Art From Salt And Sugar

Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery is the site of some interesting art installations.  We learned that there would be a sugar sculpture, and went there to see it.  For opening night, torches were lit throughout the cemetery, but somehow we missed the sugar installation.  What we found instead was the salt installation.  "Without Name" is a series of boats shaped of salt, illuminated for the occasion with the sort of LED lights used for spelunking.  We later learned that boats are a common motif in Chinese memorials.  The salt boats are installed in an area of the cemetery known as "Block 14".  Metro, who owns the cemetery, is currently planning a special memorial to be installed permanently at Block 14, a former potter's field not originally part of Lone Fir Cemetery, where early Chinese railroad workers and their families were buried.  Pioneer era patients of Dr. James Hawthorne were also buried here.  

Since we didn't know what the sugar sculpture would look like, we assumed we had seen it.  Later, I discovered that we were mistaken, so we headed back the following day to find the sugar sculpture. Jacomijn Schellevis and Micki Skudlarczyk, the artists who created these works,  created "Still" as long DNA strands cast out of sugar.  The piece conjures up reflections on the sweetness and temporary nature of life.  Jasper has learned about crystals and has recently been learning about DNA, so he was fascinated with this sculpture.  Announcements about this show advised that the public was invited to touch the sculpture and take a piece of it home.  The morning dew must have done its work on the piece, and Jasper found it to be obnoxiously sticky. We realized that we were seeing the sculpture as the artists intended, as it decays.  

Lone Fir Cemetery is an important place to visit if your family is learning about local history.  Many famous Portlanders are buried here.  Monthly tours are offered, and at the end of the month they will hold their famous "Tour of Untimely Departures".  More information here:  http://news.oregonmetro.gov/1/post.cfm/organic-art-installations-invite-community-interaction-at-lone-fir

and here:  http://www.friendsoflonefircemetery.org/