Buster Simpson

Transcription

Buster Simpson

THE MONOLITH
Aggregate Plant
Turtle Bay Exploration Park
Redding, California
Buster Simpson
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“...An active teller of its own tale.” - R. Peterson
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PIER MONUMENT: THE STARTING POINT
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SITEMAP: HARDSCAPE / LANDSCAPE
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FOREWORD BY ROBYN PETERSON
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ARTIST STATEMENT BY BUSTER SIMPSON
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THE SHASTA DAM / MONOLITH HISTORICAL CONNECTION
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TURTLE BAY AND THE MONOLITH
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FLOOD OF 1940 HIGH WATER MARK
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DOORS OF AGGREGATION
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GEOLOGIC WATERSHED
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ONE CUBIC YARD ROOM
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POST-AGGREGATE PLANT HISTORY
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DREDGER PILE
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EXTRACTION PROCESS, THEN AND NOW
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ROCK CRUSHER MISTER AND ROCK PIT / DETENTION BASIN
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BELTLINE ALIGNMENT
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LABORERS’ OFFERING TO THE WATER SAFE
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SWALLOW MUD BOWL
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VISITORS TO THE MONOLITH
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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PHASE TWO PROPOSALS
SOLAR SHASTA DAM
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MONOLITH LUMINARY
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WORKING THE STONE INTO GRAVEL
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SOUNDS OF THE MONOLITH
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KUTRAS TRACT FARM
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BASALT CAMPANILE
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LUNCH BOX (PICNIC AREA)
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Laborers’ Offering to the Water Safe
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Pier Monument
PIER MONUMENT: THE STARTING POINT
Positioned at the entry walkway of today’s Monolith, the Pier
Monument sets reference points in time and establishes the
significance of this site. A bronze scale model of the site’s former
mill building and adjacent stockpiles of aggregate (c. 1942) sits
atop a capstone mounted upon an original concrete pier. Text
sandblasted into the capstone has been gold-leafed and reads
“Kutras Tract Aggregate Plant 1938-1944.” The other side of
the capstone text reads “Turtle Bay – 1942. At this oxbow of the
Sacramento River, velocities slow, gravel gathers. Twelve yard
buckets amass to dam the relentless aggregation.” Attached to
the concrete pier are three porcelain-enamel panels created from
historic Fairchild aerial photographs. The images capture the
changes made to the landscape during the years prior to and during
the aggregate plant’s gravel extraction from the Sacramento River
for the construction of Shasta Dam. Additionally, a drawing, also
reproduced in porcelain-enamel, depicts the 9.5-mile conveyor
beltline from the plant to the dam site. The pier provides a location
for present and future donor plaques honoring those who have
given their support.
The Monolith site
SITEMAP: HARDSCAPE / LANDSCAPE
The hardscape consists of various sizes of aggregate spread out
and in aggregate piles, decomposed granite, concrete walkways,
and railings (ADA-compliant). Landscaping includes indigenous
and volunteer grasses, an irrigated crop circle, California native
oaks, manzanita, redbud, and volunteer cottonwoods. The start
of the Beltline Alignment, which traces the path of the aggregate
conveyor beltline to the construction site of Shasta Dam, is
delineated with Italian cypresses and eventually infill to become
a volunteer hedgerow.
Vicinity map
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FOREWORD
Buster Simpson’s transformation of the “Monolith” at Turtle Bay
Exploration Park took place from 1999-2005 in Redding, California,
a growing city of about 80,000 at the northern end of the central
valley. Redding came into existence as a result of timber, mining,
and the construction (in the late 1930s and 1940s) of Shasta
Dam. The Monolith is the most visible remaining evidence of the
extensive construction infrastructure necessary to build the dam.
Locally The Monolith evokes strong passions, which Buster
Simpson’s creative process brought to the fore. A request for
qualifications in 1999 resulted in the selection of Simpson for the
project. In 2000, Simpson prepared an extensive proposal that
built upon local focus groups, presentations, and interviews with
individuals who had worked on the dam and at the aggregate plant.
Simpson laid himself and his partially formulated ideas open for
public scrutiny and critique at every step, a process unconventional
in most U.S. cities for any publicly-sited art installation.
