Water In-Tension

Mixed medium sculpture
2′ w x 3′ l x 8′ h
Cheryl Buckmaster, 2023
University of Saskatchewan

Acrylic paint, Antique Victorian wood porch column (late 1800-early 1900’s), Paper mâché head, LED lit Fibre-optic strands, recycled rubber tire playground surface, glass seed beads.

A repurposed colonial porch column, smudged with prayer smoke. Elder Irene Frazer, Artists Fred Macdonald and Cheryl Buckmaster set the intention of safely cleaning oilsands tailings pond water. The intention to switch traditional Western capitalistic/mechanistic methodologies with regenerative approaches that work within the needs of the natural and social environments, now and for generations. A 12-inch nail driven through the back acknowledges the trauma to the water, and all related to it, during the extraction process. Fiber optic threads used as a medium for telecommunication and computer networking pour down to establish communication and dissemination as a goal with and without the GROW project.

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