The garden design for All-Rise is taken from a series of painted pattern studies drawn from my research of historic and modern international global trade. The geometric edges of the design will soften and evolve as it grows just as the systems of trade metamorphose over time. The garden links my research of Northeast labor and trade in the Industrial Era with the contemporary global trade of the Northwest. The title comes from the number of miles between Seattle and New York City.
Over the last several years I have spent time in ports along the Hudson River, studying the history of commerce between the United States and Latin America, particularly the Caribbean. At the same time, I was traveling between my home in Brooklyn and Seattle as a freelance worker for a global technology company.
During this time, I began working with materials that have fallen out of the modern production stream including mis-mixed paint, retired sails, and dead stock metallic thread. The resulting work is a metaphor for the system of global trade; a language cobbled together from the excess of our modern system of production.
View the All-Rise lot live webcam and archive here and here
More info about All-Rise and the garden here
Special thanks to Meagan Atieh, Elizabeth Spavento, Walker Macy, and all the many people who tirelessly worked to make this happen.