the illuminated corridor

a collision of public art, live music and film
image detail of tidal pourings by rebecca haseltine

works in progress

middle harbor shoreline park
the shallow tide

cheryl e. leonard and
rebecca haseltine
in performance with
ann dentel and karen stackpole

supported by the
east bay community foundation's fund for artists
click here to support
this commission

Cheryl and Rebecca have been collaborating on installations and compositions based on aspects of tidal flows in estuaries (water patterns and cycles, the dynamic equilibrium of environments in flux, and how life adapts to these changing conditions, and more), After performances and installations at NWEAMO International Festival of Electro-acoustic Music and Hunter’s Point Open Studios, the team is turning its attention to the tidal wetlands of Middle Harbor, where habitat restoration efforts are underway to support a thriving and diverse bird and wildlife community. They are developing a suite of drawings, sculpture, music and video inspired by Middle Harbor Shoreline Park.

Both artists are drawing inspiration from organic features in the park and community conversations, developing works that embody tidal elements, such as cycles, rhythms, graduated change, and fluid dynamics, in both formal structures and creative processes. The intent is to inspire interest in our local estuary by using music and visual art to evoke new awareness and questions about this little-known but essential ecosystem.

Rebecca has been building kinetic sculptures based on her experiments with estuarine phenomena, such as dispersion and sedimentation, pooling and evaporation. Her hands-off approach allows the natural materials to create shapes and marks.

windCatch
Inspired by the shorebirds populating the mudflats of Middle Harbor, these sculptures, based on the structure of bird bones, will be moving with the legendary Middle Harbor breezes and can also be influenced by passers-by.

waterTilt
An audience-interactive sand and water tray that can be tilted in any direction to make your own fluid patterns. This is inspired by the ever-changing patterns of mud and water in the mud flats – metaphorically replaying creation and the essence of our own bodies.

pendulumConsortium
Inspired by the cyclic nature of tides, pushed and pulled by the dynamic relationship of earth, moon, and sun, this sculpture invites the audience to swing pendulums to create a dance of circling stones.
[artist bio]
[website]

Cheryl’s music focuses on exploring and expressing wild realms and processes, and the human relationship within them. For this project she will cultivate amplified natural materials such as water, sand, mud, rocks, wood, feathers and shells as instruments. These materials will be played “as is” and also assembled into more complex sound-generating apparati. She is writing a series of compositions which will be performed live on these instruments by a small ensemble. The music will incorporate field recordings from above and below water in the park’s salt marsh restoration area. Cheryl will work extensively with very quiet phenomena, using microphones to reveal the surprising voices and subtle aural intricacies contained in the estuary’s natural objects and habitats. Other than amplification, no other electronic effects will be employed. Designs for musical instruments, playing methods, and musical structures will be generated from aspects of estuarine tidal patterns, motions and processes. Both instruments and the live performance as a whole will be designed to be visually, as well as aurally, engaging, and to integrate with the environment created by Rebecca’s artwork.
[artist bio]
[website]

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