https://www.sarahsteeves.com/work daily 1.0 2026-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6812b4e9f10260751bbc15aa/1746307383947-6H34F3IFDLXWR1MXYL6S/IMG_1324f.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6812b4e9f10260751bbc15aa/1778367090178-8ZM53WI6YIKO7EDPONK9/moneyshot.jpg Work - A Spark Between Two Silences Created while in residence at Similkameen Artist Residency, 2026. Copper, iron. 48 x 76 x 46 cm Standing at the base of the Cascade Mountains in the Similkameen Valley, one can’t help but notice the untamed and beautiful chaos of the monumental rock formations and the colours that seem to ooze from them, the rocks’ symbiosis with plant and animal life. Rich coppery and white as snow and dark green lichen plant themselves into the rock in psychedelic patterns; the silvery pale green of the sage bush creates an endless sea; bighorn sheep trot their way up the mountains until they become one with the geology, indiscernible to the human eye. In this landscape, a presence echoes up the mountains and through the valley and reverberates deep below the earth’s crust. Copper is everywhere, its origins reaching back nearly 200 million years, when ancient volcanic forces moved hot, mineral-rich fluids through the earth, leaving traces of copper embedded in the mountains and buried deep beneath the valley floor. Giant, copper-bearing rocks dot the valley landscape, as if discarded by angry glaciers grown tired of carrying their weight across the continent. Among these glacial deposits nestled in the sagebrush appears the sculpture, A Spark Between Two Silences. Its iron frame forms an unexpected yet familiar shape, mirroring the geologic forms scattered throughout the valley, while copper-wrapped surfaces catch the sun, revealing themselves among the silver-green vegetation. Taking its name from a line by the Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, the sculpture exists in a suspended state between the spark of ancient volcanic activity that once spread shimmering copper throughout the landscape and the slow weathering and erosion it will inevitably endure. Catching the sun as it passes over the valley, the copper-wrapped surfaces glint among the monumentality of the mountains like a lingering trace of those fiery geological origins. Exposed to the elements, the work enters the same rhythms of the earth as the rocks that surround it, quietly awaiting the gradual transformations that shape all forms in this landscape. Photo credit: images 1–2 by @marionlandry https://www.sarahsteeves.com/about daily 0.75 2026-05-11 https://www.sarahsteeves.com/contact daily 0.75 2026-02-05