Caitlind R.C. Brown and Wayne Garrett, “A Whisper in the Eye of the Storm,” detail, installation, Northern Alps Art Festival (photo courtesy of the artists)
A Whisper in the Eye of a Storm, a powerful new installation by Canadian artists Caitlind R.C. Brown & Wayne Garrett, is on now through Nov. 4 at the Northern Alps Art Festival in Omachi, Japan.
The massive work is made of 14,000 prescription glass lenses installed in a cedar forest along the shore of Lake Kizaki, creating an immersive experience that collects and reflects the light. Viewers are invited to “enter through a break in the curtain, encountering the lenses close-up, where they appear like falling rain or dew drops suspended between fine chains,” according to the artists' statement.
Caitlind R.C. Brown and Wayne Garrett, “A Whisper in the Eye of the Storm,” detail, installation, Northern Alps Art Festival (photo courtesy of the artists)
“Towering above the viewer like a shimmering forcefield or suspended rain storm, the piece draws from the powerful relationship between the surrounding region and water – as a source of sustenance, electricity, leisure and life.”
The installation was designed to highlight the beauty of Omachi, a small town in the Japanese Alps known for hydroelectric dams, its beautiful mountainside lakes and its rapidly shrinking population. More than 30 volunteers helped assemble the installation, made from lenses sourced through the Canadian Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centre in Calgary.
Brown holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Alberta University of the Arts, where she was the 2019 TD Insurance Meloche Monnex Career Award for Alumni. She has worked at Quickdraw Animation Society and Fairy Tales Film Festival and she was part of the Wreck City project in Calgary.
An artist and musician, Garrett trained as a journeyman machinist at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary. He has performed with Ghostkeeper, Amy Nelson and Ryan Bourne. ■
Caitlind R.C. Brown & Wayne Garrett, A Whisper in the Eye of a Storm, is on now through Nov. 4 at the Northern Alps Art Festival in Omachi, Japan
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