Getting Busy

So, we decided to stick with our intentions to fabricate the original maquette, partly becuase we have the material means to do so, partly because it still feels emotionally and spiritually right to present an echo of the Great Lakes into Banff.  There is still a desire to do somethng terrible to the peice --sink it in the Bow River, burn it on a mountain, cut it to pieces and give it away as tokens for people, sing songs nearby as we smear it with ash and soak it with water.  Whatever ends up happening the truth of the matter is that we don't want this scaffold sign to be considered an object of any kind of permanence.   It is cardboard, temporary, can be re-built and reconfigured by scratch in any locale on earth, using glue or staples, a chop saw, and about two days of working time.  It can be the centrepoint for all manner of bizarre state-of-the-earth type rituals.

After feedback from the Brantford wing of TH&B, we've also been trying to push into fresh territory.  Thanks to some good reconnaissance from Ivan we have discovered a trove of plants listed on the Alberta Invasive Plants Council being dug up and thrown in compost pile in a back corner of the Banff Centre.  I have secured a large bundle of these plants and have been fashioning a long rope-like bale from them, as they lend themselves quite easily to the task.  I know there's a lot of clover and possibly ox eye daisy, maybe some kind of golden rod.   So far, web resources are inconclusive, and I still don't trust the answer of the maintenance workers.  Someone will know exactly what plants we have.  I've got a fifteen foot length of rope so far.  I feel as though I could keep making it forever.

So, the idea as it stands is to use some remaining cardboard to fab up a platform or altar or hoist to raise part of the plant-rope in the air.  I keep going back to this idea of an act of rememberance or tribute to a fallen enemy.  If we are trying to conquer the earth's territory, then we should respect these plants as worthy adversaries--they seem just as motivated and tenacious as we do. It's time we tipped our hats to our worthier opponents.  That sort of thing.