Watershed Sculpture Presentation - Saturday Nov. 7th

Join Daniel McCormick this Saturday, Nov. 7th as he presents his ecological installation, Watershed Sculpture. Daniel will do a presentation at his Freedom Park worksite (along the greenway, just below the Nature Museum), and then move back to his studio at McColl Center for Visual art, where he'll give a talk about some of the other great projects he's got in the works. It's Open Studio Saturday at the Center, so feel free to drop by and visit with Daniel's fellow Artists-in-Residence, too!

Come when you can - for any part of the day:
9-10 a.m.: Volunteer to help Daniel with the project on Greenway Trail
10-10:40 a.m.: Presentation at Freedom Park worksite
11:30-12 noon: Presentation at Daniel's studio at McColl Center for Visual Art

We hope to see you then!

Awesome Energy

In the pouring rain we had some of the best energy from volunteers ever. Thank you Hands On Charlotte.

Our band of 20+ volunteers were soaked in the driving rain, but never stopped. You were great company too. And we're glad to know that building Watershed Sculptures out rank the "ivy pulling" detail in interest and fun. Thanks for hanging in there all of Saturday. You really helped us move closer to completion.

It was frosty this weekend but the presence of a lone volunteer - Jay, a Boy Scout easily on his way to Eagle Scout rank, brightened our day and really helped us move the work along. We dubbed him the "Master Pruner" because no one has trimmed for us so many branches--red maple, oak and myrtle. Now, the second of three scupltures is nearing completion

Surface Design Begins

The structures are starting to shape up and this week we will begin on the surface design. Come see their transformation into sculpture.
I am getting some interesting observations from passers-by including "It looks like a lost art form." Thank you Charlotte for all the enthusiasm.
-Daniel

Volunteers Wanted

Throughout the Creating a Thread project, artist Daniel McCormick has been lucky to have willing and able volunteers. But as the project rolls on, and the supplies come in, the more helping hands the better!

Daniel will be on site at Freedom Park each weekday during the next couple of weeks from 10am - 2pm and would appreciate the help of community volunteers. If you have one day free or one week, please contact us at creatingathread@gmail.com for information* and directions.

Join Daniel and all the participants in Creating a Thread and be a part of this great project.

*Volunteers will need to wear long pants (poison ivy!) and sturdy shoes (you're in the woods!)

A Big, Sincere Thank You!

In addition to the time, resources and energy of all those involved in Creating a Thread (we can never over-recognize them: McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte Nature Museum, Catawba Lands Conservancy, Carolina Thread Trail, Queens University of Charlotte) as well as the invaluable helping hands of volunteers - we would like to give a big, sincere thank you to a few companies who have stepped up and donated materials.

These donated materials are vital to Creating a Thread and we recognize the following for their generous in-kind donations of supplies to facilitate the project: Ferguson Waterworks, United Construction, Inc., Wetland Services, ProTech and Lowe's.

Moving Forward

Thank you Nature Center volunteers for working this weekend. You really helped us get over the "hump".
-Daniel

"They Look Like Beaver Dams"

More than one passing visitor had this observation today. The sculptures are slowly taking shape and evolving.

Thank you students from Central Piedmont Community College...


...and Queens University of Charlotte.


It was great working with you today.
-Daniel

In the Shade of the Large Red Maple

With help from students from Myers Park High School International Baccalaureate Program we cleared the site of several species of invasive plants. We also planted nearly 15 trees with help from Gregg Antemann from CarolinaNatives.com. Between Freedom Park's newly designated branch of the Carolina Thread Trail and the second largest Red Maple in the state, we laid out largest of three brush walls. Big thanks also to James, Andy and Mike from Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation.

Work Begins

The site is marked and measured and materials I'll use to build the sculpture are arriving every day. Now the work begins!

Watch this site, right next to the Charlotte Nature Museum for daily changes.

