Natural Language

The Work

Natural Language consists of 2 works: a functional spiral bench and a rotating 3.7m tall mobius, both made of cast stainless steel. The bench is enhanced with representations of biological diversity and the mobius features letters and symbols derived from the world's alphabets.

“Our public art proposal for the Kelowna Library was inspired from ideas concerning language and the connections between nature and culture that one discovers with a library.” (Macklem and Jones, 1999)

The spiral incorporates cut out, engraved and 3-dimensional representations of plant, fossil, and animal life. The diversity of the letters and symbols in the mobius evokes consideration of, and respect for different cultures. The inner and outer sides relate “to the internal/external nature of language – through language and text our internal thoughts, stories or ideas become part of the broader world, and they loop again back into someone’s subjective reading.” (Macklem and Jones, 1999).

In contrast to the upright mobius, the spiral bench seems to emerge from the ground. The form was derived from the Golden Rectangle, the mathematical formula seen within the regular growth in nature. The spiral is an ode to biological diversity whereas its counterpart, the mobius, is an acknowledgement of cultural differences.

Construction of the sculptures required almost a year of effort utilizing the “lost wax” method. The process consists of moulding wax into a desired shape, casting and firing it in ceramic whereby the wax is “lost”, then pouring molten stainless steel into the ceramic mould to complete the initial fabrication. This initial casting phase is followed by laborious grinding, detailing and polishing to create the reflective, smooth surface.

The Project

The open, 2-stage competition invited an artist to design and construct a piece of public art to be located at the entrance to the Kelowna Branch of the Okanagan Regional Library.

The first stage of the competition narrowed the field to 4 candidates. The second stage culminated in the choice of Natural Language as the winning design. The $35,000 commission was installed in spring 2000. The dedication ceremony was held in June of the same year.

The Artist

Jennifer Macklem and Kip Jones have worked together on a range of large public art projects in Moncton, Calgary, Whistler and Surrey. Their work reflects their interest in the natural sciences and their desire to have the public engage directly with the work in an interactive manner.

Originally from Montreal, Jennifer Macklem completed her undergraduate studies in Paris, France, at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts and at the Parsons School of Design. She earned her Masters degree of Fine Arts at UQAM. After spending a number of years on faculty in the Fine Arts Department at Mount Allison University in Sackville, she has recently accepted a new position at the University of Ottawa.

Kip Jones studied architecture and fine arts at various institutions in British Columbia. For 10 years he operated and owned Pyramid Bronze Works, a fine arts casting facility in Kelowna. He is an expert in design, drafting and bronze casting.

Viewing

The installation is located at the north-east corner of the Okanagan Regional Library at 1380 Ellis Street.