Grove is a sculpture made up of five railway tie-sized posts stood on end, with strings running down the side of each one. In a strong, steady wind the strings act as Aeolian harps and create an soft, eerie, beautiful sound. Walking along the dykes was one of my favourite parts of living in Wolfville, and I was thrilled and honoured to be able to place a sculpture on them.
Click here to hear a recording of grove.
This sculpture project started in June 2016, when I met with the Wolfville Committee on Public Art. They were very supportive and were able to help me find the best location for both sculptures. The actual construction took place in October 2016. As with my music box sculpture, I had a huge amount of help from Cailun Campbell.
Bringing the lumber to Cailun’s home to cut slots for the bridges that will hold the strings. All the photos are by me except where indicated otherwise.
The ties after being cut. There’s two cuts all the way around each tie.
All of the ties buried in place. Cailun (left), Adam (right), and Trimper (not pictured) helped dig the holes and place the ties.
I’m putting on strings, bridges, and tuning pegs while Cailun works ahead of me drilling holes for the tuning pegs. The strings are high strength fishing line, the bridges are made of short lengths of copper pipe, and the tuning pegs are intended for a zither and are hammered in. Photo by Cora Ann Rogers.
Measuring where to put the strings. Photo by Cora Ann Rogers.
Stringing the first tie. Photo by Cora Ann Rogers.
Photo by Cora Ann Rogers.
Close-up of the bottom bridges and tuning pegs. Photo by Cora Ann Rogers.
There was a storm the night after stringing. I was thrilled to see that there was already some colouration on the copper. It’s my hope that the wood and metal of this sculpture will visibly weather during the time that it’s installed.
Close-up of the top bridge.
All five strung and ready to sing.
