Deep Beauty

In 2019 Swift Current Energy collected a large number of geological core samples in preparation for the Castle Gap Wind Project, which will start construction in 2022. In August 2019 we were asked by the project developer to store the samples in the schoolhouse until they were no longer needed. We kept about ninety boxes until early January 2021, when the developers notified us that they no longer needed them. In early January 2022 we went through all the boxes and kept the cores that attracted us in some way, either because they had interesting fossil life, coloration, texture, or other interesting characteristics. As artists, we are interested in these samples for their design/art potential. We’ve also become very interested in the geological record of our ranch, and these samples provide rich information about the land’s ancient history.

Our samples come from a minuscule fraction of the earth’s crust. The earth measures close to 8,000 miles across. Its crust measures between three and forty-four miles deep, representing only 1% of the earth’s total volume, though it accounts for all the continents and ocean floor.https://phys.org/news/2015-12-earth-layers.html This scale helps conceptualize the vastness of what lies beneath us and also reminds us of the depth of space above us.

The collection exhibits extraordinary variety, and it offers a surprising glimpse at the hidden beauty under our feet. Some resemble the surface of a swirly, cloud-covered planet like Jupiter while others suggest the matte white of a stick of chalk. Tucked throughout are the suspended skeletons of ancient life. The samples come from a depth of up to sixty-five feet. Imagine the darkness and silence that far beneath the surface where these samples latently existed—sleeping in a way—until they were drilled and brought to the surface.