Midden Artifacts
Cast concrete, 4.5’ x 5’ dia. (each)Brian Glaze, Hendersonville, NC
Location: Anderson Street Park
During my time in WNC I have become aware of clear cutting, strip mining, and landfill issues in the Blue Ridge Mountains spanning from Virginia on through the Carolinas. This work comments on two points of decimating our natural landscape. First, on the clear-cutting of second and third growth forests with minimal regulations, native plant and wildlife are displaced, endangered, or — in some cases — extinct. The second deals with ground water contamination through strip mining and soil leeching from landfills which were not properly constructed or maintained.
Visually, the forms draw a parallel to the design of methane caps used for gas ventilation for landfills. This became interesting to me, as the form also resembled a stripped mountaintop, with the reddish/brown color referencing the action and damage caused from the clear cutting.
Growing up in northeastern Ohio, Glaze has been surrounded by the steel industry all his life. With family ties dating back five generations, he feels a strong connection to these materials. His work has grown from traditional steel sculpture to include mixed media and collaborative multimedia performance. He works with traditional media (e.g. painting or sculpture) while exploring new avenues that technology has to offer, reinventing the reasons for working in a particular medium, while using new elements to complement that medium.