Participating Artists: Barbara De Pirro Miguel Edwards Aaron Haba Meredith Hall and Vaughn Bell Todd Lawson Julie Lindell Peppé Stephen Rock Gerry Stecca Kristin Tollefson Sylwia Tur Sponsored by: Center on Contemporary Art Carkeek Park Advisory Council Seattle Parks and Recreation Associated Recreational Council Department of Neighborhoods Supported by: Seattle Weekly Piper's Creek Nursery Hardware Sales, Bellingham, WA Ballard Hardware Ballard Sheet Metal		Site 6: Stephen Rock / Rock Brothers Ellensburg and Seattle, Washington www.rockeditions.com About the Arist: Stephen Rock is a co-owner of Rock|DeMent visual art space in the Tashiro Kaplan Building in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. He is the owner of Rock’s Studio, a digital fine art printmaking studio in Seattle. He has exhibited a wide range of two and three dimensional work for over 25 years in solo and group shows regionally. A native of Washington state, he grew up in Ellensburg the son of an art teacher. He was the recipient of a residency at the Morris Graves Foundation in 2005 and received a PONCHO Artistic Merit Award in 2008. His work is in many private and corporate collections around the country including the City of Seattle Portable Works Collection, Swedish Hospital Corporate Collection, the Michael and Marjorie Alhadeff Collection and the White House Christmas Collection, among others. More of his work can be seen at www.rockdement.com. Artist's Statment: Executive Decision is a dining table made of salvaged ash. Hand crafted with a modern design, the uncured wood was allowed to warp and check as it dried. The table was then altered by cutting then driving a large wedge of rough-cut Douglas Fir through the surface to create a statement about choices we make and why. For the Heaven and Earth Sculpture Exhibition at Carkeek Park, Stephen Rock, in collaboration with brothers Doug and Jeff, have added three more tables to further the conversation and give scale to the installation. The additional pieces are based on classic picnic table designs and constructed from reclaimed material salvaged from the Cascade Canal, one of Kittitas Valley’s first canals to deliver water to that region. Utilizing Doug and Jeff Rock’s Ellensburg, WA sawmill, they converted wood from the 100 year old flume into dimensional lumber. Leaving the scars of the wood’s original history and embedding landscaping boulders into the tables’ surfaces, the work reflects decisions regarding consumption, waste and natural resources. The installation of the artwork in Carkeek Park puts the work into context. The dialogue between material use, the communion that takes place around tables and the placement of incongruous objects, is intended to interrupt the utilitarian aspect of the work. Those who desire to make use of the tables are challenged to navigate obstacles and find solutions. The installation lends new perspective to the conversation of how issues, once laid on a table, can hardly be ignored.