It comes up again and again.
Water gets to the river too fast.
People get to the river too slow.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Creek to a puddle
It gets smaller as it flows down?
Scientist:
Dr. Gary Boyd
Optics
3M
Date:
October 31st, 2009
Location:
Battle Creek Park
This was the second walk I did with Gary, and though there was no snow this time, there was a rafter of turkeys. (I need to utilize that term, a group of turkeys is a rafter, and well could one put a rafter on the river?) I had never walked along Battle Creek, though I want to explore the Mississippi in total, with the tributaries being a part of the bigger picture.
We had talked before about flickering reflections. Now we chatted about success. In the scientific world, success is easily defined. Did one find the answer? Do you know what is happening? Of course that lack of a discrete answer is what drives a lot of artists. In a field that defies any sort of definition, how does one know if the work you present is successful? I talk about the notion of success varying drastically from artist to artist. Gary distills my points and say, so for you, you want your work to change a person’s thoughts. This is mostly true. I have always felt that the sculptural object has a great capacity to present thoughts. They can contradict, and coalesce. In the end I want people to explore the thoughts, stay with them and realize that most things are not clear cut and simply stated.
On a tangent I ask about lasers (Gary’s specialty) and get a great explanation. I have an objective thought of how awesome it is to be up in the morning on a sunny day, walking by a beautiful stream talking about lasers with a physicist…
This creek is quite odd. At its mouth it is a standing puddle. No movement at all. As we climb up the valley the creek shows itself to be completely controlled. There are odd pillars in the creek with grates and a manhole cover on top. Getting close to a pillar one hears that the creek is in fact below the creek. Also as we cross a few streets, the creek runs into a barred structure and underground, with a drain off to the side that seems to drain on the other side to keep the aesthetical stream flowing. What started off as a puddle turns into a very nice running creek as we climb the valley. Each time it crosses a street it must dive into jail to go underground.
Yes this creek gets smaller as it gets closer to the Mississippi. In fact it “ends” on the other side of Highway 61 from the Mississippi. I do not see it on the other side, though there is a huge train yard, and on a map I see that it empties into Lake Pig’s Eye. I assume that the intense engineering is for erosion, though maybe (hopefully) it is to make the water take longer to get to the river.
Gary and I end the walk with a agreement to develop a proposal for a public art piece based around the sparkle on the water. I think working on this direct project will help us fully understand how the other works, and in the end, maybe we can pull it off.
On the Water!
On the Water!
Scientist:
Carrie Jennings
Glacial Geologist
Minnesota Geological Survey
Date: October 28th. 2009
Location:
Hidden Falls to Lilydale
When I first signed up for this project, I thought, well I need to get ON the river, not just BY it. I had a secret wish as well…I had lived by the third longest river for seven years and never paddled on it. Luckily Carrie offered to take me on a paddle and like many times during this experience I was very giddy.
Turns out the river is oddly named…It was actually created by the draining of glacial lake Agassiz which created the River Warren which is called the Minnesota River now. So the Mississippi is really a tributary of the Minnesota that leads to some speculation. Is it because Mississippi has a nice tempo when one spells it out? Or the river was explored from the south up?
What else do I not know about my watery neighbor?
I also heard about huge waterfalls, and crushed beavers (and megabeavers.) The idea that this valley was created very suddenly, rather then slowly seems odd. The amount of water that rushed out of the lake is staggering, actually quite impossible to grasp.
We stopped by a waterfall on the side. As the River Warren ripped through the landscape, it crossed smaller streams that now just dump into the Mississippi. In the bluffs there is a grand Keyhole shaped cave. Carrie points out the moss and tells me another story. As the water exits the bluff it is laden with minerals. The moss on the falls help precipitate out these minerals and turn it to rock. She found a chunk that was fallen to show me. It is actually quite light and looks like moss. On her suggestion I take the rock and am quite found of it. This living green building the bluffs out.
I was again hearing a similar problem that John Schade talked about. Water is getting to the river too quickly. Not only does this bring the nitrogen problem, but the sediment is increased as well...Maybe we need those megabeavers again.
Pointing out some particularly ugly apartment buildings she stated that that area was not settled early because of the lack of soil, impossible to create basements. Now we are stuck with these buildings that stick out on the cliffs.
