Meandering, 1994

Art Terre, 1994
L'Ange Gardien, Québec
uprooted earth, water 13" to 18' wide x 180 feet long
photo: David Harper

Down and across a sloping hayfield, beside a small serpentine stream just surfacing from its subterranean journey, Meandering traced fourfold the course of the water as gravity drew it back to its source. The marks echoed a rhythm, a wave, it is in the very nature of water to meander in rhythmic curves, a swaying dance over the landscape, transforming the earth, marking and mapping the course of time through space. The process of digging to create a 'ditch and bank' etched the surface of the ground, uprooting the earth and revealing the rich loam under the tangle of plants. Even as the shovel scarred the ground, the earth continued its cycle of reclamation and healing. The work was ephemeral, the elements quickly reclaimed it.