02F-20

Presence

"It's all flat here."
"That's why I like to work here. It makes a good stage."

Behind me waves pound the breakwater. Long shadows stretch out over the flat golden sand. The sculpture's curving western face burns, accented by the dark borrow pit at its foot.

Staging. I tell myself it's just for photography but there's more to it. A great sculpture is enhanced by good placement. It's a rather surprising viewpoint for a man who prefers being in the background, but I always choose a place for my sculptures that allows them to dominate the space around them. If such space isn't available, I'll make it, using a tall base or some other trick.

Make the sculpture visible. Make it impossible to ignore. Find the center. Maybe it's desire's long shadow reaching from childhood.

Build number: 02F-20 (lifetime start #254) Monolith, unfiltered imported sand, on extended riser base with borrow pit earthworks
Title: none
Date: November 19 (Tuesday)
Location: Venice Breakwater, on the flat
Start: 1145; construction time approx 4 hours
Height: 2.6 feet (Short Form w/free-piled extension) on top of 10 inch riser
Base: 1.6 feet diameter, form; riser and borrow pit about 6 X 15 feet
Assistant: none
Photo digital: 25 images, Canon Powershot G2
Photo 35mm: none
Photo 6X7: none
Photo volunteer:
Video motion: none (camcorder not brought)
Video still: none
Video volunteer: none
New Equipment: none

The quick decision takes about three minutes to implement because the right selection of tools is already loaded on the cart in the garage. Sunlight pours out of a blue sky. It feels more like September and I work up a sweat climbing the hill toward the beach.

Sunday's borrow pit experiment wasn't all that successful. The sculpture, on its tall riser, was impressive. The combined riser and borrow pit, however, made a broad face of sand that didn't contribute much to the sculpture other than height. I'd like to get more out of it. Try harder.

Sand has built up behind the Breakwater, almost burying the storm drain all the way to the valve box. The morning's high tide has left a broad, smooth area just perfect for a sculpture. The area is already occupied by a family but it's mine. I fetch a load of water and then start digging; the family soon moves off.

Sunday's problem was partly that the borrow pit's shape wasn't interesting. For today's sculpture I plan to dig a horseshoe-shaped pit and put the sculpture on the inside, on a tall base that will taper away. It's easy to build, and labor-intensive. I hope it's worth it.

The sculpture sand comes from the same area I got half of Sunday's. It's under some overburden but I'm tired of that coarse stuff. Carving fine sand is more enjoyable because it will hold more of a vision. The 250-foot haul goes easily with the cart. Unfortunately this sand has more detritus in it than I had on Sunday and I have no filter.

Call it an hour to end up with a carvable block of sand, and its base. I fetch another load of water to use for spraying and then peel the pile. It's solid. Good stuff, attractively marbled. Except for the shells.

The idea is to make a nice curve all the way from the borrow pit up to the sculpture's top, like a wave about to break. The back side will take on a similar curve, with the objective of making the sculpture appear to be leaning into the setting sun. The problem is that the sculpture is too far back from the borrow pit, leaving too long a "front porch," so I have to cut the curve somewhat short. There's still enough base to make a smooth transition.

The sun rolls across the sky. Shadows lengthen. Waste sand piles up as I hollow the sculpture out and add detail. Passersby stop to ask the usual questions. Tim, the lifeguard, drives past to take a look. Another lifeguard, recently moved up here from Redondo, asks about what I'm doing. I know he's new because he hasn't heard of me.

The sculpture's north and south sides are full-height slightly curved slabs. I leave the south one alone, but the north one begs for some ventilation, even without Rich here to campaign for holes. After that it's pretty well finished. Brushing takes some time and the day is getting seriously short. At least this time I remembered to bring the brush.

After that I work on the base. One problem with using imported sand is that all the waste collects in the borrow pit, filling it in. I haul two cartloads around to the east and use them to build up the base's eastern extension, smoothing the rest of what's in the pit. Then I shape the base, smoothing out my footprints.

Call it good. Start photographing in that sharp sunset light. It's amazing. Sun bright all the way to the horizon. I walk around, looking for angles.

The integration of sculpture, base and borrow pit has worked well. The base could have used more work, but base design is turning out to be more difficult than I expected. An overly dramatic base distracts from the sculpture, but a big bland base also distracts. This one is, at least, better matched than Sunday's.

The sculpture itself is too blocky, and the spaces don't allow enough light to get through to the shadowed side. Still, it's interesting, and almost anything is beautiful in this light. Many passersby like it.

One man has been exercising with a staff. He catches sight of the sculpture and wanders over to take a look. His staff has holes.
"Is that a flute?"
In answer he hands it to me. It is indeed, long bamboo polished and stained, with holes. He introduces himself with some polysyllabic name, and then plays on the flute as the sun goes down. Lovely.

A line of liquid light stays on the horizon long after the sun should have set. Finally the last little spark-bead disappears. Catalina is dark on the horizon; usually at this time of evening water vapor softens the dark silhouette to light grey. Tonight it's as if there's nothing between the mountains and me.

I bid the flautist good night and walk north under that depthless sky. Faint fog rolls lazily over the beach, visible only in the foreshortened concentration of distance.

Written November 20
Updated 2017-12-26 to replace Photobucket links