-Daniel

A Word From the Artist, Daniel McCormick

This fall, I will be designing and creating erosion control sculptures at Freedom Park on Little Sugar Creek in Charlotte, North Carolina. The sculptures will be installed adjacent to a footpath, in a highly traveled public area that affords multi-use pedestrian access along the Little Sugar Creek greenway. I’ll be doing this project as part of my fall 2009 artist residency at McColl Center for Visual Art and will be collaborating with the Catawba Lands Conservancy/Carolina Thread Trail, Park and Recreation Department/Mecklenburg County Government, Charlotte Nature Museum and Queens University of Charlotte to create a site-specific sculpture installation in the park. My woven sculptures are designed to give an ecological advantage to the Catawba watershed at Little Sugar Creek. As an environmental installation artist, I design and manage the fabrication and installation of restorative art projects on public lands in urban and rural areas.

In my projects, I work in collaboration with professionals in the fields of environmental design, landscape architecture and ecological restoration. This work is intended to encourage public awareness of ecological restoration opportunities. In this process, integration and cooperation of diverse stakeholders is essential. Government bodies, private landowners, concerned citizens, regulatory agencies and funding organizations, are all players in this watershed experience.

The sculptural components I create affect the balance of riparian environment in measurable ways. They give advantage to compromised systems, and after a period of time, as the restoration process is established, it is my intention that the artist's presence on the watershed is no longer felt.

-Daniel

Marking the Thread- A Great Day!

Today's Marking the Thread event at Little Sugar Creek Greenway at Freedom Park was a huge success. The weather was perfect as neighbors, politicians, members of area organizations and passersby joined in marking Little Sugar Creek an official part of the Carolina Thread Trail.

The location of the permanent Thread Trail sign is just down the Greenway from the project location for Daniel McCormick's Creating a Thread installation project.

Daniel was able to be at today's event (welcome to Charlotte Daniel!) and meet some of the people who will watch and participate in his project. He is eagerly drawing up plans and will get started on the project on site in the next weeks.

Please enjoy some images from this great event marking a great greenway initiative by Carolina Thread Trail. And for a short video of the ceremony, click here: http://vimeo.com/6597573

Join us to Mark the Thread - September 15

September 15, 2009 will be a day of celebration throughout the Carolina Thread Trail region as we officially “Mark The Thread” with newly-designed signs in eleven communities in North and South Carolina. Visitors to the trails, greenways and blueways in these areas will be the first to experience marked segments of the Carolina Thread Trail and know that they are celebrating the debut of a landmark trail project for our region.

The celebration in Mecklenburg County, Charlotte NC, will take place at 10 AM at Little Sugar Creek Greenway at Freedom Park, below Charlotte Nature Museum. The Little Sugar Creek Greenway at Freedom Park is the location that Daniel McCormick will create his environmental installation project.

For more information about the September 15 event, either at Freedom Park or any one of the 11 North and South Carolina locations, please visit www.carolinathreadtrail.org

The project begins

A unique partnership between Catawba Lands Conservancy and the Carolina Thread Trail, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, McColl Center for Visual Art and the Charlotte Nature Museum, has produced an innovative restorative art installation taking place along the Carolina Thread Trail in Charlotte's Freedom Park.

The project will be facilitated by McColl Center for Visual Art Artist-in-Residence, Daniel McCormick. McCormick is an artist who creates site-specific installation pieces that transform natural materials into sculptural forms. These sculptures add an aesthetically-pleasing perspective to the landscape, but are also shaped to conform to the contours of eroded areas and restore natural environments. These environmental sculptural installations, made of natural materials, remain in place upon completion and become a permanent part of the landscape.

For the Creating a Thread project, McCormick will work with volunteers from Catawba Lands Conservancy, the Carolina Thread Trail and the Charlotte Nature Museum to create an installation on the bank of Little Sugar Creek, just downstream from the suspension bridge at Freedom Park, below the Nature Museum. The site was selected because it is situated along one of Mecklenburg County’s segments of the Carolina Thread Trail. The community volunteers will create the art under McCormick’s leadership during his September 8– November 23 residency at McColl Center for Visual Art.

Please check back to our blog during the coming weeks and months as we detail the progress of this exciting and innovative project. We will include information and perspectives from each of the collaborating organizations; observations, progress and news from the artist and volunteers, pictures, videos and more.