WATERSHED
Friday, Sep 22, 2023 – Mar 15, 2024Eastern Illinois University
2010 9th St.
Charleston, IL 61920
WATERSHED is a work of land art that proposes to repurpose approximately 8,000 square feet of pedestrian walkway on the Tarble’s grounds that has become degraded over the past forty years by the growth of intricate bald cypress root systems. The proposal would see these hardscapes demolished and processed into new concrete for a reimagined configuration. Reflecting the original design of the museum’s architecture in playful ways, this artwork will create more area for the Tarble’s cypress trees to flourish while supporting native plants and pollinators while also creating a platform for people to visit, rest, read, play, exercise, and participate in future Tarble programs.
While this large-scale project continues to develop, the Tarble has installed a nineteen-by-four-foot model of the proposed artwork in our galleries to help visitors imagine the new landscape that it will introduce. Young visitors and their caretakers are invited to play gently with the model in this gallery along with special edition toys and books by the Italian modernist designer Enzo Mari.
Studio Land Arts was founded by Artist-Designer-Builder Chris Carl after receiving his Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Illinois in 2014. Working collaboratively from an ethos that positions the fields of Art, Design, and Craft as an ideal triad for relating to our built and natural environments, Studio Land Arts creates spaces that investigate systems, offer sustainable solutions, and provide platforms for engagement with each other and the world around us. In the work of Studio Land Arts, art invites exploration, design articulates solutions, and craft allows actualization. Studio Land Arts projects have been realized at many different sites and scales, from abandoned parking lots to nationally recognized museums.