More than 800 jars of soil from lynching sites across the country will be exhibited in the museum that traces the history of enslaved black people in America from the horrors of slavery to the terrors of lynching, the humiliation of Jim Crow and the current crisis of police violence against blacks.
To See a World in a Grain of Sand — A collaborative project
The Collector’s Box — Soil Projects Atelier NL was asked by geologist Richard Fortey to visualize the material transformation of one square meter of earth from Grym’s Dyke Wood. In the hands of Atelier NL, the native earth and stone yeilded a unique array of pigments, ceramics, and glass. The flint sparked as it was crushed and ground into a fine powder. When exposed to high temperatures, the flint powder melted into white, green, and bluish glass. The tough earth, kneaded, cleaned, and dried, was then exposed to a gradation of extreme temperatures. A bold array of pigments and ceramic tiles resulted, ranging from warm creamy brown to rich peat. In one small patch of ground in Grym’s Dyke Wood, Atelier NL found all of the resources to make a variety of paints, pigments, ceramic tiles, and glass.
Why the world is running out of sand
It may be little more than grains of weathered rock, and can be found in deserts and on beaches around the world, but sand is also the world’s second most consumed natural resource.
Why Sand Disappears At An Alarming Rate
Sand Is in Such High Demand, People Are Stealing Tons of It
From The Abundance and Scarcity of Sand — symposium Atelier NL found on Through the Sandglass
The Abundance & Scarcity of Sand Symposium: Michael Welland from Atelier NL on Vimeo.
The Abundance and Scarcity of Sand' is a symposium focused on the critical discussion of sand as one of the most quickly disappearing natural resources in the world. Every year, we remove billions of tons of sand from beaches, rivers, oceans and land, and lock it away in our infrastructure and technologies. This has resulted in what experts are now calling a global sand scarcity. Hosted by Atelier NL & MU, this symposium invites artists, designers, scientists, environmentalists, and the local community to participate in both lectures and in-depth conversations regarding the environmental challenges and potential solutions surrounding sand.
We dedicate this symposium to the memory of Micheal Welland (1946-2017), British geologist and author of the award-winning book ‘Sand’: A Journey Through Science and the Imagination'. Micheal had a profound poetic understanding of life and the natural world and his passion for sand inspired this very symposium. His spirit will never leave us and neither will his words. In memory of Michael Welland
We were deeply saddened to hear that Michael Welland, one of our Whizz Pop Boffins, passed away last month.
Michael was a geologist and sand expert who advised Whizz Pop Bang on all things sandy and rocky, and taught us everything we know about building amazing sandcastles. He was enormously supportive and enthusiastic about the magazine from the start. Always full of fantastic suggestions and inspiring ideas, Michael was a real asset to have on board. He will be greatly missed.
SAND WARS from Atelier NL on Vimeo.