Public feedback via the newspaper, web site, on-site comment
books, and in person ran the gamut. Some demanded that The
Monolith not be touched, and others voiced support for conventional
artistic work such as murals and bronze monuments. Many others
supported Simpson’s proposal in whole or in part. The selection
committee concluded that a conventional artistic intervention or
a small scale historic installation would bring neither credit nor
attention to the chapter of Redding’s history that is of greatest
significance, and a modified and phased approach to Simpson’s
proposal was accepted.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Phase I began in May 2001. It included restoration of the site to its
historic ground plane, installation of infrastructure to support water
features, and elements that would tell through aesthetic means
the historic story of the aggregate plant’s operation. Simpson’s
intention from the start was to honor the workers involved. The
committee wished the project to make explicit the continuity from
past through present to the future. Another goal was to clarify that
The Monolith was only a single node of the dam-building operation
and make visual the connection to the wider region. Finally,
the energy story had to be part of the mix: elements linked The
Monolith to the dam-building effort’s two-fold goals of providing
both electric power and control of the water supplies.
The concrete structure of The Monolith – all that remains of the
Kutras Tract Aggregate Plant – was “recycled” in 2000 to become
the armature for a public art commission. My approach was to
tell the story of this historic site, which served as the source of
aggregate for constructing Shasta Dam. The remaining concrete
mill building is beautiful in its honesty and strength, and illustrates
what I call “Poetic Utility.” The Monolith serves as a significant
counterbalance to the elegant dam it helped to build. Telling the
story of this place aesthetically allows a process of discovery and
investigation for visitors that complements the experience of the
space.
As it true of many one-of-a-kind public art projects, construction was
affected by unanticipated engineering requirements, rising costs,
delays to secure additional funding, and design modifications.
After surmounting these obstacles, Phase I was completed in
June 2005.
After the aggregate plant ceased operation in 1945, the site was
stripped of machinery and metal building parts, leaving the concrete
relic that eventually became known locally as “The Monolith.” This
structure served as an informal, ad hoc social gathering place for
years. Perhaps its attraction was the rich geometry of the solar
shadow plays, the classical sense of proportion in its architecture,
or the refuge its massive concrete walls provided from summer
heat. This public appreciation influenced my concepts on how
this site could continue to facilitate public engagement, either
individually or as a gathering place.
In its totality, Buster Simpson’s proposal is ambitious, exciting, and
thought-provoking. It draws attention to the passage of time and
its connection to the present, thus illustrating with impact that each
moment becomes history. It does not obscure or merely decorate
The Monolith, but makes of it an active teller of its own tale.
My first task was to be both historian and archeologist, researching
and then uncovering years of fill to re-expose the mill building’s
original floor and, with it, a number of unanticipated opportunities.
The project became a dynamic process, revealing in the ensuing
years its hidden story and my response to it. This project has
balanced the honoring of the workers at the plant with that of the
Sacramento River. The support of Turtle Bay Exploration Park in
allowing this process to move forward over the past five years
is commendable. This process has enabled me time to create
meaningful, site-specific art work with an aesthetic that is unique
to this place and its story. Phase One is complete, including
unanticipated structural and code compliance issues, and the site
is now ready for Phase Two.
Robyn Peterson
Curator, Turtle Bay Exploration Park
Sustainability is a guiding principle of Turtle Bay Exploration Park
and The Monolith Project. The balance between man’s intervention
and nature’s determination is key to the story being told. For
example, by returning the landscape to one that was reminiscent
of an aggregate plant the site no longer required heavy irrigation,
fertilization, or mowing of grass. The water features are part of a
detention and future recirculation system. The Solar Shasta Dam,
proposed in 2000, exemplifies the poetic utility approach by being
capable of producing a significant amount of electrical power.
The commanding scale of the solar array provides presence and
visual balance to The Monolith and surrounding park features,
complementing another engineering achievement, the nearby
Sundial Bridge by Santiago Calatrava.
The Monolith, August 2005
Buster Simpson
Artist
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THE SHASTA DAM / MONOLITH HISTORICAL CONNECTION
“1st Millionth Yard,” porcelainenamel door panel
Postcard of aggregate plant, c. 1940s, caption on reverse side reads: “The aggregate Processing Plant, is located at Redding,
California. The raw stock is excavated from deposits along the Sacramento River, is washed and screened and converted into
acceptable sand and various sizes of gravel. It is then carried to the mixing plants at the Shasta Dam, on the longest conveyor
belt in the world, 12 miles in length. 10,000,000 tons of sand and gravel will be required in the manufacture of 6,000,000 cubic
yards of concrete for Shasta Dam.”
