Middle Fork Greenway
“Home”
Artists: Zach Smith Johnson and Fred Mead
Material: Steel (from scraps of an old school in Todd, NC), Glass, Solar
Location: Highway 321, Middle Fork Greenway between Boone and Blowing Rock (Between Birdies and Blue Deer)
Installed: December 2023
Artist Statement
The collaborative project between Zach Smith-Johnson, steel fabricator/artist, and Fred Mead Jr., glass artist, was started before a decent roof on the studio at the Sculpture Center and the Covid-19 pandemic. We both were interested in the planets, and after meeting and talking at The Sculpture Celebration, Lenior Show, we agreed to collaborate, design, and build this 26-foot-tall sculpture. We both had a passion for planet Earth, as seen from space. The quotes and thoughts of astronauts were referenced in our inspiration and design portion of the sculpture. No quote was taken from an astronaut to be the inspiration, but the overview of seeing the Earth as our only home was the main point. This new way of seeing the world has been written about and referred to in the writing of Frank White. The Overview Effect is a shift in astronauts' awareness of seeing the Earth from outer space as a ‘tiny, fragile ball of life. ‘The term was coined by author Frank White in 1987 in his book, The Overview Effect-Space Exploration and Human Evolution. It seems like a simple enough shift in awareness that we are unaware of and maybe even take a little for granted that we are on our only home, earth.
