Maximum lowtide was predicted at 5pm, but by 3pm both banks of the river were exposed and we started work. By 5pm we had covered one bank. Jill was still working in the Centre and she invited us all in for tea and toasted tea cakes...Charles left and we returned to the Creek to complete the other bank and the middle channel, finishing at around 7.30pm when it was almost dark.
During the afternoon Emma was visited by a kestrel which swooped down beside her, two swans posed for Charles for almost five minutes, and a great many people crossed the bridge and made various comments to us...My favourite: "Hey, look, there's some Wedgwood!" (Alas, it is poundshop Willow...)
Those passing on Sunday had perhaps the closest experience to Mark Titchner's Deptford X theme –"daily discoveries uncovered by chance encounters on busy streets" – since they were not aware it was an art installation for Deptford X. It made me ponder the incongruity of needing to publicise something (and explain it) as part of a festival and the emphasis of the theme on people coming across the piece innocently, the better to be charmed or puzzled by it.
Due to either vanity or modesty, I'm not sure which, I had previously suggested to Charles that neither Emma or myself were keen on being photographed, but forgot to amend that request so that we might have some documentation of us working. Fortunately, Emma's friend Biss came by at around 6pm and took some pics on her camera phone...and before it got too dark I took some snaps of the completed installation...
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