Shasta Dam, c. 1970s, ”Shasta Dam today remains one of the world’s great engineering achievements. Tourists from many countries continue
to visit and marvel at this massive concrete Monolith. Within the United States, only Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state is wider, and only
Hoover (Boulder) Dam is taller. Set against the backdrop of majestic Mt. Shasta and beautiful Lake Shasta, Shasta Dam is truly one of America’s
scenic and technological wonders.” America’s Shasta Dam, by Al M. Rocca, Ph.D.
Detail, One Cubic Yard text, cast
concrete, 2003.
Photo of aggregate plant ruins, c. 2000, with conventional grass landscaping. Photo taken prior to
removal of three to four feet of indiscriminate fill.
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TURTLE BAY AND THE MONOLITH
Fairchild Aerial Photo 7-14-1940 showing first year of the aggregate plant in operation. Note the beltline and the silt plume in the Sacramento River.
Aerial photograph taken in 2004. The site is now the location of Turtle Bay Exploration Park (www.turtlebay.org), which includes the
McConnell Arboretum & Gardens, museums, and the Sundial Bridge. Calatrava’s Sundial Bridge runs parallel and 50 yards downriver
of where the beltline once crossed the Sacramento River on its way to the Shasta Dam construction site.
“At this bend in the Sacramento velocities slow, gravel gathers
twelve-yard buckets amass to dam the relentless aggregation.”
View of the north elevation with the pier monument in the foreground
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View of the southwest elevation 2005
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Left: Flood of 1940 with the aggregate plant in the background
Below center: The extent of the flood of 1940 photographed at the
bend of the river looking west with the aggregate plant operation in
the center right of the photo
Low water level in reservoir showing detail of
sediment now trapped behind Shasta Dam
View of the Kutras gravel track and the processing plant during the great flood of 1940
George Kutras’ recollection of the flood
when he was 12 years old (proportions
adjusted)
Dan Cook surveying the high water mark
Rain detention basin at the drop inlet serves as a sediment catchment for the mud
swallows’ spring arrival and nest building
Jar of Sacramento silt pigment
FLOOD OF 1940 HIGH WATER MARK
The Kutras Tract gravel operation was located in the Sacramento
River flood plain. Flooding was a common occurrence that made
this site rich in sand and gravel buildup over thousands of years.
A flood in 1940 inundated the site just as the plant was starting
operations. This was the last unchecked major flooding event of
the Sacramento River in Redding prior to the completion of Shasta
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Dam. With the damming of the river, eons of gravel placement
and sediment dispersal in the Sacramento valley ended. To
acknowledge this profound event, a high water silt mark was reestablished in 2003 using local red silt as a pigment in a “milk
paint” wash, which was applied to the walls of The Monolith. The
elevation of the high water mark was determined by a variety
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of historical observations. The High Water Mark maintains a
consistent elevation line around the entire Monolith, except on
those surfaces modified after the time of the flood. This sediment
line serves as a reminder of the important ecological function that
floods perform geologically, hydraulically, and geographically.
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Installation of Door of Aggregation #1 in the One Cubic Yard Room
DOORS OF AGGREGATION
The Doors of Aggregation are based on embellished panel doors
of cathedrals, banks, and government buildings, including many
buildings constructed during the WPA at the same time the
dam began construction. The four Doors of Aggregation serve
as the prime historical reference point for the site. Each door
represents an aspect of the aggregate operation. Two of the four
doors presently have panels on both sides. Historic photos taken
during the operation were selected from archives at Shasta Dam,
meticulously cleaned and restored, then reproduced in durable
porcelain-enamel. Each panel was face-mounted on a piece of
rubber belt similar to the material used on the beltline. The doors
were made of steel angle iron and woven wire grading mesh.
The construction approach and materials palette for the doors,
interior ramps, framed documents, and the bridge are historically
consistent with the aggregate plant.
