Mark Prier

Artwork

The Lines, 2010

The Lines, a sculpture made from hemlock and spruce posts sourced from the sawmill at the Haliburton Forest & Wildlife Reserve, was partly envisioned as a poetic analogue to the lumber spilling down the lines in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada: logs floating down the rivers to be corralled by booms in the lakes, lumber milled and shipped out, spilling down rail and roadway.

The gallery in which it was originally shown, Rails End Gallery & Arts Centre, is located in Haliburton Village’s historic railway station – literally at the end of the line, the terminus of the Victoria Railway. It was built in the heyday of the logging industry and was a lifeline for those who chose to build their lives in the Haliburton Highlands. A number of lines meet or met in Haliburton: the railway, rivers and roads have all contributed to the local industry – from bygone lumber days to the present day tourism industry.

Materials: hemlock and spruce posts, metal components.

Photos: Katrina Jennifer Bedford.

A front view of a sculpture made of wooden posts that intersect and jumble every which way. It slopes up and away from the camera to over eight feet tall. The sculpture sits on a wooden floor in a long gallery. A side view of a sculpture of made of wooden posts that intersect and jumble every which way. It slopes up and away from the front to over eight feet tall, coming to an abrupt tumble twenty feet back. The sculpture sits on a wooden floor in a long gallery.
A close-up of intersecting wooden posts revealing the intersections are joined and bolted.