EVAPORATION WALKS

Evaporation 4

    Be with the ordinary
    Media: Evaporated water and dye on Ceramic plate.
    Object from walk in Coolville, Ohio 2014

Evaporation 2

    Vulnerability
    Media: Evaporated Salt, water, dye on ceramic plate.
    Location: Wildwood Park, Thousand Oaks, CA. 2014

EVAPORATION WALKS

I want to tell you about the walks I have been taking. They help me be in my body where my experiences of the world are more direct. During these walks my feet press firmly against the ground and I become increasingly aware of my environment. My breath connects to the pace of my walking – slow and steady. My hands carry well-utilized dinner plates of pigmented water through vast and unpopulated fields, urban streets, country roads and highway ditches. The color rhythmically sways like waves on a shore until evaporated. 

I work to re-discover the familiar to find respite in the less dramatic occurrences of life. During these walks the complexities of mediated existence are reduced to one quiet task carried out with a single intention, to be present.

Evaporation walking is a practice I began in 2012 as a means for letting go of grief. In collaboration with place and time, the process of evaporation sets the duration for each walk. The gesture of carrying evaporated water is a metaphor for carrying a dying body. Along the way, perceived boundaries between space and matter soften. 

The first group evaporation walk took place in Columbus, Ohio on August 2nd 2015. The second group evaporation walk is scheduled for October 31st in the Hocking Valley of Southeastern Ohio with Compassionate Friends, a support group for bereaving mothers. This project has received support from the Ohio Arts Council and numerous other non-profits including the Santa Fe Arts Institute, Ucross Foundation, and Virginia Center for Creative Arts.