DAY 11 Watershed

DAY 11

The evening before we were due to be picked up by helicopter I realised that the new snow was an opportunity to make one last sculpture. Because the fresh snow was very sticky and in the blizzard anything I made was going to freeze overnight I chanced building a large difficult form that would otherwise have collapsed.

Philippa suggested I  utilise one of the three sculptures in an earlier work that had frozen into ice and could support this new construction of interlinked circles that would become Interdependence. A few hours of digging and applying the new soft snow and we had the basis of three rings interconnected like chain links. Their final shaping took place as it became darker and colder after sunset.

The storm abated during the night and a full moon traversed the sky towards Mount Aspiring. At dawn the scene was perfect for photography which was completed as the helicopter arrived to whisk us back to the green of the lowlands and our home in Wanaka. w

Huge thanks to Martyn and Louise Myer, the staff of Whare Kea Lodge and Chalet, Chef James, Guide Laetitia and helicopter pilots James and Charlie. We look forward to returning when the snow has gone for a different experience making further works for the Watershed Project. 

View of Interdependence from the air