Wawona: Pixel by Pixel

2017

Launched in 1897, the Wawona was the largest three-masted sailing schooner ever built in North America. The ship was used to haul lumber up and down the Pacific Coast and used in the Bering Sea codfishing trade. In 1970 the Wawona became a National Historic Site and she was the first ship in the nation to be listed on the National Register. In 2009 she was deemed too expensive to restore and was demolished.

Artists in the Pacific Northwest were approached with the remnants of the timbers, to make work to commemorate the vessel. My piece, Wawona: Pixel by Pixel, comments on the fact that the ship was neglected until too late, and now the only way to salvage the Wawona from images, pixel by pixel. Thus the pieces takes a heavily pixelated drawing of the piece as inspiration to reconstruct an effigy of the ship, in a wearable miniature.

Wawona timber, stainless steel, titanium

17 x 23 x 1cm (main section) on a 60cm chain