Thea Alvin: The Nature of Time
Rowan University Art Gallery
GLASSBORO, NJ: Rowan University Art Gallery presents The Nature of Time, a new installation by stone mason Thea Alvin. On view through July 24th at 301 West High Street, Wednesday – Saturday 11 am – 5 pm, Artist reception July 9th, 2021, 4 – 7 pm. This project complements the anticipated Time Sweeps, her permanent public art work coming soon to the East Garden Courtyard of Discovery Hall at Rowan University.
Made from nearly 14 tons of integrated stone pieces of Pennsylvania Field Stone, which contains fossils, moss, and lichen, the installation consists of three distinctive formations: a winding wall, a stone floor mosaic, and a cairn, which are joined by large format photographs of Thea’s numerous public art projects, ambient projected light, video and a melodic background soundscape.
Time Sweeps is a stone sculpture currently under construction, in the East Garden Courtyard of Discovery Hall at Rowan University. The approximately 264-ton sculpture will be composed of three main features: a 100 ft. long winding wall with an arch, and two non connecting winding walls, and a small passageway between the two walls, often referred to as a squeeze. The sculpture is comprised of primarily Pennsylvania Fieldstone (264 tons), which contains fossils, moss, and lichen, and also includes seven boulders (2-3 tons each) of the primary stone types (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic) including basalt, conglomerate, gabbro, gneiss, granite, rhyolite, schist. Six of the boulders sit at the end of walls and the seventh are columns of basalt that will mark the winter solstice. The wall will be capped in buff sandstone from Colorado (12 tons) containing dendrites.
Conceived as an “organic collaboration,” between the artist, the land, the stone, and the visitor, Time Sweeps is a uniquely interactive public artwork that provides quiet space for personal reflection and experiential learning.
When describing her design process Thea explains, “Each sculpture is a composed expression of the thoughts of the land itself. I’m in the moment with the chosen material, capturing that angst, that patience, that essence, and setting it in stone. The lines are laid and the rhythm is established on paper, but the melody becomes clear as the structure rises from the ground in situ.”
Using the natural world as her primary inspiration, Thea sees stone as an object in motion; as lines pushed by wind and driven by rain, casting shadows, capturing light. It is her intention to create places of rest and reflection, while honoring the natural faces of the stone by not adding too many marks that suggest that it was forced into position. The beauty of the material is allowed to shine through, imperfectly perfect. Not asking too much of the viewer, but acceptance and gratitude.
Thea Alvin is an artist and stone mason, a designer and builder with determination and creativity. She started her career in stone at age 16, working for her father as a tender, then for years as a mason and then stone mason. She refined her stone style while traveling and working all over the world, from China to Iceland, Canada to Italy, and all across North America. She draws on the traditions in stone and expands those to create large site specific, unique, geologic installations.
Time Sweeps, in progress
Contact: Mary Salvante, salvante@rowan.edu, 856-256-4521
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