The Outflow

Today's work: the outflow. We've already built the round platform in the last two weeks.  This week is the long snaky outflow section. As you can see, it's built from simple "ladder sections, to be  joined together on site.  Do our skill, plentiful supply of drill/screwdrivers, and large supply of good conversation, things went together fast...

 The most important accessory - kneepads (four layers, not that cheap plastic stuff!)

Local canine representative visits the site: 13 year old Dewey.

Trying to decide what to do with the yellow object...

Dewey has TWO dewclaws on each front leg: hence the name...

That black thing is a CORD - ancient device to supply electricity

Many cooks making quick work of a drain section...

structure of each drain section

Mark's Family- all here to help...

Pizza! The final reward. Three kinds, including gluten-free. Only in Benicia...

Worker Bees

Various more or less spontaneous shots of those who showed up to work on Mark Brest van Kempen's new project for the Creative Works Fund/Arts Benicia Project at the base  of First Street. I, of course, was actually cutting and screwing together pieces when not taking pictures. Apologies to those shot without attribution:

The Project's Visionary Leader

Actual Work: the Cutoff Saw

Using the Platform as Table....

Mark Shows How Water Flows Two Ways...

Holding Wood Still for Cutoff

Larnie Enjoying Not Writing

Mark Brest van Kempen's new project:

Plans for the platform base of Mark Brest van Kempen's/Arts Benicia's new  project showing what can be done to clean up our water in a biologically responsible manner:

This base is a number of plywood panels linked together and supported on short legs., so:

Everybody's probably seen the final product to be installed at the base of First Street, here:

I still think it's no coincidence that the finished product looks like the Maze at Chartres 
Cathedral in France...

Creative Work Fund Project: Benicia Waterfront Temporary Land Art

Wetland Filter

Artist – Mark Brest van Kempen

We have come up with a temporary project that touches on some of the drainage and clean water issues that might be addressed in permanent design elements (such as rain gardens) in the final design of the Benicia waterfront.

Because we can’t do any excavation or major alterations of the site for a temporary project, we have opted to created a scaled down working model showing what bio-filtration does. This will show some benefits of both a constructed element such as rain garden and also what the nearby wetlands are doing every day.

The attached illustration shows the basic idea. A holding container is periodically filled with water from a variety of sources around Benicia (creeks, run-off, etc). We are planning a number of “fillings” from individual sources (week 1: water from a local creek, week 2: water from run off source, etc). The gathering of the water and the transfer of the water into the piece can be a series of community events.

This water then slowly trickles through a labyrinthine planting of wetland plants and is then collected in a covered container. The water may be recirculated through the wetland several times using a solar pump. We are hoping to get some interest to test the water before and after treatment.

The project will not only educate the public about the role of plants in water filtration, it will also draw attention to the state of some water sources that flow into the Carquinez Strait.

The scale of the piece will be approximately 20′ wide wetland (the configuration may change, i.e. a more oblong design may be more appropriate to the site than the circular design shown). Vertical holding container will be approx. 12′ high (out of easy reach).

wetland filter location   

Meeting With Mayor

What a great start to a project in which Mark is working with the political aspects of a site as well as the physical. He had dinner with Mayor of Benicia, Elizabeth Patterson who is not only a great host but also an attorney with a wealth of knowledge about water law. She gave Mark a lot of ideas about incorporating law as a material to work with in this project.

Mark Brest van Kempen meets with Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson to discuss Public Art in the Benicia Waterfront.

The Creative Work Fund is a program of the Walter and Elise Haas FundSupported by a generous grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Waterfront Public Meeting

A public meeting was held to get input from the citizenry of Benicia about the design of the new waterfront. Topics were wide ranging, from public use of the space for events, to habitat for native wildlife, to sea level rise.

Incorporating Public Art into the plan was reiterated by many. Our Public Art Plan conveyed the importance of including artists in the planning stage of such a project

 

Mark Brest van Kempen discusses possibilities
 for Public Art in the Benicia Waterfront Plan.