Amybeth Site Specific - revised

AmyBeth Maran - Pond by Library

Rainbow petal rock

"Rainbow petal rock" stemmed out of an idea inspired by Andy Goldsworthy. Goldsworthy often takes materials from nature such as leaves or flowers and restructures them in their own environment in an aestetic marvel.

The petals coloring are unique to the site of the school. Collecting them was an interactive experience for me. I noticed where the flower gardens were on campus, which were memorials, and how many shades of roses I could find. I was respectful of the gardens and memorials and felt like I was pruning. I left all the healthy roses on the bushes.

Using the site of the pond I caused passer goers a moment to pause and react at nature's spectrum. As I was creating the piece I heard everything from, "how pretty," to, "are you aware of the artwork on the Canary Islands?" (I am now).

Goldsworthy deserves extreme amount of respect for his patience and dedication to minute detail. I didn't want to feel like I was doing an, "art school rip-off" of his work, yet that was exactly how I felt it LOOKED like. Creating the work was an intense experience, and I became unaware of the many hours as they melted away. My work doesn't have nearly the visual awe that Goldsworthy has, nor does it have an extra piece that was solely "me." Goldsworthy did have this to say in his, "Passage" book regarding new materials, "I often find an idea by working with a material. The problem is that by the time the idea is found the materials are sometimes so changed that the idea can no longer be realised" (Goldsworthy, 134). My largest regret of working with the materials was that I couldn't go back and undo the delicate petals to videotape my process again.

Ideally I would have liked to incorporate the pond fish in with the project. Floating the fish in plastic cups, each "pod" would float around the bottom of the pond. To juxtaposition the caught fish with the expressive rock, I hoped the viewer would feel that the fish were blind from this beautiful creation that was right in front of them. The idea of enclosing fish into tiny spaces within a large space speaks to how humans have the entire world to roam, yet so very often we close ourselves up in our own tiny orbs, unable to truly interact or see life's beauty. Artists that create “pod” experiences such as Lee Bul influence me (De Oliveira, 55, 76). While this would not be an interactive experience to humans, we could view the fish experiencing the installation. I was disappointed that I was unable to catch any fish within my time frame and wonder if I was to do it again if I could purchase fish and later add them to the pond. I hope a time lapsed video of the roses drying up and floating away in the wind will appeal to the ephemeral aspect of the piece.


Goldsworthy, Andy. Passage. Danbury: Harry N. Abrams , Incorporated, 2004.

De Oliveira, Nicolas. Installation Art in the New Millennium : The Empire of the Senses. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.