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Door of Aggregation #1, Side One: Series of cubic yard milestones, rock samples, and
artist cameo
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Door of Aggregation #1, Side Two: Drag Line operation with 12-yard buckets
Door of Aggregation #4, Side One: Aggregate stockpiles prior to transport on beltline.
Door of Aggregation #2, Side One: Mill building processing machinery
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Door of Aggregation #4, Side Two: Beltline from aggregate plant to Shasta Dam
construction site
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Door of Aggregation #1, panel detail, rock samples
Shasta Gem Club identification of rock samples for One Cubic Yard
Top of One Cubic Yard surface, showing geologic samples cut, polished,
and identified
GEOLOGIC WATERSHED
By the time it flows into Redding, the Sacramento River has cut
through the rocks of the Trinity complex, the Eastern Klamath Belt,
and some overlying Cascade volcanics. Each of these bodies
contributes a number of distinct rock types to the gravel found
in Redding, which was subsequently used in the construction
of Shasta Dam. A map illustrates the extent of the geologic
watershed. The geologic map is reproduced in porcelain-enamel
and framed with sliced and polished core samples gathered prior
to construction by a geologist at the dam site to determine geologic
structure. The top surface of the One Cubic Yard is an assortment
of sliced rock types with their geologic names engraved in their
polished surfaces.
GREENSTONE
ALTERED ANDESITE
GRANITE
WHITE QUARTZ
CHERT PEBBLE CONGLOMERATE
FINE-GRAINED GRANITE
CHERT BRECCIA WITH QUARTZ AND EPIDOTE VEINS
CONGLOMERATE
ANDESITE
GREENSTONE WITH QUARTZ VEIN
SILICIFIED CHERT BRECCIA
DACITE
CHERT BRECCIA
CHERT
CONCRETION IN SANDSTONE
SILICIFIED SILTSTONE
BEDDED SANDSTONE AND SILTSTONE
SCORIA
HORNBLENDE GABBRO
Geologic Watershed, porcelain-enamel, 26.75” x 32.25” panel
One Cubic Yard and porcelain enamel map
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ONE CUBIC YARD ROOM
The One Cubic Yard Room is now the formal entry into what was
part of the aggregate plant building. In the center of the space
sits one cubic yard of concrete, which helps contextualize the
references made to the number of cubic yards of concrete poured
at the dam and the mass of material it took to achieve that task.
Each side of the cube has text cast into the concrete presenting
historical and technical information. The top surface is a crosssection of the various sizes of aggregate and rock that has been
cut, polished, and identified. At the entry into #1 Chamber, the
first Door of Aggregation supports historic photo documents on
both sides of the doors. Side One is a series of historical photos
documenting the milestones in cubic yards of concrete poured, and
Side Two holds documents showing aggregate extraction from the
Sacramento River. Two documents are framed on opposing walls.
One references a 16th-century aggregate operation and the other
the geologic source of the gravel found at this site.
Detail of one side of One Cubic Yard
View of the One Cubic Yard Room with One Cubic Yard, one of the four Doors of Aggregation and a framed porcelainenamel reproduction of an engraving depicting an aggregate operation in 16th-century Europe
Panels from Door #1 of the Doors of Aggregation. Detail of historic documents,
pouring concrete at Shasta Dam, porcelain-enamel panels, steel doorway. All
four doors are three feet wide, height varies between six and seven feet.
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Form work for the casting on One Cubic Yard, 2003
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View of the One Cubic Yard Room with a framed porcelain-enamel reproduction of a geologic map
of the “Geologic Watershed”
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POST-AGGREGATE PLANT HISTORY
Shortly after the closing of the aggregate plant all of the metal at
the mill was scrapped. Vast amounts of sand and gravel remained
and for a time a follow-up aggregate operation gleaned the
remaining material from the site. It was during this time that walls
and ceiling holes were busted out to accommodate the recovery
of aggregate. The site was considered an eyesore by some who
wished it destroyed, but to others, it was a valuable historic relic
to be preserved. Eventually, its intrinsic worth and its historical
significance were recognized and initiation of this project began in
1999. Three to four feet of fill within and around the perimeter of
The Monolith required removal to return the structure to its original
foundation, an excavation process that informed the direction of
the project’s scope.
