ACID MINE DRAINAGE
The following work deals with creating artworks which are metaphors for current issues of consumerism and technological change. I use natural processes of waste transformation and “collaborate” with streams, mining, and the natural organic processes of the earth to make artworks that reflect these changes, and remind viewers of the larger picture of our actions. In a very real sense, AMD is one of the consequences of turning on your light switch.Background
I have been working with Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) as both a geologist and as an artist since 2007. While working for an environmental consulting firm in Western Pennsylvania, I was in charge of field operations for a few preliminary and ongoing AMD remediation sites.
AMD is one of the most extensive environmental problems in coal regions of the Appalachians and anywhere metal sulfides are being mined. The causes of AMD are relatively simple. The chemical processes occur naturally but on a much smaller scale. Underground mining creates voids which often fill with water after mining activity has stopped. The water in the abandoned coal mines reacts with pyrite, exposed during mining, forming sulfuric acid and dissolved iron ions. This acidic water then dissolves other minerals associated with coal beds, leading to waters high in iron, manganese, magnesium, aluminum and calcium. The metals present mining leachate varies depending on the minerals present in the mine. The negative consequences of AMD are threefold: acidic water, dissolved metals, and iron oxide. The high acidity and dissolved aluminum, manganese, and iron kill most of the organisms in the stream and thick deposits of yellow, red and orange iron hydroxides and oxides cover the stream bed, choking out almost all the organisms that did not succumb to the toxic water. These deposits are especially obvious near the outlet of an abandoned mine.
In observing these processes, I was struck by the stunning “natural” artworks that resulted, and the irony that such a destructive, wasteful process could produce such a beautiful aesthetic product. In essence, the process produced organic paintings. I wanted to transfer the colors and textures I saw in the stream to a transportable surface. After experimenting, I found glass or Plexiglas covered with Gesso to give the best results. Variations in color and texture are a function of depth, flow velocity and type, influence of external debris, location in the stream relative to the AMD source and the length of time the piece remains in the water.
Conceptual Approach
I am interested in the transformations taking place within the mine and within the discharged water. There is a transformation from a metal locked up in a solid crystalline structure to a free “invisible” ion in the waters to a sludge-like coating on the stream bottom. This change between concrete and abstract is extremely significant to me.
AMD 013 - paper, 16X20. AMD013 was placed in two different seeps running into Chartiers Creek. The first was the iron rich seep creating the reds and oranges and the second was an aluminum rich seep which deposited the whites and grey over the red. The original white paper is totally obscured.
AMD 023 – Gessobord, 11X14
AMD 026 – Gessobord, 18X24. I normally wash off loose iron oxide from the pieces but the caked iron oxide on AMD026 looked so good I left it, however it eventually cracked and fell off. The detail shows the caked on iron very nicely.
AMD 030 - Plexiglas with gesso, 12X12
AMD 031 - Plexiglas with gesso, 11X14
AMD 033 - Gessobord, 16 X20. I left this piece in the stream for about three months, to preserve the thick iron oxide deposits I slowly applied polyurethane as the water evaporated this sealed the piece and prevented shrinkage cracks.
