Baptism in Babb Creek, New Environmental Sculptures...

On the afternoon of June 3, I was baptized in Babb Creek at Landrus. This event was a culmination of a couple of projects and a ton of preparation, all in lieu of our wedding.

Even before Ben and I were engaged (July 16, 2006) I had been planning on being baptized at Landrus. In the spring of 2006 I did two print projects that were essentially my "blueprints" for the footbridge and stairway to be installed on trail to the creek. (links to bridge print & stairway print - i apologize, these links were just fixed 7-9-07, i didn't know they "http" had been doubled before!)

The trail is fairly well established, used by many of the campers, hikers and swimmers who venture to Landrus. At one point, a small drainage (which can sometimes turn into a flood channel) crosses the trail causing a fairly large wet spot that is difficult to cross. Over the years, people have made makeshift bridges from boards for this - this is where I decided to put in the stone footbridge. The next issue to be solved was the lack of any decent way to get down the bank of the creek to the beach. This is where I built a set of stone stairs, set into an eroded portion of the bank.

After these two improvements, the trail was much more acceptable to invite my church congregation to hike.

The bridge and stairway are part of an on-going series of environmental sculptures at Landrus. The first two sculptures were done on Bear Run (a tributary of Babb Cr. @ Landrus) - they were decorative and not meant to last, having been built straight across the creek. They are now gone for the most part. The bridge and stairway are built to be functional and last longer (they could possibly be wiped out in an extremely large flood). I built them in a style to match the surrounding stonework left over from Landrus. (photos coming soon!)

So back to June 3rd! A couple dozen of our friends, family and church family made the trek to Landrus for my baptism...it was absolutely wonderful to see "my spot" come alive with so many folks. Around 2:00pm, Pastor Steve Case and I donned wetsuits (weren't sure how cold the water was) and I was baptized! It was great - I felt so refreshed and clear!

I'll be putting up more photos of the baptism along with photos of the projects soon (as I trudge through the process of sorting and editing my mass of digital photos...)

Update: I made the local papers, no photos or mention of my art unfortunately.
http://www.sungazette.com/religion/articles.asp?articleID=19418 (sorry, I don't believe this article is available online any longer! i can email you a scan if interested, email me)