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Frozen Nova project about more than ice |
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Written by Alison Baker
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Monday, 14 April 2008 |
 This art project, created by Mary Carothers and Sue Wrbican, involves a frozen 1978 Chevy Nova and is located on the Michigan Tech University campus in Houghton, Mich. (Photo Submitted)
HOUGHTON, Mich. -- Have you ever thought your ice-covered car during those snowy mornings counted as art?
Probably not. But to Mary Carothers and Sue Wrbican, it’s pretty close to their recent large-scale art project.
Carothers, the daughter of Fred and Ann Carothers of Big Run, along with her artistic collaborator Wrbican, have taken art to new levels with their Frozen Car Project.
At Michigan Tech University in Houghton, Mich., a pile of geometric-shaped ice chunks has something unique peeking out -- a 1978 Chevy Nova.
Originally covered completely in a thick layer of ice after the project was completed in February, warmer weather has been doing its part to add to the project. And now, the car is completely uncovered.
The project is more than an exercise in large scale art, however. It’s also a statement about travel and automobiles today.
“We’re not necessarily posting all the answers,” Mary Carothers said. “We’re more asking a lot of questions.”
The 1978 Chevy Nova at the heart of the project was really the inspiration. Carothers had the vehicle, which she and Wrbican had planned to use in 2000 as a project to travel to the Democratic convention in Boston. But, due to a variety of problems, the project never got off the ground.
Carothers said she later had a dream about the Nova being frozen in ice. After she and Wrbican laughed about it -- saying it was obviously symbolic of the state of their project -- they realized it had many other symbolic meanings.
Not only is the car in its 30th year, it was also the last in the Nova line, a line of notorious gas guzzlers that was discontinued in light of the 1970s oil crisis.
“If you look at where we are now with our current state of oil, it doesn’t seem like much has improved,” Carothers said. “We’re looking at that sort of marking a 30-year timeline.”
Carothers said she and Wrbican have had many projects centered around travel, tourism and mobility related to the car.
“On the one hand, we celebrate the car, and on the other, we’re also self-effacing enough to question ourselves and hope the general public can ask some hard questions as to what we might consider changing for the future,” she said.
A second part of the project was looking at climate change, another hot button issue in the world today.
Carothers and Wrbican chose Houghton because of its climate. The town gets about 200 inches of snow per year. Initially, they had wanted to do the project in Detroit, the capital of the auto industry. But Houghton worked out much better, and the university was more than happy to be a part of the project.
“The most important thing is that it doesn’t become dangerous or an eyesore -- then we’d take it down,” Carothers said. “But it’s interesting to see it evolve over time.”
Public reaction is also a big part of the projects Carothers and Wrbican take on.
“Overall, the response was very positive and encouraging,” Carothers said, adding that although many students at the university work in the auto industry, they didn’t take offense at the art.
“They understand that the American automobile industry is struggling and working to come up with new and innovative solutions,” she said. “The conversations we’ve had with many of them are quite interesting.”
But she added there were “plenty of engineers that didn’t understand what we were doing.”
“The car guys were more interested in restoring and getting the car,” Carothers said.
Carothers and Wrbican became friends after attending graduate school. Wrbican, a native of Creighton, near Pittsburgh, would travel with Carothers to this area to visit family during school breaks, and the two discovered they had a lot in common.
Carothers is currently an associate professor of art and photography at the University of Louisville, while Wrbican is an assistant professor of photography at George Mason University. The two usually get together to do a public art project each year. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 April 2008 )
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