Net Wrecker Project - a collaborative talisman

This project was developed as a collaborative experiment between a Gloucester maritime community and myself during the Covid pandemic. The large wooden timber that is the main structure in this sculpture was collected by the Gloucester fishing trawler "Explorer II" off of George's Bank in the Atlantic Ocean in 2019. The timber was hauled up off the ocean floor by the boat's bottom trawling nets. Normally the timber would be just something that wrecks nets (thus, the title 'net wrecker') and would be discarded. However, this particular piece of wood held a type of talismanic attraction to the mariner community; perhaps due to its probable heritage as a part of the keel of a sunken wooden schooner from hundreds of years in the past. After being hauled out by Explorer II, the timber lay stranded for many years at Rose's Shipyard while the community tried to decide what to do with it. The piece weighs over 900 lbs and is nearly 18 feet long, thus making it challenging to move. Cutting it up seemed unthinkable to everyone. I also fell in love with this powerfully compelling piece of wood, and couldn't stop thinking about it. I knew I had to figure out how to 'make it come alive' and resurrect it from its obscurity on the floor of the shipyard. It called out to be transformed, and I listened. Working collaboratively with the owner and steel workers of the shipyard we designed and fabricated a stand for the timber and engineered a way to transport its massive size and weight. You can feel the strength the work emits in its rising stance. The net wrecker embodies an imposing stateliness, an otherworldly power that changes its colors depending on the weather and season. It is truly a talismanic entity worthy of its ancient, mysterious, history.