Finally I was on the water, looking at erosion on banks and seeing differences in the soil. I saw the dog park from the water…
Then it struck me. I had seen the same wonder that I had seen in both Gary and John’s eyes. Carrie was caught, pointing out fossils, explaining her passion. There of course was the similarity, but something was coming forth. She was searching out something, a story that was apart from her. She was discovering, searching, and teaching something that was completely apart from her. I imagined her grabbing onto a whale and riding it, in that way she was along for the ride. It seemed very freeing.
I was left with two words. Discovery and Creation
Do Artists create and Scientists discover? That seemed way too simplified, and I know Artists who discover and Scientists that create. But somewhere in these thoughts of objective and subject, discovery and creation, internal and external, stands a captivating thought.
Paddling needs to happen more in my life.
I Just Love Rnning Water
“I just love running water”
Scientist:
John Schade
Assistant Professor Biology and Environmental Studies
St. Olaf College
Date:
October 18th, 2009
Location:
Minnehaha Park
We are just a stop. Have to stop thinking about the human as a discreet entity. Things go in, things come out.
Just a stop.
It was great to approach a stream with a river ecologist, and just see that utter fascination with running water, transcendent glee over an action. I have seen this gaze in many artists over materials and processes before, another distinct sign that these worlds are very similar. We look and stand in wonder.
“I just love running water”
There was talk about the nitrogen cycle and though it was a great description, this is so complex that I am awaiting a good diagram that John stated he would give me. Of the three elements he is interested in (phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon) Nitrogen strikes my fancy. It is in abundance based on agriculture, or more over monoculture’s need to augment the soil. It is creating dead-zones in the Gulf of Mexico. Oddly, I have been thinking that people are not getting on the river enough, and now I find out that water is getting there too fast…
When one tries to maximize one aspect of a system, there will always be repercussions.
So it boils down to the system, we need to see systems and not discreet objects. Based on an evolutionary thought, I assume we are hard-wired for the immediate. Fixing a problem is right there; it helps for day-to-day survival. In a way, since we have become distanced from our environment and so abundant, we must push past the immediate and think in systematic ways.
On a practical note, John talked about a filter that filters out nitrogen that is made of wood chips. These chips have to be changed out periodically, but it does work. I am interested of course, but how does one use this “band-aide” approach, yet educate that even this nifty thing is replacing a lost system, or trying to patch a broken system? This seems to be a key. Yeah, short-term fixes can be used, but they must also work toward a long-term solution. I like this idea, it seems to offer great aesthetic potential.
We plan on another walk…
Scientist:
John Schade
Assistant Professor Biology and Environmental Studies
St. Olaf College
Date:
October 18th, 2009
Location:
Minnehaha Park
We are just a stop. Have to stop thinking about the human as a discreet entity. Things go in, things come out.
Just a stop.
It was great to approach a stream with a river ecologist, and just see that utter fascination with running water, transcendent glee over an action. I have seen this gaze in many artists over materials and processes before, another distinct sign that these worlds are very similar. We look and stand in wonder.
“I just love running water”
There was talk about the nitrogen cycle and though it was a great description, this is so complex that I am awaiting a good diagram that John stated he would give me. Of the three elements he is interested in (phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon) Nitrogen strikes my fancy. It is in abundance based on agriculture, or more over monoculture’s need to augment the soil. It is creating dead-zones in the Gulf of Mexico. Oddly, I have been thinking that people are not getting on the river enough, and now I find out that water is getting there too fast…
When one tries to maximize one aspect of a system, there will always be repercussions.
So it boils down to the system, we need to see systems and not discreet objects. Based on an evolutionary thought, I assume we are hard-wired for the immediate. Fixing a problem is right there; it helps for day-to-day survival. In a way, since we have become distanced from our environment and so abundant, we must push past the immediate and think in systematic ways.
On a practical note, John talked about a filter that filters out nitrogen that is made of wood chips. These chips have to be changed out periodically, but it does work. I am interested of course, but how does one use this “band-aide” approach, yet educate that even this nifty thing is replacing a lost system, or trying to patch a broken system? This seems to be a key. Yeah, short-term fixes can be used, but they must also work toward a long-term solution. I like this idea, it seems to offer great aesthetic potential.
