Confluence is a land art

Land art

Land art, Earthworks , or Earth art is an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked...

 sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 by artists Robert Stackhouse

Robert Stackhouse

Robert Stackhouse is an American artist and sculptor. Stackhouse graduated with a Bachelor Degree from the University of South Florida in 1965. He later earned a masters degree at the University of Maryland, College Park in studio art...

 and Carol Mickett. The work sits on the grounds of the Indianapolis Art Center

Indianapolis Art Center

The Indianapolis Art Center is an art center located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The Center, founded in 1934 by the Works Project Administration during the Great Depression as the Indianapolis Art League, is located along the White River...

 located in Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Confluence was installed as part of the Art Center's ARTSPARK initiative.

Description

Confluence consists of 100 tons of Indiana limestone

Indiana Limestone

Indiana Limestone, also known as Bedford Limestone is a common regional term for Salem limestone, a geological formation primarily quarried in south central Indiana between Bloomington and Bedford....

 cascading in height in a 70-foot boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

-like shape. The second part of the artwork lays along the White River, further into the ARTSPARK. Words are chiseled into the vertical stones with one statement reading "My soul has grown deep like the rivers."

Creation

Stackhouse and Mickett created the piece in residency at the Art Center during the summer of 2004. The installation utilized motorized chisel

Chisel

A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.In use, the chisel is forced into the material...

s, gas-powered saw

Saw

A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...

s and hammers to create the columns. Stackhouse oversaw the work on the vertical stones and Mickett handled the arranging of the bases. Visitors to the Art Center were encouraged to participate by being allowed to don goggles, dust masks and gloves to contribute to the creation process. This unique opportunity to participate in the creation process was described by Art Center vice president and programming director David Thomas as being "...such a great chance to connect with people in a meaningful way, to see how an artist like this thinks and works".

Acquisition

This piece was the first installation acquired for the Art Center's ARTSPARK which, designed by Michael Graves

Michael Graves

Michael Graves is an American architect. Identified as one of The New York Five, Graves has become a household name with his designs for domestic products sold at Target stores in the United States....

, brings together art and nature. The artwork was a gift from Michael and Mary Ann Browning.

Information

The mission of the Indianapolis Art Center is to engage, enlighten, and inspire our community by providing interactive art education, outreach to underserved audiences, support of artists, and exposure to the visual arts. - Indianapolis Art Center Mission Statement

Stackhouse and Mickett aimed to create an artwork that integrated "the center's mission, to make it part of its place." Confluence also seeks to represent journeying, unity and the Art Center's relationship and placement on with the White River

White River (Indiana)

The White River is a two-forked river that flows through central and southern Indiana and is the main tributary to the Wabash River. Via the west fork, considered to be the main stem of the river by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the White River is long.-West Fork:The West Fork, long, is...

. The words chiseled into the stones tell stories of these subjects with some being inspired by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...

' poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is a poem by American writer Langston Hughes.-Composition and publication history:Langston Hughes wrote the poem on an envelope while traveling by train to Mexico as he crossed the Mississippi River to St. Louis. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" was first published in The...

."