Janet Echelman, 1.8, 2015, detail
1. a cause of astonishment or admiration
Janet Echelman, 1.8, 2015, detail
2. the quality of exciting amazed admiration
Janet Echelman, 1.8, 2015, light and shadows detail
Janet Echelman, 1.8, 2015, light and shadows detail
Janet Echelman, 1.8, 2015, light and shadows detail
Janet Echelman, 1.8, 2015, detail
1.8, 2015
knotted and braided fiber with programmable lighting
and wind movement above printed textile flooring
Courtesy of Janet Echelman, Inc.
Echelman's woven sculpture corresponds to a map of the energy released across the Pacific Ocean during the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, one of the most devastating natural disasters in recorded history. The event was so powerful it shifted the earth on its axis and shortened the day March 11, 2011, by 1.8 millionths of a second, lending this work its title. Waves taller than the 100-foot length of this gallery ravaged the east coast of Japan, reminding us that what is wondrous can equally be dangerous. (accompanying statement in the Renwick)
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1.8 is the second Janet Echelman sculpture that I have had the good fortune to experience. Last June, I went to Boston for As If It Were Already Here, her installation over the Rose Kennedy Greenway. To see my post about it, click here. Both works are equally breathtaking, inspiring and whole host of other adjectives.
Stay tuned for more posts about WONDER. I'm returning this weekend to hear Maya Lin speak at the Renwick.
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Stay tuned for more posts about WONDER. I'm returning this weekend to hear Maya Lin speak at the Renwick.
I would love to experience this WONDER in person.
ReplyDeleteThis truly is an exhibition that needs to be experienced first hand. It's possible as a weekend trip - just hop the train and enjoy the ride to DC. Enjoy!
DeleteOH WOW. These photographs are spectacular. Lucky you to see this! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you Marianne! More photos to come. Think I'll wait until after the second viewing this weekend though. Enjoy!
DeleteSo inspiring Jennifer!! Thx for sharing - these wow!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I just did an exhibition inspired by the idea of wonder....it is missing in so much of our lives! Thanks for sharing these works of wonder! -- Patti
ReplyDeleteThat is WONDERful and WONDERus. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteJennifer, this post and the two that follow about work that you have seen are really important for those of us who don't get to travel to these galleries. thank you very very much for posting.
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Judy, you are most welcome. I am happy to be able to share the experience with you. Enjoy!
DeleteWhat an experience to witness all of those undulating layers of color firsthand...and your photos of the installation are equally "wonder"ful! There must be infinite permutations depending on where you're standing & how the light is falling/the air is moving. From the first photo I get the feeling of a church or chapel.
ReplyDeleteYou've definitely inspired me to discover more about "Wonder"...
"From the first photo I get the feeling of a church or chapel."
DeleteNo, not a church or chapel although I will admit that the feelings I experienced looking at Janet Echelman's installation are much the same as those experienced gaping at the magnificence of National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Blasphemy? No. It's all that feeling of being in the presence of something far, far greater than oneself; that feeling of wonder, of awe on such a grand level that words cannot adequately describe it.
So...yes and no. Echelman's work hangs in the grand salon at the Renwick. Pre-renovation, it was a long ceiling-ed, dark and dreary room, where old paintings whose paint couldn't take sunlight were displayed (or that's how it felt). This room is probably the biggest surprise of the renovation and now worthy of such work. Or, at least, that's what I think...
Enjoy!