‘Running Fence’ fabric resurrected
It has been 42 years since “Running Fence” subdivided the rolling hills of Marin and Sonoma counties in Christo’s answer to the Great Wall of China.
The 24-mile art installation lasted just 14 days before its materials were given to the ranchers whose property it crossed. Some of it is out there still, and this is how Point Reyes artist Madeline Nieto Hope came upon a swath of the white nylon fabric to turn into art of her own.
Her two pieces, “Panel of Grommets” and “Fleeced,” are on display in a group exhibition dedicated to recyclables and junk at the Bartolini Gallery in the Marin Civic Center.
The exhibition, titled “Found in Our Own Back Yard,” features Marin County artists who scour the beaches, trails, ranches and recycling centers to find the raw material for their art. The other artists are Claudia Chapline, Dickens 44, Tess Felix, Judith and Richard Lang and Angela Gonzales. Some use historic materials, but only Nieto Hope’s work uses historic materials repurposed from an original artwork.
“This is material that was literally found in someone’s backyard,” says Nieto Hope of her creations made out of the “Running Fence” fabric. She never saw “Running Fence” but had seen the monument to it on a plaque at the Post Office in Valley Ford, near Sebastopol.
Nieto Hope, who has been living and sculpting in remote Point Reyes Station for 22 years, always works with soft materials that can be stitched or sewn and was able to follow the clues to a ranch 2 miles out of Valley Ford. “Running Fence” had come through this property and when it was taken down, the residents put the art to a practical use.
“This curtain was being used in their barn as a room divider,” she says. “They were taking the divider down and asked me if I wanted it.”
This particular section of “Running Fence” was 18 feet tall and 60 feet long, covered in mud and hay, and took two people to carry. Nieto Hope unrolled it on her driveway and set about deconstructing it, removing the brass grommets from the cables that held the fence to the posts.
Once she had 300 of these grommets, she sewed them back together to form a 2-by-4foot scale model of Christo’s panels, to form “Panel of Grommets.” Its companion piece, “Fleeced,” is a section of fabric cinched up to alter the nylon into something that resembles a sheepskin.
“‘Running Fence’ never went away,” she says. “It is still being repurposed in Marin County.”