Making Wave Lines

Sliding down the face of a wave called Bus-Eater on the Ottawa River in a kayak, I feel thousands of gallons of water rush beneath me. The water speeds around a giant rock and curves back to fill the hole created by the rock. It is exactly that instant that I tried to capture with my metal sculpture, Wave Lines. 
 

The wave is lasting, but it’s also temporary. Forming and crashing continuously, it shows distinct and recognizable lines. Yet, when the water rises or falls, the wave can go away. It exists only through the constant flow of water, and no drop of water will ever be in the same spot again. My challenge is to capture the dynamic event of a wave in static sculptural form.

I use steel rods because I can imitate the lines and curves of a wave. I draw with steel. How the water gleams, the path of bubbles, and the fluctuation of the spray give me hints as to where these lines should appear in my pieces.  To create the sculpture, I have to think constantly about what a wave looks like, how it feels to be on a wave, and how I can translate that motion into metal rods. Since the sculpture can’t move, the viewer’s eyes have to move. The sculpture has to draw the viewer’s eyes in multiple directions the way water moves. My sculpture does that because it enlarges from the bottom, which is one piece of steel, to the peak, which is over 30 pieces. 

I realize that I can show other people something as dynamic as white water with something as static as steel by singling out what I can convey through the vocabulary of steel rods. My obsession with the wave comes from my love of white water kayaking. By conveying the wave, I convey myself.

Cameron Fearey

October, 2009