2019 Boone River cleanup turns into 2020 Goldfield River Park masterpiece Hundreds of pieces of junk, 450 pounds of bronze, and countless volunteers are responsible for a beautiful new masterpiece that sits proudly in Goldfield River Park. It’s creator and organizer – Eden Hall, an artist from West Branch, Ia who had a desire to create a piece of work that had a positive impact on rivers. Not only was she excited when she found that opportunity only a few hours away from her home, but she was delighted to be a part of a project that was already in place to improve Wright County area’s rivers.
Project AWARE river clean up has successfully removed countless pieces of garbage in the Boone River by Goldfield over the past several years. Last year, Hall joined area volunteers in their 2019 efforts to clean up the waterway during the last week of July.
“I used (this clean up) as a way to get the ball rolling (for the river art I wanted to create) through an organization (Project AWARE) that was already in place,” said Hall. “It was amazing. Incredibly impressive. Well organized…they did things on canoes I didn’t know was possible.”
But before everyone set out to find trash and remove it from the river last summer, Hall asked each of the volunteers to look at the trash in a different way. She wanted them to look at it as a form of art, something she could possibly use in her sculpture construction – be it the actual item or as simple as the texture from it. Adults and children alike were excited about this added challenge to the clean up, and boy did they do a great job. That night, Hall sat inside her tent wondering what types of garbage she would get, and how many. She was in awe of how many “treasures” people actually brought her.
After collecting the pieces, she took the kids in the clean up group and had them help her make silicone molds and sculptures from their trash. When she headed back to West Branch, she took with her a trailer filled with potential for the masterpiece that would eventually find its way back to Goldfield this summer.
Excited to begin the Boone River Community Sculpture Project, which she said is about connecting a community to its river through the interactive, creative powers of art, she reached out for more involvement from some of the youth in her own community. When she contacted the art teacher at West Branch High School, Molly McCarthy, she and her students were ready and willing to be a part of a project that would not only teach them about art, but the importance and function of Iowa’s rivers. They learned first- hand that rivers are a reflection of the people who manage and live in the watershed when they came out to Hall’s farm for a day and spent time learning where water comes from and where it goes.
“The kids really got to experience the river as they went up and down the banks with me,” explained Hall.
Later, those same kids were asked to take the pieces of junk Hall brought back with her from Goldfield and use them to create small separate pieces of art that would/could be included in the Boone River Community Sculpture that would go up. The were encouraged to be creative, free, and have fun. The more they worked with the clay and silicone molds to make their pieces, the more they related to the river and how junk harms our natural resources.
“This was a great project where the kids had to work together…and what that did was take out the self criticism,” Hall said about the overall finished piece. Although Hall is the main artist, it was never about being just “her” bronze sculpture, but rather a piece about the viewpoint of many. “My goal was to have the (Goldfield) piece be something people are drawn to, but still make them think about the impact we have on the river,” said Hall.
The students of West Branch High worked on the project all winter long, and on Tuesday, June 16, Hall returned to Goldfield to assemble the 9’ x 8’ bronze and concrete art piece at Goldfield River Park. Each and every aspect of the display is a representation in some form of the river and nature, be it trash, a texture, or even the “river” which is made from molding a split maple tree on her very own farm in West Branch. She also used ammonia on some of the bronze pieces to intentionally turn it green – representing all the chemicals that we dump into our rivers that cause pollution. She hopes the river and the art piece will work hand-in-hand, that when visitors come out to enjoy one, they will enjoy the other, and that her art be a constant reminder about how we take care of our waterways and land.
This project was made possible with funding from The University of Iowa Outreach and Engagement, The Puffin Foundation, The Pollination Project, and the City of Goldfield, Iowa. Hall considers herself an artist throughout her whole life, but has been professional for the last six year. She has a degree from the University of Iowa in Metal Arts. She also has a Masters of Fine Art and spent some time as a Teaching Assistant, which ultimately led her to her desire to do a project that involved the helps of kids – hence the creation of Boone River Community Sculpture Project. Hall has also been a horseshoer most of her life and is proud to now be a bronze caster which is a profession that has throughout much of history been a man’s trade.
“Glenda Goodacre is the most well-known bronzer…she’s been a big inspiration to me,” said Hall.
Goodacre is best known for creating the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington, D.C.
