The link below will take you to a slide show of the Tumulus construction on site at Eyedrum Gallery in Atlanta, GA.
http://www.pandrawilliams.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=11&pid=223&slideshow=2000
Urban earth FAQ, FMC
Kids are great. They don’t ask you what art is-
they tell you:
“It’s a cave.”
“It’s a fort. ”
“It’s a castle.”
“It’s a house.”
“The lights are snakes. “(?? very interesting…)
Adult comments:
” What did you mean by doing that,
by building the Tumulus?”
“Where can I get some adobe bricks?”
“Can I have your adobe bricks?”
“What are you going to do with the adobe bricks?”
“Will you give me the bricks when you’re through, huh?”
About two dozen people have asked for the adobe. I’m sorry, but the adobe is going home, to the back alley whence it came. If you google the phrase “making adobe” one of the hits will be this wonderful pdf file from the State of New Mexico extension service on how to make adobe. Two pages. The process is very simple. It is also labor intensive and time consuming. Give it a try!
Urban Tumulus: 11,000 pounds out of 12,500 pounds
Jessica Marshall E., Michael and I made 12,500 pounds of adobe bricks for the Urban Tumulus installation this past July. Earth, sand, straw, water. Each air-dried brick measures 5 inches by 10 inches by 16 inches, and weighs 50 pounds. I don’t know how heavy they were when they were wet and newly unmolded. We made 250 bricks. The weather was damnably hot, bright, and dry, the hottest week of the summer, with temperatures ranging from 98 to 103 degrees. Making adobe is brutal physical labor, each day we needed to make between 35 -45 bricks. At the end of each day we were trashed. All of us who were involved with the project have a deep appreciation for the labor that goes into building an adobe dwelling.
The reddish adobe bricks are made up of Metro Atlanta ’s red clay subsoil.
The sanitary mulch was generated from Atlanta Metro yard waste.
The Wild Grasses were collected from sidewalks in southwest Atlanta.
Drought hardened red clay picked and shoveled and full of debris: broken glass, bits of tiles, broken pieces of rusty metal.
Out of the 12,500 pounds of brick we made, we only used 11,000 pounds of adobe to line the corridor of the Urban Tumulus. At six foot two inches tall, 10 inches wide and about 21 feet long, its not enough adobe to build a one room house. Three pillars, or buttresses, provide additional support in the back. It amazes me how heavy earth is, how Solid. Earth feels reassuring and secure under our feet. Some phrases reflect the reassuring aspect of our relationship to soil. We are “on solid ground.” We can be “well-grounded.” We have “grounds” for a belief, an opinion or theory. The smell of newly tilled soil is wholesome, even comforting. When earth is under foot, all is well.
The tumulus is not underfoot.
- pandra
Jessica Marshall E.’s perspective
Wrapped in a sweeping coat of compost, Urban Tumulus is a process in existence. Its mass is substantial and gives it a presence that wants embracing. Drawn to the internal womb I find it welcoming and comforting. Once inside it is safe and hard to leave but never the least bit claustrophobic.
It is birthed from the urban soil not fit for food with grasses reclaimed from the sidewalk… recycled and born again. Even the ancient tradition of brick making was recycled and rediscovered. Made in the heat of the summer, we baked ourselves with our bricks.
As fall has come, here in the present, it moves to its next phase of existence as a womb of the earth exposed and vulnerable to us, glowing with life. I thank it for its lessons, presence and life.
-Jessica Marshall E.
Urban Tumulus
Soil. The Urban Tumulus is about soil. Soil is under our feet. We depend upon it, we ignore it, we don’t see it. All of our food comes from soil. All of us return to soil. The soil of Urban Tumulus addresses the viewer.