For this project I wish to capture the tremendous force of a collision between heaven and earth in the action of an astrological impact. This site-specific installation would visually depict the moment of a meteorite’s collision to the earth.

The sculpture would be incorporated into land at Pedvale’s Open-Air Museum.  I wish to landscape a large grassy berm, or hillock to serve as the site of the sculpture as well as to reference the curvature of the earth.  Upon the top of the grassy hillock the collision of a large granite boulder rests in a crater and a splash of iron.

Iron is the most abundant material on our planet.  The earth’s core is a mass of molten material that bleeds to the surface in volcanic eruptions and deposits of ore.  Some of the first iron to be forged by man was in the purest form of meteorites. Meteorites have had a rich impact on various cultures in the history of mankind. They have been objects of worship and mystery and have served as signs and gifts from the gods.

I wish to create an environment of substantial size and illustrate both visually and physically an explosive experience. The “meteorite” would be a large granite boulder with some carved alterations to the surface to better illustrate a rock that would fall from space.  The crater and splash of iron would be modeled in patterns that would be molded, cast and assembled on site to convey the iron in its liquid state, flowing and splashing from the earth.

This installation presents a multi-layered metaphor involving earth and man’s relationship to space and the cosmos.  I want to convey a mystical event and depict the linkage of earth to the heavens while still portraying the humbling forces of the universe.

Araan Schmidt