'Her floe-fall lament (COP21)
Sara Mark, 2015
Frozen water, oil drum, steel, wood-ash.
Installed at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London.
Midnight 29 November - 9pm 30 November 2015
Size variable approx. 165 x 200 x 300cms
‘Her floe-fall lament (COP21)’ was made by freezing 66 litres of water in an oil drum. Placed to cause maximum disruption, the constant amplified sound of the melt-water pouring into the oil barrel was an insistent reminder of something happening in real-time elsewhere in the World.
“I made my first ice-melt in 2006, after attending a Climate Change seminar for artists at the RSA. Profoundly shocked I needed to address the issue in my work; since then I have used thawing ice to symbolise transformation and the passing of time. The outcome is inevitable, but with it come release, warmth and a certain stillness after days of noise and agitation."
Sara Mark
St. James's Piccadilly in London was filled with the sound of melting ice all through the day on the eve of the Paris Climate Summit (COP21). The gradual disappearance of the huge block of ice cast in the shape of an oil drum and the continual pouring of water was a vivid reminder of events taking place elsewhere in the world.
Sara Mark, 2013
in collaboration with
Blacksmiths: Simon Butler, Ben Horrobin, Andy Thearle, Alistair James, James Horrobin. Glass-blower: Rosie Sutcliffe
Installation at Sion Hill, Bath
(1500 x 2000 x 240 cms)
Timber, galvanised steel, hand forged steel, blown glass, wood ash, roofing felt, rope, artesian water, well-water, acrylic, LED lights, fluorescent lights, found bicycle wheels, ammonite fossil.
HOUSE attempts to manifest ‘spirit of place’ and is an enquiry into ‘soulfulness’ and what engenders it. It became a phenomenological investigation into ‘my place in the world’
Description A 'house' stands askew on a irregular platform of beams underlit with gold light.
The interior is accessed via the gable that is appears ad hoc but made with care and precision. The back-wall and roof have been de-constructed and repaired.
The interior is a light-filled space with a crack of 'gold' light running across the floor. It contains a leaky galvanised bucket and a stack of narrow timber shelves holding seven hand-forged hooks. On the opposite wall, a shelf supports four glass bottles containing waters.
On the end wall a pair of chained double-doors offer a glimpsed view into a space ‘beyond’; a chill, indeterminately-sized volume with a water-filled floor. A rope and iron-hook hold a white de-constructed bucket above still, black water.
HOUSE is complimented by ‘Ammon’s Cart’. An assemblage of a timber platform with eight wheels carrying a fragment of large ammonite fossil.
“Perception of the inner substance of things can only be acquired through practice.” Joseph Beuys. 1970.
Performance and Workshops
During the exhibition, the gallery was dowsed for underground water in a series of workshops. A selection of local well-waters: Rode, Bathford , Charlcombe and Hamswell were available to taste.
HOUSE
Installation view
HOUSE (detail)
Galvanised bucket and floor crack
PolyDelphic (2012)
Steel, rainwater, wood-ash, found timber chair
(Size variable approx. 2300 x 2000mm)
Research into Place and its emanations unearthed the ancient site of Delphi; known as the 'Navel of the World' it was the seat of the Delphic Oracle.
The seer (Pythia) sat on a tripod stool placed over a fissure in the rock from which emanated a spring and perhaps Ethylene, a hallucinogenic gas that induced wild utterances. Polythene is technically poly-ethylene; I explore its material possibilities.
The Installation.
A tall steel tripod/plinth, supports a deconstructed polythene vessel frozen into a drum of water. As the ice in the upper vessel thaws it slowly fills the vessel below. The melt-water hitting the steel-cover marks the passing of time and fell silent after 24-30 hours.
Sara Mark, 2015
Steel bowl, Effra water, bronze powder, radio microphone
Installed at All Saints West Dulwich at the end of the Watching Loft Residency.
Water dripping from 30 foot from an invisible source, transforms plastic and rusted steel bowls; turning them gold over the course of several hours.
Becoming Golden
Video of installation at All Saints West Dulwich, London.
12-19 July 2015
All Saints West Dulwich, London.
The community were invited to bring family linen and to share its story. Table-clothes, handkerchief cases, the laundry label of an old bed sheet, tea-towels, christening robes were washed, as well as altar linen, generically known as ‘Fair linen’.
Pegged out to dry across the church aisle, it was returned ironed, folded, the following week.
the art of growing wheat
22 March - 4 October 2015
West Dulwich, London.
On the Sunday of the Vernal Equinox the project was inaugurated with a performance of Indian Bharatanatyam dance choreographed by Divya Umakanth. Wheat was distributed to local schools, community groups, and allotments.
Harvested on the Feast of Lammas (1st of August), it was then threshed and winnowed by the local community. School parties participated in its milling, at the 200 year old windmill in Brixton, London. Bread was then baked and enjoyed as a Harvest celebration in October.
"The Vernal project has been an amazing experience. It was conceived as a means of engaging the community and connecting us to the seasons, but the growing of wheat is rich in symbolism and graphically illustrates what is involved in giving “us our daily bread”.
Sara Mark
Sara Mark, 5 March - 20 April 2014
Thames water, glass, galvanised steel, rope
(75 x 150 x 150 cms size variable)
St James's Piccadilly, London.
A bucket of water from the River Thames is left to settle to dis-turb for 40 days.
Mermaids are beautiful but dangerous creatures inhabiting coastal waters; historically her attributes are a mirror and comb.
Prior to the Porthleven Residency a narrative was composed that wove the view from one of the windows in the Porthleven Lifeboat Station to the folk-story of the ‘The Mermaid of Zennor’. The text was later applied to the seaward window of the Lifeboat station from which the ‘Morveren’ buoy and a particular ‘rock’ were both visible.
The work consisted of:
‘Sing Sirens’ (2013)
3no. photographic lightboxes of the text-piece.
(90 x 90 cms.)
‘Morveren’ (2013)
Video projection
‘Morveren’ buoy (2013)
Acrylic mirror, polypropylene rope, sea-rusted steel/ drag anchor, fisherman’s float
(Approx. 120 h x 90 x 90 cms. size varies)
SEA WELL was conceived while walking the Camino Del Norte; a 550 mile pilgrimage route that follows the northern coast of Spain from the Basque Country to the Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela; it then continues onto the coastal village of Finisterra (finis terra). The End of the Earth.
Top. THIRST: to the end of the Earth
Postcard
Sara Mark, 2016
Digital print on card (15 x 10 cms)
printed by Imprenta San Martin, Santiago de Compostela.
Middle.
SEA WELL
Sea water, well water (Finisterra, Spain), glass reagent bottle, light.
Washed in Other Waters
Sara Mark, 2016
(the sparkles were present when the video was uploaded)
Sara Mark, 2012
Steel, Aqua Sulis, timber, ash, acrylic, retort clamps.
(Size Variable. Aprrox. 165 x 200 x 200 cms.)
Three geothermal springs rise under the city of Bath:
Cross, Kings, Hetling. They are Aqua Sulis.
In 2013 at a stage between Apprentice and Master, I found myself to be a Journey-woman. The tradition of journeying for two years in order to hone one's craft-skills dates back to medieval times. It still exists in Germany, where the Journeyman wears a costume of an eight-buttoned waistcoat, a gold bracelet or ear-ring, heavy boots and a walking staff.
I travelled away home in order to learn from 'masters' at Gloucester Cathedral Stoneyard, Porthleven Metalworks and a Buddhist temple in Thailand.
Photo: Brian Link, 2013
