Related Projects

Water Projects
  • Windows on the Floating World

    • A project using refracted light and other day/night lighting effects for a new mixed-use building

  • Xixi Umbrellas

    • Floating umbrella sculptures in the Xixi Wetland Park of Hangzhou, China

  • Terra Fugit

    • A park design that explores the changing Everglades environment to help visitors relate to a rapidly transforming landscape

  • WaterWorks at Arizona Falls

    • A permanent installation at an old hydropower station

  • A MoonTide Garden

    • A waste site transformed into a meditative rock garden that interacts with the tides of Portland, ME

  • Drawn Water

    • A permanent piece at the Cambridge, MA Water Treatment Plant about where water comes from and where it goes

  • The Bronx River Golden Ball

    • An annual event in the Bronx and Westchester Co., NY, where the ball focuses diverse communities on the river

  • Kenduskeag Roots

    • Four sites along the river trail using fallen trees and recorded sound

  • Winding Down the Charles

    • A performance piece in Cambridge, MA about the length of the river and time

  • River

    • An illusionary river of water, light, and shadow

  • Communal Well

    • A participatory installation in Hawaii about drinking water

  • Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay

    • Proposal for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon

  • Reclamation Art

    • Reclamation Artists Boston

Temporary Installations
  • Man from City Hall

    • Boston City Hall becomes a giant character for First Night celebrations

  • Submerge

    • Video collaboration by Mags Harries & Catherine Siller for Art on the Marquee at the Boston Convention Center

  • River

    • An illusionary river of water, light, and shadow

  • Lucid Moment

    • Bringing together light, liquid, movement, and space

  • Communal Well

    • A participatory installation in Hawaii about drinking water

  • Three Gardens

    • Domestic scale gardens make intimate spaces on the grounds of the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA

  • Playback

    • Reclaiming a derelict tennis court with sound and nylon straps

  • One Legged Table

    • Bringing communities to the table to discuss global warming

  • Border Garden

    • An installation at the La Jolla Museum of Art, CA about the Mexican-US Border, water, land, and immigration

  • Demon Trap

    • An installation where vacuum cleaners become Sin Eaters with poet Peter Finch in Wales,UK

  • Our Charles River

    • Exploring the connections between people, water and rivers

  • Solstice Iceland

    • An installation exploring the path of the Sun on the edge of the Arctic Circle

  • The Gallo Wars of Civitella

    • Video work by Mags Harries and Lajos Héder

  • Reclamation Art

    • Reclamation Artists Boston

Parks, Trails & Land
  • Windows on the Floating World

    • A project using refracted light and other day/night lighting effects for a new mixed-use building

  • Meeting Place

    • A green community oasis in the Downtown Greenway, Greensboro, NC

  • Xixi Umbrellas

    • Floating umbrella sculptures in the Xixi Wetland Park of Hangzhou, China

  • Terra Fugit

    • A park design that explores the changing Everglades environment to help visitors relate to a rapidly transforming landscape

  • The Zanjero’s Line

    • A recreational path along 4 miles of the Highline Canal in South Phoenix, AZ

  • Topiary – A Twenty Year Project

    • A sculptural gateway to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo that measures time with growing boxwood

  • Mud Life of the Maumee

    • Whimsical drawings of small creatures choreograph movement along paths in a Toledo, OH neighborhood park

  • Ben’s Circular Tower

    • A place for storytelling and imagination on top of Boston’s Mission Hill

  • Kenduskeag Roots

    • Four sites along the river trail using fallen trees and recorded sound

  • Three Gardens

    • Domestic scale gardens make intimate spaces on the grounds of the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA

  • Reclamation Art

    • Reclamation Artists Boston

New York
  • Topiary – A Twenty Year Project

    • A sculptural gateway to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo that measures time with growing boxwood

  • Terullian Mantle

    • A multi-part response to the International Day Parade of New York City’s Public School 89

  • The Bronx River Golden Ball

    • An annual event in the Bronx and Westchester Co., NY, where the ball focuses diverse communities on the river

  • Playback

    • Reclaiming a derelict tennis court with sound and nylon straps

River Runes

  • Location: Temporary Installation at Art Park Niagara River, Lewiston, NY (1990)
  • Materials: Nine underground sculptures, ten viewing stands: monoculars, steel, domestic objects, brass, light and literary quotations
  • Budget: $12,000
  • Artist: Mags Harries

Art Park and the nearby Love Canal are sited on a former chemical dump. The Runes is a public art sculpture & theatrical perspective of the Niagara River dealing with filtration and purity of water. The ten sculptures are first experienced at a distance through the standard viewing stands. At each stand there is a literary quotation that expands the sculpture. This sculpture draws attention to the fishermen on the Niagara River who cannot eat the fish of the river, as the mercury levels are too high. The quote on the viewer is “Don’t blame the fish,” -anonymous.

The viewing stations are positioned within site of each other so that the Art Park visitors can discover the Runes as they meander through the park. This viewer focuses attention directly onto the Niagara River and the importance of the Great Lakes in the local and global ecology with the quote:  “One fifth of the world’s fresh water comes through the Great Lakes”- Ashworth.

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