Excavation by Dan Cook and
Perry Bennett of three to four feet of
fill from the site during 2001-2003 to
reveal the original floor and footings
of the historic aggregate plant
The One Cubic Yard Room with the post-1945 penetrations
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DREDGER PILE
Twelve-yard dragline buckets gathered vast amounts of dredged
material out of the Sacramento River and surrounding area at
Turtle Bay. The dredger material was then conveyed to the plant
to be sorted, crushed, and washed prior to its journey to the
Shasta Dam construction site. A nine-yard bucket sits atop a pile
of Sacramento River dredger material to mark that aspect of the
mining operation.
Above: A nine-yard bucket sits atop the dredger pile (unsorted material from the Sacramento River)
Right: Sacramento River looking upstream from the Sundial Bridge at what is left of the beltline bridge footings
Detail of Door #1 panels showing dragline extracting
material from the Sacramento River and the conveyance of
that material to the mill for sorting, crushing, and washing
Salmon spawning shadow play projected through one of the ceiling penetrations. The source of the shadow: wind vane silhouettes floating above the aggregate grading mesh.
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EXTRACTION PROCESS, THEN AND NOW
A 16th-century engraving of an aggregate sorting operation
provides a contrast to the approach seen at this site in the
1940s. The porcelain-enamel reproduction is framed using cut
and polished concrete core samples removed from Shasta Dam
during a recent modification. The aggregate in this concrete has
now returned to its source at The Monolith. This framed document
is opposite the Geologic Watershed document and the One Cubic
Yard, creating a triptych out of the three related pieces.
The processing of aggregate seen in Doors of Aggregation #2 and
#4 reveal the interior processing and exterior methods of grading
and stockpiling of aggregates. Fundamentally little has changed
in the past 500 years, as these documents reveal. Other than the
machinery replacing manual labor, it is still a process of sorting,
washing, and crushing.
Detail of Door #2 historic documents of interior plant operations
View of Door of Aggregation #2 looking out to the two water features: the
Laborers’ Offering to the Water Safe and the Rock Crusher Mister
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16th-century engraving of an aggregate sorting operation of that time. The
porcelain-enamel reproduction is framed, 39” x 27”
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Stockpiles in a bed of aggregate. In the foreground is a detail of the bronze model
sited on top of the Pier Monument.
Monolith viewpoint to cone piles
Detail of interior panels from Door of Aggregation #4 showing sorting of aggregate
ready for placement on the beltline to the Shasta Dam construction site
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Detail of cone piles with nine-yard bucket on dredger material pile
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Rock Crusher, porcelain-enamel detail door panel
ROCK CRUSHER MISTER AND
ROCK PIT / DETENTION BASIN
The large footing, battered on all four sides, once served as the
foundation for the rock crusher. This machine reduced the large
boulders into smaller, usable, crushed rock. A recently constructed
bridge traverses the north face of the foundation where a misting
system will nurture moss and lichens as a rich green wall landscape
referencing the Mossbrae Falls on the Sacramento River. Lichens
and mosses can live on bare surfaces and extract nutrients from
minerals through ion exchange. This results in both mechanical
and chemical alterations of the minerals: a rock crusher on a
microscopic scale. The Rock Crusher Mister feature is intended to
create its unique climate and ecology, nurtured by the ephemeral
wisps of mist vapor. In time, a landscape of its own making will
evolve.
View of south face of The Monolith with Rock
Crusher foundation in center, beyond is the
Laborers’ Offering to the Water Safe.
Insert of a rain event filling
the Rock Crusher Pit
Today, the Rock Crusher Pit serves as a detention pond for storm
flooding as well as a cistern for present and future water features.
In the case of the installation Laborers’ Offering to the Water Safe,
the water flows from the sculpture, through the interior chamber
rooms of the mill building, and out a weir at the Rock Crusher
Pit. The weir elevation allows for a two-way flow depending on
water levels in the pit. Normal flows will be detained in the pit, but
during high water, the flow will direct itself to the north side of The
Monolith into the Swallow Mud Bowl and continue out through the
drop inlet and into a bioswale flowing eastward toward the larger
Turtle Bay wetlands.
