Watershed

2019

West Memphis, Arkansas

46’x46’x140’

Stainless steel, aluminum, concrete, illumination

Commissioned by City of West Memphis, Arkansas

Description:

Faced with the cost of demolishing their historic but no longer used 1923 Federal Compress water tower, the City of West Memphis opted instead to transform the iconic structure into a public artwork. Watershed celebrates the West Memphis at a critical moment in its history by using this 140-foot tall artifact as a symbol of the past and the present. The installation is based on careful study of the existing structure, using the tower’s geometry as a framework to reveal new shapes and unexpected connections. Twenty-three miles of stainless steel cable were suspended from the underside of the catwalk and anchored to a new concrete bench that encircles the point where the City’s first water supply entered the ground.  From this circular gathering space, viewers can peer up at the cables as they shimmer in the wind. Aluminum tubes, painted in the City’s color scheme, are placed on the cables, and can be heard gently clanging. The installation is illuminated so that the cables appear as water cascading from the base of the tank to the ground.