We plan on another walk…
Shimmering Water
Waves
Scientist:
Dr. Gary Boyd
Optics
3M
Date:
October 10th 2009
Location:
Crosby Farms
Shimmering waves.
I wanted to start this conversation with the idea of waves on the surface of water. I have always been captivated by waves, not being able to understand exactly what I am looking at, so I sit transfixed. From a conceptual standpoint waves intrigue me as well. Above the surface is what I know, what I can directly experience. Below the river’s surface I cannot directly experience. I can know this environment rationally, but experientially I cannot. Waves are produced by factors both above the surface (wind, sun, moon) and below (current, depth, rocks) so based on the interaction of the known and unknown I often sit on the shore and stare. Could I learn the mechanics behind this transfixion, and if so what would this accomplish?
Turns out waves on water are incredibly complex. There are two common types of waves, compression (sound) and transverse (the up and down of the sine wave etc.) that I had learned about in the past. It turns out these waves on the surface are a combination. The water molecules rotate hitting each other, all the while they move up and down. This action is transferred all the way to the bottom of the river. There are even certain frequencies that the water can sustain, and waves within waves.
After an elegant explanation of this complexity, we focused on what strikes Gary’s fancy that of the shimmer on the water (he is after all an optics guy rather then a fluid dynamics guy). Since light reflects the same way it strikes a mirror, there was a very specific instant that the wave was in the perfect orientation to reflect the light to our eyes. This light is actually a by-product of vibrating electrons. This is the point were I need to go re-listen to his explanation of the process.
What stuck me was all this talk about vibrating electrons. Light of course is what guides us through the planet. Sure we have other senses, but the human being is primarily a visual animal. This information is derived from the vibration of electrons that are swarming around a nucleus. Furthermore, depending on what kind of energy this electron’s neighbors are interested in the object becomes reflective, or absorbent. Those absorbent guys turn this held energy to heat. Sand gets hot, water stays cool.
I often think I know something, but realize I don’t fully understand it when I try to explain it. Gary states this on our walk and I agreed, here I am in that state.
Need to ponder reflection, how to abstract this into work. There will be another walk soon.
Scientist:
Dr. Gary Boyd
Optics
3M
Date:
October 10th 2009
Location:
Crosby Farms
Shimmering waves.
I wanted to start this conversation with the idea of waves on the surface of water. I have always been captivated by waves, not being able to understand exactly what I am looking at, so I sit transfixed. From a conceptual standpoint waves intrigue me as well. Above the surface is what I know, what I can directly experience. Below the river’s surface I cannot directly experience. I can know this environment rationally, but experientially I cannot. Waves are produced by factors both above the surface (wind, sun, moon) and below (current, depth, rocks) so based on the interaction of the known and unknown I often sit on the shore and stare. Could I learn the mechanics behind this transfixion, and if so what would this accomplish?
Turns out waves on water are incredibly complex. There are two common types of waves, compression (sound) and transverse (the up and down of the sine wave etc.) that I had learned about in the past. It turns out these waves on the surface are a combination. The water molecules rotate hitting each other, all the while they move up and down. This action is transferred all the way to the bottom of the river. There are even certain frequencies that the water can sustain, and waves within waves.
After an elegant explanation of this complexity, we focused on what strikes Gary’s fancy that of the shimmer on the water (he is after all an optics guy rather then a fluid dynamics guy). Since light reflects the same way it strikes a mirror, there was a very specific instant that the wave was in the perfect orientation to reflect the light to our eyes. This light is actually a by-product of vibrating electrons. This is the point were I need to go re-listen to his explanation of the process.
What stuck me was all this talk about vibrating electrons. Light of course is what guides us through the planet. Sure we have other senses, but the human being is primarily a visual animal. This information is derived from the vibration of electrons that are swarming around a nucleus. Furthermore, depending on what kind of energy this electron’s neighbors are interested in the object becomes reflective, or absorbent. Those absorbent guys turn this held energy to heat. Sand gets hot, water stays cool.
I often think I know something, but realize I don’t fully understand it when I try to explain it. Gary states this on our walk and I agreed, here I am in that state.
Need to ponder reflection, how to abstract this into work. There will be another walk soon.
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