View of Rock Crusher and bridge
over rock pit with sump to water
table
Detail of rainbow created by Rock Crusher Mister
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View of the mist plume
at the base of the Shasta
Dam spillway
View of Rock Crusher and bridge
Mossbrae Falls on the Sacramento River
Walkway along pit to bridge and Rock Crusher Mister
Interior of The Monolith looking out through recycled aggregate screening
and shade scrim to the bridge and Rock Crusher Mister beyond
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BELTLINE ALIGNMENT
A colonnade of Italian cypress delineates the beltline alignment
as its trajectory leaves The Monolith to the southwest then turns
abruptly north to Shasta Dam. The Monolith concrete walkway
ramp mimics the beltline trajectory. The beltline path at Turtle Bay is
now erased in some places by parking lots, but the Italian cypress
will eventually punctuate the landscape, dramatically revealing
the alignment. The selection of Italian cypress was prompted by
the fact that Redding hosts a proliferation of Italian cypress, which
appear to be around 60 years old and quite possibly represent a
favored planting during the time of the dam’s construction. It is
anticipated that, like any anomaly in the landscape, the Beltline
Alignment will take on the look of a hedgerow, supporting a variety
of native and introduced plants, perhaps providing a habitat
corridor. As the alignment makes its way to Shasta Dam, the
selection of material should favor the indigenous. Plaques have
been struck to be placed at locations along the alignment.
Drawing reproduced on enamel mounted on the Pier Monument illustrating
the beltline alignment from the aggregate plant to Shasta Dam
Door of Aggregation #4, showing both sides
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The city segment of the beltline alignment, planted with
Italian cypress, could transition over time into a mixed
volunteer planting creating a hedgerow habitat
First Italian cypress site at The Monolith with a
bronze plaque noting the beltline alignment
Inset photos: Locations of cypress along the alignment, where the
opportunity allows
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LABORERS’ OFFERING TO THE WATER SAFE
As a memorial to those who worked at the aggregate plant,
Laborers’ Offering to the Water Safe is a 30-foot high sculpture
comprised of hardhats, a bucket, and an old safe.
The McDonald “T” hardhat (no longer manufactured) was the
hardhat of choice worn by the workers at both Shasta Dam and
the aggregate plant. An original McDonald “T” was use as a mold
to cast the 30 hardhats out of recycled aluminum. The water pours
from one hat to the next in a spiral descent of 30 feet. The final
hat empties into a stainless steel bucket with a gold-leafed interior.
This bucket is secured inside an old abandoned safe recovered
from the site, which is resting on its back, its door long ago ripped
off its hinges. The installation is located in the south room of the
mill building, on axis with the One Cubic Yard Room. The workers’
“bucket brigade” of cascading hats is a tribute to their efforts in the
creation of Shasta Dam and to the sustaining value water plays
in our lives.
Adjacent to the safe is an image of gold jigs reproduced in
porcelain-enamel. This document is bolted to recycled, woven
wire aggregate screening. This attachment approach is similar
to how aggregate operations typically patch holes in the screen
grating. Due to the scale of material processed, the gold extraction
proved profitable. The gold-lined bucket and the old company safe
suggest the relationship of water with value, in both commerce
and ecology. The water feature creates an audible experience like
a cascading river with bell overtones.
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Detail of hardhats, gold-leafed bucket, and abandoned company safe
Installation of Laborers’ Offering to the Water Safe
Hard hat shadow play
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Detail of water pail with gold-leafed interior
Workers at aggregate plant installing conveyor
belt, sporting the McDonald “T” hard hat
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View from second doorway showing detail of Laborers’ Offering to the
Water Safe and the Rock Crusher Mister beyond
Gold jig photo document reproduced in porcelain-enamel and mounted to recycled screen grating. To the right, in
the background and on another screen mesh is an actual rubber patch, which came with the recycled screen.
Hardhat of the Unknown Worker – in honor of those who labored here but remain nameless
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Gathering and video recording of aggregate plant workers’ recollections in 2002 and 2005
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SWALLOW MUD BOWL
An analogy can be drawn between the “mud” (concrete)
construction of Shasta Dam and that of the mud swallow nests,
which now occupy The Monolith. In the past four years the
population of the swallows has increased at The Monolith thus
providing increased insect control, guano production, and the
audible and visual phenomena of these mud dwellers.
