Marcia Huyer is an installation-based artist who moved to Western Newfoundland two years ago. She has been amazed with the diversity and wonder of the landscape of Western Newfoundland, in particular the evident history locked within the diverse geological formations of the province. She has participated in numerous art festivals such as CB Nuit in Corner Brook, NL and Third Shift in Saint John, NB. For this unique project, When Stones Spoke, she created a set of two tent shaped forms in colours that correspond with the geological formations and rocks of Gros Morne. The sculptures were installed at Green Point, a geologically significant site where fossils that define the boundary between the Cambrian and Ordovician periods were found. The project also has a performative element with performers inside the sculptures to move the fabric to respond with the landscape.
Marcia’s Connecting through Culture project explored scales of time through recording the ephemeral choreographed actions which are humbled against the backdrop of the eons exposed within the surrounding rock. Like the rocks, this moment of activity is solidified within a video. The sculptures explore ideas of the natural landscape and human influenced landscapes. Gros Morne portrays both -the evidence of a changing world as seen within rocks but also the roads and the communities throughout the park. The sculptures also reference the tents which are part of the landscape of Gros Morne. From a distance the forms will be indistinguishable from being a tent or an erratic boulder and as one gets closer, the answer is still not clear. The pick up and go structure of a tent contrasts greatly with the slow movement of geology. The light and flexible materials of the sculptures are conducive to adding a performative element to the work. When the pieces are activated by the movement of people the project then investigates time; the synthetic skinned sculptures against the backdrop of an action that happened eons ago.
