Sewing Needle
© Stuart Williams 1993. All rights reserved.
Big Sur, California (Length of needle = 90 meters / 300 ft.)
PROJECT IN DEVELOPMENT
© Stuart Williams 1993. All rights reserved.
Big Sur, California (Length of needle = 90 meters / 300 ft.)
PROJECT IN DEVELOPMENT
Monumental Sewing Needle: This original concept traces back to 1993 when these visual simulations were created. The project is currently in planning and development. “Sewing Needle” will be a precisely engineered replica of a typical sewing needle, 90 meters in length and 2 meters in diameter at its widest section. As though piercing a giant pin cushion, the Needle will spear the side of one of the folds in the hills, and emerge from the other side. It will, in fact, be two separate cantilevered, triangulated aluminum trusses, acting as the skeletal support for a precisely formed, polished metal skin. Each cantilever, one on either side of a fold in the hills, will be in perfect alignment to create the impression of a single needle piercing all the way through the hill.
Said the artist, ”This idea came to me during a trip to California’s central coast. I had just read a story in ‘The New Yorker’ about the geological history of the state, in which a geologist described how the ‘folded’ hills of coastal California had been ‘stitched’ together over the eons, as plate tectonic forces had repeatedly shoved the Pacific Plate up against the western edge of the North American Plate.”
This is envisioned as a temporary installation in place for 3 to 4 months.
Illustrations: ©Stuart Williams 1993Click on any image for larger view.
Said the artist, ”This idea came to me during a trip to California’s central coast. I had just read a story in ‘The New Yorker’ about the geological history of the state, in which a geologist described how the ‘folded’ hills of coastal California had been ‘stitched’ together over the eons, as plate tectonic forces had repeatedly shoved the Pacific Plate up against the western edge of the North American Plate.”
This is envisioned as a temporary installation in place for 3 to 4 months.
Illustrations: ©Stuart Williams 1993
Artist’s sketch showing the “Needle” installed in the hills.
Artist's photo simulation of the installed Sewing Needle along the Big Sur Coast.