During the recent years of site work, halted during nesting, it
was observed that standing mud provided a handy source to be
used by swallows for nest building. This prompted inclusion of the
Swallow Mud Bowl as part of the site drainage system. Normal
accumulations of silt and mud will collect into a detention basin
adjacent the drop inlet and contribute a yearly layer to the Mud
Bowl. The natural mud colors could be augmented yearly to track
the building activity of swallows through “color coding.”
The harvesting of swallow guano presents a unique challenge as
the population of swallows increases. One must avoid the washing
it “down the drain” and into the mud bowl where its intensity could
have adverse effects. Harvesting approaches will be developed in
a future phase.
Will The Monolith become the Capistrano of Northern California,
when the Basalt Bells call out the yearly return of the Mud
Swallows?
Nesting colony on the northwest ceiling of The Monolith, 2002
Detail of nests where the swallow used two different mud sources (color) of mud
Swallows gathering mud at The Monolith construction site, May 2002
Swallow Mud Bowl with Rock Crusher Pit detention outfall on left and drop inlet on right
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Guano streaked wall with High Water Mark
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VISITORS TO THE MONOLITH
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Art in Public Places Committee
Perry Bennett
Richard Bohn
Melinda Brown
Joe Burmeister
Lois Busby
California Native Plant Society
Les D. Cain
Hershell Camaron
Dan Cook
Jessica Cook
Gene Curnow
The Curry Group
John Dunlap
Pat Farley
Carol Fielding - In memory of Ted Fielding
Jim Gilmore
Ron Gimlin
Jeffrey Gluck
Chris Gray
Gen Hayashida
Edward Herlihy
Lloyd Hill
Alice Hoveman
Kathy Jenkins
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Ed Kernaghan
The Kutras Family
Todd Metten
Robert Middleton
Rex Molavec
Kim Niemer
North Valley Bank
Greg Otto
Tom Papowich
René-Joule Pâtisserie
Robyn Peterson
Alice Porembski
Janice Powell
Torri Pratt
Walt Proebstal
The Monolith Dedication, November 2005
Steve Puderbaugh
Linda Ragsdale
City of Redding
Ross Richmond
Rich Rojo
Judy Salter
Sharrah, Dunlap, Sawyer
Lee Simons
Staff at Shasta Dam
Shasta Historical Society
Shasta Mineral Club
Jack Shaw
J.F. Shea Company
Judy Smith
Marilyn Stephens
James Theimer
Trustees and Staff at Turtle Bay Exploration Park
Lynne Wonacott
First public meeting in September 2000 prior to excavation of site
— wheelbarrows full and ready to talk
Pier Monument with the accretion of donor plaques, 2005
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PHASE TWO PROPOSALS (PARTIAL)
MONOLITH LUMINARY (First proposed in 2000)
The first phase of this project dedicated resources to historical
research, excavation, code compliance, and first phase elements
illustrated in this report. The next phase proposes to direct attention
primarily to the interior rooms of the mill building and to a major
piece, the Solar Shasta Dam.
Credits from “grid banking” during daytime solar power generation
would be redirected into special nighttime illuminations.
Programs would be driven by existing data streams monitoring
the Sacramento River and Shasta Dam such as monitoring of
water levels, flows, consumption, evaporation, crop irrigation, and
weather. This data can provide an intelligent and dynamic light
event. The light source would be the efficient and cost effective
Light Emitting Diode (LED).
SOLAR SHASTA DAM (First proposed in 2000)
The juxtaposition of two elegant objects, The Monolith and Shasta
Dam, appear at first to be unrelated until one considers their
shared history and engineering principles. Both structures had
specific jobs. The Monolith, with its two-foot-thick walls, supported
massive amounts of machinery, while Shasta Dam was a buttress
of concrete, a compression arch pushing into the Sacramento
canyon wall. Shasta Dam harnessed the Sacramento River to
make electrical power and irrigation water readily available to the
valley below.
The Solar Shasta Dam proposed in 2000 exemplifies the shared
historical and technological connection, in addition to reinforcing
the sustainability mission at Turtle Bay by providing a significant
amount of electrical power. The revenue generated would provide
revenue for park operations, including The Monolith.
Image from the Shasta Solar Dam proposal presented in 2000. The ramps were a concept to provide
access to the roof as a viewing platform.
