Rethinking the Public Drinking Fountain

Rethinking the Public Drinking Fountain

What A Forward-Thinking Idea Minneapolis!

Hunting for water on the moon: a brief but splashy history - space - 12 October 2009 - New Scientist

Hunting for water on the moon: a brief but splashy history - space - 12 October 2009 - New Scientist

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Runaway stars carve eerie cosmic sculptures - space - 07 January 2009 - New Scientist

Runaway stars carve eerie cosmic sculptures - space - 07 January 2009 - New Scientist

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THESE STARS THAT WERE SHOOTING THROUGH INTERSTELLAR GAS, CREATED "BOW SHOCKS" IN FRONT OF THEM THAT RESEMBLE WATER WAVES CREATED AT THE BOW OF A SPEEDING BOAT!

About those $50,000 artistic drinking fountains... | State of the Arts | Minnesota Public Radio

About those $50,000 artistic drinking fountains... | State of the Arts | Minnesota Public Radio

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Student Artist's Bronze Water Molecule Surfaces!

BIYA -- the Somali word for water, created by Amanda!

EAU-French, created by Sam
AQVA-Latin, created by Marcus
AGUA -Spanish, created by Patrick
VANN-Norwegian, created by Austin
DEJ INE-Hmong, created by Andrew
BODA-Russian, created by Eli
NIBI-Ojibwe, created by Aubrey
H2O -English, created by Macy
BINARY and BRAILLE- created by Stevie
(more photos posted soon)

Free water-what next in the first world?

Editorial Causes Uproar in Oases Worldwide--whaddya mean they just stop for a free drink???

After reading this recent op ed in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/08/14/opinion/20090814opart-fountains.html?emc=eta1-- I took some time to observe the pleasures of "free" water. It's one thing we needn't take for granted... just now take a minute to imagine its absence. By drinking our city water and re-filling our metal bottles, we are twice lucky - able to drink clean water and moreover to know that we didn't buy some Coca-Cola plastic bottled water of questionable origins..(questionable to the point of intolerable!) We have more fresh water in the mid-west than most other places on earth..I wonder why we would pay to be ripped off and rip off some other country of their meager supply at the same time!


Here are couple photos of cute kids enjoying a free drink! Rosy cheeks and happy faces! By the luck of the draw we have it-- so share it. Drinking public water helps to avoid corporate ownership of a public resource!





Post some observations here!

Residency with South High Students-Sand Mold Workshop-July, 2009

Macy, Stevie, Eli, Patrick, JanLouise, Aubrey

SAND MOLD WORKSHOP AT SARA'S STUDIO

The students learned how to do direct carving in sand-molds that they will pour in bronze.
They used rotary tools, drills and files to carve and sculpt their imagery into set up sand-molds. The negative space in the "open-faced" sand-molds will be filled with molten metal.

After completing this process the students will be docents at the Water Celebration and Hot Metal Pour: Unveiling the Fountain, Water Expo and Community Involvement (some time in October-date will be posted). The communities involved with and the neighborhood of the Midtown YWCA will have the opportunity to participate in a sand-mold workshop led by this group of students to create their imagery into "drain covers" or "water spigot handles". The molds will be poured that day to take home or get embedded into the concrete plaza design around the fountain.























Using dremel tool to carve away design.






















Aubrey carving out her pattern.

















Stevie tracing a star.






















Macy using drill bits to carve away a design in the horseshoe sandmold.






















Eli wearing graphite on white.






















Delilah Belle doing some random drilling, too.

Residency with South High Students-Sculpture Workshop-June, 2009

Metal Molecule Sculpture Workshop:

Students create cloud/molecule sculptures that will be placed in the bench on the fountain plaza.

Forms are pressed into clay and hot wax is poured in, this wax is cast in bronze by the lost wax process.











Eli is carving out his clay.

Gita pouring wax into clay relief sculpture.

Andrew taking out the wax copy


















Stevie Y inspecting his code (the "language" he chose was binary)

Aubrey takes a moment to study for her final exam for French.

Andrew sculpting and writing poetry...












































Austin throws his own clay mold.

Stevie and his negative space.

Residency with South High Students-Casting Creations Foundry Field Trip-May, 2009

For a look at lost wax casting and bronze art in Minnesota, we drove to Howard Lake to visit Wes Jones for a tour of his foundry: Casting Creations. The students received an in depth tour of the entire 20,000 sq ft state of the art facility and, after a lovely luncheon, watched one of the weekly metal pours.















The Fondeur Fashionistas
(in vintage foil suits by Vulcana)



Stevie coming out of his shell!

(or the bottom of a broken crucible on his head)














Thank You Wes and Casting Creations!

Residency with South High Students-Fossil Collecting Field Trip-May, 2009

One of the students first discoveries at the Lilydale Regional Park (old Twin City brick yard along the Mississippi River in St. Paul) on our fossil collecting field trip lead by Alan, a geologist from the Minnesota Geological Survey, University of Minnesota.

Alan helped us find, identify and understand more about some of the fossils that remain from the continental seas of millions of years ago.

During the Ordovician time, Minnesota was located 10 to 40
degrees south of the equator. The sea that covered Minnesota
contained a variety of marine organisms including corals,
bryozoans, brachiopods, clams, snails, cephalopods,
and trilobites.










Eli, Marcus, Amanda, Andrew, Gita and JanLouise
Hammering, chiseling digging and smashing limestone rock.


We found crinoids, bryozoans, brachiopods and a small piece of trilobite.

Here is Alan, he described how rocks shapes demonstrate the presence of glaciers.















Sam brushing off the sand.







Patrick


















Andrew

Residency with South High Students-Introduction to this Collaborative Process-May, 2009

Denny Sponsler, ceramics teacher at South High, was more than accomadating to our request to make art with creative teenagers, he gave us total freedom and a group of inspired students. He helped them with the logistics of scheduling workshops and etcetera into their busy days. We met at South High School in Minneapolis to discuss their participation in the creation of the bronze sculptures that will be placed in the concrete bench on the plaza next to the fountain.

The students are learning several mold-making techniques and the 2 cast metal processes. The students have gained a better understanding of our ideas and inspirations of the sculpture fountain; Minnesota Geology, Mississippi River, Community Involvement in Public Sculpture and Social/Political Water Issues (water quality, watershed, plastic water bottles, privatization of water, etc.)

After our muddy and mukky fossil field trip, we got down to brass tacks and wrote down words/ideas having to do with water in it's 3 forms, and practised the art of working backwards in clay and making impressions --we cast plaster forms.

The students began "word harvesting", gathering words about water from classmates and community members. They found the word "water" in languages spoken from their classmates to incorporate into their sculptures.