'What Lies Beneath' - PSSP 2023

Design Rough - What Lies Beneath

 Paisley Street Sculpture Project - 2023

‘What Lies Beneath’

(note that this is a second submission for this years competition)

What gets left behind, buried under our feet? Does the remnants of our modern industrial activities become future archaeological remains?
A large bundle of now distorted pipes and tubes is glimpsed through the gaps of a broken limestone slab shell.

This work is inspired from my continuing interest in archaeology, especially the fragmentary view of past material cultures via the random preservation and recovery of objects. If there is any message, it is subtle : What we bury today will become how the future will see, and likely mis-understand, about us. A jumbled confusion that may not truly represent our lives and aspirations at all.

Description

Detail - forged pipe bundle (Peterson House)

 

The primary elements are forged from steel pipe, some bent and twisted along their length, flared / flattened / curved at their exposed ends. (For an example, see DM-detail.jpg - a similar technique used for an architectural support.) The pipe elements will be painted, most a dull black, but some darkened blue and green. Additional elements will be made of copper water pipe or galvanized electrical conduit, the ends capped with standard joint fittings. Lengths of small steel round rod and copper (gas line) tubing form occasional spiral wraps.
In total this central core forms a cylinder (hollow inside) about  6 1/2 feet long, about 18 inches in diameter.

The outer shell is a series of random size and shape thin limestone slabs. The stone envisioned is a yellowish grey that contains many fossils. (What exactly is used will depend on local availability.)  Each is held in place by short pieces of threaded rod welded to the core, using randomly forge shaped pieces, tapped to create ‘nuts’.  The placement will create many gaps, through which the central core is visible, with the stone standing clear of the core by roughly 3 - 4 inches on the inside
In total the stone results in about 24 - 30 inch outside diameter.

With the existing cut stone base, the total height will be about 8 feet - an imposing structure.

Technical

The central bundle will be solidly welded together and to an internal support composed of heavy angle, allowing for bolting to the existing bases. The use of pipe allows for visual, without massive physical, weight.
The shaped ‘nuts’ will allow the individual stone pieces to be attached on site, after the core bundle is in place. The threaded rods (two per stone for all but the smallest) would be 3/8 diameter, the holes drilled oversize to ease placement.
Although the overall concept would be better expressed if the steel surfaces were allowed to naturally rust, it was decided to use a protective painted coating (industrial enamel over primer) on all the the steel pieces. This primarily to avoid any possible rust stain damage to the polished stone base blocks. For this reason, all the top open ends of the pipe elements will be sealed, capped or folded downwards (to prevent rain water penetration to the interiors)

Note that this is a design for a new work, likely only to be produced if accepted.


Artist

Darrell Markewitz started his life long work as an artisan blacksmith as a student at Ontario College of Art in the late 1970’s. He founded his Wareham Forge in 1991, shortly after moving to lower Grey County, as his full time operation. Over the decades he has created practical and decorative objects for sale and on commission, ranging from simple candle holders to major architectural installations. Over the last decade, he has created a number of large objects for inclusion in the sculpture projects in Elora, Halliburton and most recently in Paisley.
see : www.warehamforge.ca