Solar Shasta Dam rests atop The Monolith, as if a gem on a plinth,
providing a metaphorical and physical connection between these
two structures. The commanding scale of the solar array provides a
presence and visual balance to The Monolith and the surrounding
park, and complements another engineering achievement, the
nearby Sundial Bridge by Calatrava.
Image from The Monolith Luminary proposal presented in 2000
Elevation of the solar array looking south. Dimensions are approximate. The structure would rest on two
existing mounting piers
Grand Coulee Dam nighttime lighting
event
Shasta Dam nighttime lighting during
construction
Monitoring devices at Shasta Dam, a data source for Monolith Luminary
Shasta Dam
Two structural studies of the bracing required to secure the solar array to the existing structure
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WORKING THE STONE INTO GRAVEL
SOUNDS OF THE MONOLITH
Prior to the sand and gravel mining of Turtle Bay, the first
manipulation of stone was accomplished by the first people making
stone tools. It seems appropriate that the #1 Chamber honor this
form of working with stone by creating a large arrow point and a
large scraper that would be dramatically lit and suspended in the
chamber space. Vitreous chips from the process of their making
would lie as detritus upon the chamber floor. The point will take
its cue from Wintu artifacts and Ishi, who, while in “residence”
at the University of California archeology department, had used
blue bottle glass to sculpt an elegant point, exemplifying adaptive
reuse. The tribes of this region were very skillful at working with
obsidian, which is essentially glass. This adaptability could be
paralleled with today by using dichroic glass, a new high-tech
glass used in missile guidance systems. The space will be lit
with strategically placed sunlight ports naturally illuminating the
objects. Because all three chambers are acoustically alive, sound
will be an important component in each. In #1 Chamber, sounds
will include the actual recording of chipping stone sounds while
making the large scraper, overlaid with ethnographic recordings in
the Wintu native tongue.
The next chamber, #2 Chamber Room, will be a vessel of sounds
simulating an aggregate plant with the overlay of voices recorded
in 2003 and 2005 of workers’ recollections. This approach will
incorporate reflections and sounds of gravel sorting. Just as with
#1 Chamber, this space will be dramatically lit with strategically
placed ports for sunlight in the ceiling. From this room the visitor
walks out toward the Laborers’ Offering to the Water Safe, providing
a strong connection to the intent that The Monolith memorialize
those who worked here.
View of #1 Chamber Room
View of #2 Chamber Room
Scraper tool in the collection of Turtle Bay Exploration Park
Illustration of a Dichroic Point
Inset: Ishi point
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KUTRAS TRACT FARM
An installation will be developed that illustrates early agrarian land
use and the customs of farming and ranching that took place on
the Kutras Tract prior to the aggregate plant operation. This room
exists between the room with Laborers’ Offering to the Water Safe
and the #3 Chamber with the Basalt Campanile. This room with its
agrarian pre-gravel operation has a southeast exposure and view
to the Rock Crusher Mister.
Proposed space at The Monolith
Family portrait, taken by Simpson
Life on the Kutras farm
Images from the Kutras family album
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BASALT CAMPANILE
The final room in the journey through the interior of the mill is
#3 Chamber. In this room specially milled basalt, the material
of Mt. Shasta, will be cut in such a way to allow the resonating
frequency of the basalt to “ring,” thus creating the sounds of bells.
The acoustically alive resonating chamber will amplify the sounds.
The tower above this room resembles a mission bell tower, from
which could emanate the campanile sound
Columnar basalt
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LUNCH BOX (PICNIC AREA)
On the east side of The Monolith a inviting noon time shaded
space, cooled by the Rock Crusher Mister, provides a likely picnic
and gathering space. The programming and design approach
are to be developed. One possibility would be lunch tables (one
cubic yard in size) that provide a porcelain-enamel eating surface
that graphically depicts different quadrants along the Sacramento
Irrigation System and their associated crops.
THE IRRIGATED LANDSCAPE (To be developed)
Tabletop detail showing
cycles of Shasta Reservoir
water levels and the
seasons of one of the crops
Large irrigation siphon down river
Applied irrigation water in the Sacramento Basin
Irrigation device
Above: Lunch tables with angle-iron legs
Inset: Aggregate plant worker eating lunch
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Buster Simpson

Transcription

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