As writer and artist Todd Gilens assisted ecologists in researching the dynamics of mountain ecosystems and changing climates in the Sierra Nevadas, he wondered how to translate stream science into the urban core. Confluence: Stream Science, Handwriting, and Urban Curbs, a forthcoming art installation in Reno, is his answer.
Confluence is a 4,000+ word prose poem, rendered in a custom cursive font, winding for a mile along the Truckee River, expressing how water shapes and is shaped by all it moves through.
I could use texts along sidewalks and pathways to describe how water shapes landscapes, ecologists study streams as living systems, and stories orient us to the places we’re in.
Todd Gilens
Gilens got the idea for a custom font through historical documents he found at the University of Nevada Special Collections Library. His handwriting muse was Claude Dukes, Federal Water Master for the Truckee watershed (d. 1984). The project went through early trials at Digital Arts Studios in Belfast and with Romanian typesetter, Andrei Ograda.
Using software technology to cut the calligraphy, the lettering will be rendered in bright yellow, slip-resistant material and applied to sidewalks and trails.
Confluence connects people to water’s role in shaping landscapes, celebrates the descriptive power of poetry and science, and supports how public spaces can encourage reflection and dialogue.
The city of Reno will reveal the mile-long installation along the Truckee River this fall. Read more about Confluence at nevadahumanities.org and consider supporting their fundraising effort here.
