it and in it - on the tops of waves, and in the troughs of waves, and around the edges. It is a wonderful piece to explore in that way - you really need to be in the sculpture. I spent the whole hour enjoying it, and photographing it, and this is one of my favorite views. I can't wait to get to Storm King for the new installation.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so cool! How do they keep it watered? Are there automatic sprinklers?

Ken Spencer said...

I saws no signs of sprinklers. I think the "lawn" here is watered naturally, as other campus lawns are. To me, the big issue would be how the waves are mowed! Some of these waves have 45 degree sides - certainly no fun with a mower!