One-Day Sculpture Installation by Ceramic Artist Jeffrey Downing

Bay Area artist Jeffrey Downing will create a temporary, site-specific performance near the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center to engage the community around the topic of sea-level rise. Downing will install his black-and-white ceramic columns, enhanced with nautical symbols at the top, in the Baylands, to coincide with the King Tides. The columns will be placed in the bay mud at the edge of the levee in front of the Nature Center and adjacent to the Eco Center between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Over the course of the rising tides, the works will seemingly submerge further into the water, only to be removed when low tide returns. Downing has previously created similar site-specific, short-term installations in Richardson Bay in Sausalito (pictured above) as part of a residency at MarinMOCA in Novato. His work provides a creative reinforcement of scientific data about sea level rise, capturing people’s attention through a different medium. “King Tides show what tides are going to look like with sea level rise, and everybody’s learning now that sea level rise is progressing because the earth is getting warmer and the ice caps are melting,” he says.

Over the course of the day-long Baylands installation, the Art Center and artist hope to engage intentional visitors and also attract Baylands recreational users. During the installation, the artist will be available to talk to viewers about his work and process.

The sites of the installation have been identified to minimize any impact to plants or wildlife habitat at the Baylands. Special care will be taken to minimize the artist’s movement in areas outside pedestrian pathways to reduce any lasting impact to the environment.  

This installation is presented in conjunction with the Palo Alto Art Center's exhibition Under Water on view from January 21-April 8, 2023.

 

When

Location

Lucy Evans Baylands Interpretive Center and Eco Center, Baylands