Lost Art-Eastern Sierra Nevada

The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range located in California and Nevada that is over 400 miles in length and is the home to many tall peaks including Mount Whitney(14,505 feet), the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States. During the late summer month of August, I embarked on a multi-day trek into the heart of the eastern Sierra. The trip started outside of the town of Independence at a trail head named Onion Valley and finished over a week later at the top of Mount Whitney. The purpose of the trip was to create art works along the way, ephemeral installations, as part of my "Lost Art" series.

View from Forester Pass 13200 feet

Photographer: Christopher Casanova

Kings Canyon National Park, California

August 2011

My intention was to complete a piece everyday, however, due to foul weather and general exhaustion, I completed only two sculptures. I had grossly underestimated the Sierra Nevada mountains. The extreme altitudes and grueling climbs made it difficult to just survive.

"Forester" Installation View #1

Artist: Christopher Casanova

Kings Canyon National Park, California

Materials: Tree trunk and stones

August 2011

"Forester" Installation View #2-Sunset

Artist: Christopher Casanova

Kings Canyon National Park, California

Materials: Tree trunk and stones

August 2011

"Forester" Installation View #3-Silhouette

Artist: Christopher Casanova

Kings Canyon National Park, California

Materials: Tree trunk and stones

August 2011

My initial idea was to make sculptures that involved the setting or rising sun. Working with tools that estimated the exact position of the sun at sunrise and sunset, my plan was to construct installations with windows that would frame the rising or setting sun.

It was so beautiful and pure that at first, I had difficulty imaging what I could possibly construct. It was very important to me that what ever I made would indeed disappear on its own. These places can only be visited by foot or in some cases horse back, and are untouched by any thing but nature. I wanted to leave no trace and work with elements that were already in some state of erosion.

At the higher altitudes, above the tree line, I started to find these really beautiful sections of tree trunks, that were bleached by the sun. I gathered stones and built walls that incorporated these tree trunks. The end result were these sculptures with windows. I discovered that they were beautiful with full light, very interesting with the sun shining through the windows and provocative back lit seen as silhouettes. I was very happy with the results.

"Big Horn" Installation View #1

Artist: Christopher Casanova

Kings Canyon National Park, California

Materials: Tree trunk and stones

August 2011

"Big Horn" Installation View #2-Sunrise

Artist: Christopher Casanova

Kings Canyon National Park, California

Materials: Tree trunk and stones

August 2011

"Big Horn" Installation View #3-Silhouette

Artist: Christopher Casanova

Kings Canyon National Park, California

Materials: Tree trunk and stones

August 2011

"Glacial Arch" Kärradal, Sweden 2002

"Glacial Arch" Installation View

Artist: Christopher Casanova

Karradal, Sweden 2002

It is true that I love Sweden. This installation was built in a bay just out side of the town of Karradal in the Kattegat sea area.  The water was waist deep and the sculpture was built about 100 meters out in the bay.  It took two days of concentrated effort to hand carry the rocks from land to the site, an existing protruding rock formation.  The arch took many attempts but only one afternoon to complete once I had all of the elements in place.  That morning, I had gone into the forest and cut y-shaped branches from fallen trees.  The branches were used  as crutches for the individual stones, which were roughly the size of large watermelons.  Once the keystone was in place, I carefully removed the braces and the arch was complete.  

A lot of people waded out to take a closer look and though I expected someone to eventually push it over, the sculpture remained in tact for the remainder of my stay in Karradal.  I have no idea how long it stood, but I like to imagine that it is still part of that beautiful horizon.  I photographed this work with a Makina 6/7 medium format camera and the sculpture remains now in small editions of prints made from those negatives. 

I was very pleased with this piece of work, but what sticks in my mind are the memories of the fresh berries that I picked every morning for breakfast and the chill of the water.  Karradal is in south western Sweden, maybe 100 km south of Goteborg.  The stones were found in fields and are the debris of glaciers moving across the land many many centuries ago.