VANISHING

ARTIST

Ron Shelton

Before I stumbled upon my present medium of plastic, the element that never goes away, I spent my time with ephemeral mediums of ice and chalk on slate. Through my online arts magazine, High Art Fridays, I connected with artists around the world who also have embraced the call to do something about the havoc plastics are causing. I have been exhibiting extensively with my plastic installations. I have received funding from both The Cleveland Foundation and The Ohio Arts Council to research this medium further.

COUNTRY

USA

PROJECT

Ice Eggs

I have been working in the medium of ice for four years. There is something I find therapeutic about the cold-snow. Each winter, I have been creating ice installation in my courtyard. This particular installation consists of over four hundred spheres of ice with three to four-inch diameters. 14 and 24-inch gauge wire wrap each sphere.

I remember clearly the challenges of the winter of 2019; we experienced two polar vortexes that each were quickly expunged with unseasonably warm weather. During each thaw, I dreaded the melting of my work. I diligently monitored the weather channel daily, hour, hope the temperature would drop.

As soon as the temperatures dropped below freezing, I begin my ritual of filling balloons with water and hanging them on the line on my deck. The shape that the balloon created was a perfect ostrich egg shape. The process of layering of the spheres onto the partially melted ones reinforces the structure, bringing to my project. When the temperature reached 37 degrees Fahrenheit on March 8, 2019, I knew the days were numbered for my ice egg installation.

To oversee my carefully calculated plan slowly evaporate was disheartening.

MEDIUM

Water, wire