WaterShapes World

Threatened Foundations
I spend a good bit of time almost every day wandering around the Internet, exploring and evaluating information and selecting the choicest morsels to share on the homepage of the WaterShapes Web site. In the past several weeks, I’ve spotted a whole range of stories about problems related to public-sector watershapes. On the one hand are tales of drought conditions causing various municipalities to
2012/4.1, April 11 — Coloring Plaster, Hiding Plumbing, Fine Stonework and more
April 11, 2012 WATERSHAPES.COM MY PERSPECTIVE Unconventional Plaster? As he’s shaping his new approach to…
Rearranging the Furniture II
My recent blog on the formation of Artistic Resources & Training brought an unusual response: Not a single person wanted to comment on my words in print, and the many who called me directly all requested that our conversation be off the record. While that hasn’t advanced the dialogue I was hoping to build, it amply demonstrates that feelings are running high – which is, I suppose, understandable given the
2012/3.2, March 21 — Mark Holden on ART, Working with Stone, Water on Capitol Mall and more
March 21, 2012 WATERSHAPES.COM INTERVIEW It’s All About ART Seizing an opportunity to raise the…
Coming Attractions
Through the past several weeks, I’ve been caught up in a whirlwind of conversations about ART – Artistic Resources & Training. It’s the new educational forum being built by Mark Holden and a collection of like-minded professionals (including David Tisherman, Kevin Fleming, Judith Corona and Larry Drasin, among many others) who want to kick the level of instruction and information now available to watershapers and environmental artists up to
2012/3.1, March 7 — Dry-Stacked Stone, Hidden Ice Chest, Calatrava’s ‘Wave’ and more
March 7, 2012 WATERSHAPES.COM FEATURE ARTICLE Making the Most of Stone Introducing a new series…
On the Flat and Shallow
I don’t remember exactly when or where I saw my first tanning shelf, but I recall being puzzled and even a bit put off by the concept. I have never been one to loll around my own backyard pool, basically because my fair skin takes a UV beating. (Actually, I’m just tired of having my dermatologist remind me that I’m paying the piper for
2012/2.2, February 22 — Spanish Colonial Details, Hiding Drain Heads, Sutro Baths and more
February 22, 2012 WATERSHAPES.COM FEATURE ARTICLE Spanish Accents Designing watershapes to fit with architecture in…
Aesthetics First!
I ran into an interesting reaction to my last blog — the one about diving boards and slides — that forced me to meditate on my approach to this series of articles about elements of aquatic environments that I like and/or dislike. “Must everything,” I was asked, “be about aesthetics? You yourself say that diving boards and slides are a blast, but then you
2012/2.1, February 8 — Sharpening a Design, Budgeting Issues, Bellagio’s Fountains and more
February 8, 2012 WATERSHAPES.COM FEATURE ARTICLE Sharpening the Focus Wrapping up a series of articles…