Avian Habitat Resource Sculpture. Photo by Daniel McCormick & Mary O’Brien. Courtesy of Watershed Sculpture
Una tortuga toma el sol en la cima de una trenza de ramas de sauce que serpentea a través de una cuenca en Nevada, todo gracias a una obra de arte. Justo unos meses antes de este momento, esa misma llanura de inundación estaba agotada de una vida silvestre diversa y un ecosistema saludable, hasta que dos artistas ambientales tomaron el área como el sitio para su próxima instalación. Los artistas Mary O’Brien y Daniel McCormick, un dúo que han sido socios en la vida y colaboradores artísticos durante los últimos 30 años, crean esculturas vivientes que no solo se inspiran en los paisajes, sino que utilizan sus materiales naturales para rejuvenecer el medioambiente.
The Artist Duo Whose Land Art Is Rejuvenating the Environment
By Eli Hill, in Artsy
Mar 30, 2018 10:24 am
A turtle basks in the sun atop a braid of willow branches winding through a watershed in Nevada––all thanks to an artwork. Just months before this moment, that same floodplain was depleting of a diverse wildlife and healthy ecosystem, until two environmental artists took up the area as the site for their next installation.
Artists Mary O’Brien and Daniel McCormick––a duo who have been partners in life as well as artistic collaborators for the last 30 years—create living sculptures that not only draw inspiration from landscapes but use their natural materials to rejuvenate the environment.
To create River Fork Ranch Flood Plain (2014), the artists teamed up with hundreds of volunteers to harvest willow branches from the site, tie them into “willow wattles,” and place them inside of a 360-foot-long armature made of stakes. The result is a sinuous and majestic sculpture that anchors soil, prevents erosion, enhances water quality, and introduces a home for the aforementioned turtle (incidentally, the first animal the pair saw using the sculpture). The work is one of five created by O’Brien and McCormick for their “Nevada Rivers Project,” which is entirely crafted out of materials found on-site in three Nevada watersheds.