Creek to a puddle

It gets smaller as it flows down?

Scientist:

Dr. Gary Boyd

Optics

3M

Date:

October 31^st, 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.