Carl Billingsley and sculpture at opening of exhibition June, 2008

Pedvale Open Air Musuem and Sculpture Park

Sabile, Latvia




Ojars Feldsbergs is directing Pedvale Sculpture Park workers as they install the cast iron Lodestone on the granite pedestal.




Transporting sculpture to site




Pedvale workers install concrete foundation for Lodestone.





Crane sets approximately 2 ton sculpture into place.





Lodestone (Front View)





Lodestone (Back View)







Carl Billingsley, Ojars Feldsbergs and Laura Feldsbergs

The Lodestone Project

 

 Sculptor Carl Billingsley is engaged in a project which combines contemporary concepts of sculpture with connections to ancient  discoveries of human culture. Referencing two discoveries which were central to the development of modern civilization; iron smelting and  navigation, Billingsley is calling the project Lodestone. Utilizing his 30 years of Iron Casting experience, Billingsley is on an odyssey of epic proportions. He is intent on casting and siting large stones of cast iron at significant points on the Earth. The first Lodestone in this project was cast this past June in Eastern Europe.Ojars Feldbergs, Latvian sculptor and director of Pedvale Sculpture Park invited Billingsley to cast and site a Lodestone at  Pedvale during the Midsummer celebration in 2008.  In Latvia the summer equinox is a very special holiday which is celebrated with fire and night long revelry. The history of this celebration dates to pre-christian time and many northern countries share the tradition. The enduring mysteries of fire and transformation are additional aspects of the “performance” of casting the Lodestones which the public finds fascinating . Ancient metalsmiths were considered to have special powers and secret knowledge. They were both respected and feared and the objects that they created were also considered to have a spirit. Perhaps these ideas still resonate when people witness sculpture being born in the fire of the furnace.

As early as the 4^th century BC the mineral Magnetite ( a magnetic mineral form of iron ) was mentioned in a Chinese book  called the Book of the Devil Valley Master. Lodestones were used as magnets and to make magnets and the discovery of a stone which could indicate the direction of North was one of the first steps in developing a system of accurate navigation which would eventually evolve into the globalization of our time. The discovery of iron smelting by cultures around the globe was another great development of technology which eventually  propelled mankind into the industrial revolution and beyond. Both of these ancient drives; to master the material world and to move freely about on the Earth are symbolized by the cast iron stones made by Billingsley. Using the GPS system to locate and record the placement of each Lodestone, Billingsley will document each installation in photographs and on-line.

 

Although the Lodestones are not themselves magnetic, they are capable of  diverting any compass because of their iron content and mass. They will therefore mark each site with an invisible force as well as with their physical appearance. Using local stones, Billingsley makes molds and then casts exact replicas of the stones  in iron. The Lodestones are  then placed either as sculptures in a public park or  sculpture exhibit or are left as anonymous markers at remote but significant locations around the world.

 

With approximately three times the density of granite, the Lodestones are extremely heavy and  difficult to move about but except for color, in outward appearance, they look exactly like the rocks in the area. In time , they will change from the dark grey color that they exhibit when first removed from the mold and develop the dark red rust color that iron develops through oxidation. Unless discovered and re-melted by future generations, the Lodestones should last an extremely long time. The longest lasting elements on Earth are stone and ceramic but massive pieces of iron will oxidize very slowly and not at all if located where there is little or no free oxygen. Billingsley plans to “place” Lodestones in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, preferably in deep trenches, by burying them at sea. These Lodestone will probably never be seen again, but their locations will be plotted by GPS. Other Lodestone will be placed on beaches where other Seas meet the land. Billingsley is working with Estonian sculptor Villu Jannasoo planning an expedition to the northernmost point in Europe to site a Lodestone at the edge of the Barents Sea in Norway.

 

A Lodestone is destined to find a place on the Prime Meridian, perhaps on the British coast of the North Sea. Another English site is near Ironbridge, where the industrial revolution began. Billingsley will also place Lodestones at sites with personal meaning for him such as the Witchita Mountians in Oklahoma , where he spent much time in his youth ”roaming the mountains with the Buffalo and the Longhorns”. Another will likely end up on the Shores of Lake Superior near  Sault St. Marie and the Canadian border where Billingsley lived for about a year.