Amarillo Ramp, 2015 - 2016
Wooden box, trowel to bury a significant object at the site, cotton to replace the teddy bear innards strewn on nearby cacti, gloves and pruner to trim overgrown shrubbery, rocks from Spiral Jetty, Sun Tunnels, Double Negative, Roden Crater, The Lightning Field and Amarillo Ramp
In March 2015, I discovered a photograph of James Turrell’s Roden Crater Field Kit (2000). The oak box, reminiscent of a portable desk from the 19th century, contains instruments used by surveyors, a rock from the location, documents, and maps. I was drawn to Turrell’s idea that other materials were necessary to fully understand an earthwork (and the absurdity that this was the way it should be seen).
While visiting Amarillo Ramp, The Lightning Field, Double
Negative, Sun Tunnels and Spiral
Jetty in the year and half that followed, I took note of what would have enriched
my experience. The objects are those that I wished I had brought, those that were
used to perform an action at the site, and those that were culled from the
caretakers’ stories. Surprisingly, many focus on cleaning and upkeep – the antithesis
of the entropy that some of the artists desired. In the end, Roden Crater makes an appearance, though
its observation, due to great cost and inaccessibility, is highly unlikely.
Special
acknowledgement to Andy Traub for transforming my crude sketches into three-dimensional
boxes, Laurie Blakeslee for gifting me the Golden
Guide books from her personal collection, Hannah Barnes for her assistance
with the watercolors, and Nate Larson for suggesting that bubbles were the ideal way to
interact with Sun Tunnels (he was
right, you should try it).
Check out the rest of the kits here.
