The Artemisia Wind Harp, a sonic sculpture by Pamela Martinez
The Artemisia Wind Harp created by Pamela Martinez goes on exhibition starting January 2021 till late spring at Confluence Park in San Antonio, TX. Pamela Martinez, Luminaria Grantee in performing arts originally created this work as a necessary shift away from performance to during the times of COVID. Martinez usually works within the scope of live and recorded music for ensembles and music-based immersive theater. As the world began to change due to the coronavirus Martinez revised her plans in order to present relevant work and began creating a sound sculpture which would allow a larger audience to engage with the work safely during a time of social distancing while staying true to her main medium, sound.
Photos by Chris Castillo
“This sculpture represents the confluence of music and nature in my own life. Confluence Park has all of the elements of healing nature to offer its patrons. San Antonians are lucky to have a place that combines the beauty of architecture artistically sculpting the sky of our natural world, the smell of the native plants that are so carefully described and cultured all within the sound of the flowing river. The wind harp adds to Confluence’s magic by magnifying the invisible energy of the wind.”
As you read this you may be asking, “What is a wind harp?” A wind harp is a musical instrument with strings that is played by the wind. Another name for this instrument is an Aeolian harp; Aeolus being the Greek God of wind. Wind harps come in many shapes and sizes, but their common element is that Mother Nature decides when these instruments make their sound, not the hand of any human. “It is the breath of nature that plays The Artemisia Wind Harp,” says Pamela Martinez, composer, harpist, reiki master, educator, and multi-instrumentalist and herbal advocate. Aeolian wind harps were a popular instrument before the time of air conditioning particularly during the Victorian era when a small aeolian harp would often sit in the open windows of a living room.
As a harp player, Martinez remembers first hearing the sound of her own harp being played by the wind. “I was doing a sound check for an outdoor festival performance and I kept hearing what I thought was an angelic choir at another stage somewhere across the field. It was a windy day and after the sound continued to come and go I realized it was coming from the instrument right in front of me. At the time, I didn’t know the wind could play my harp, but I was curious to learn more. That was about 15 years ago in 2005.”
Martinez chose to create an Aeolian Wind Harp to deliver healing sounds and soothing vibrations when we need it most: in the midst of crisis. Working with a San Antonio welder, Wayland Roed to fabricate her sculpture, an 8 foot steel Aeolian Wind Harp was created earlier this fall for the Luminaria Artist-in-Process exhibition.
Martinez began her artistic career at 23 after graduating from Berklee College of Music with a Bachelors of Music and Music Education. Immediately following her graduation she began touring with indie rock projects that eventually lead her to crisscross the United States, Europe and Asia a few times over. Though her musical performances often broke the imaginary 4th wall between audience and creator, her performance art practice truly expanded after moving to New York City in 2007 where she collaborated more with visual artists. Her performance practice solidified when she started to perform with and eventually direct immersive theater with the ASMR pioneers, Whisperlodge, described by writer Andrea Marks in an article for The New York Times as, “an unusual mixture of theater and therapy.”
The striking image of the wind harp’s physical structure is always present for the viewer’s eye, but it is only in the harshest conditions, with winds attributed to the ferocious storms of tornadoes and hurricanes that the harp’s music can be heard, reminding us that in the most chaotic of times there is beauty to be found. Martinez hopes conditions will be safe enough to present her original proposal for Teletextile: Estafiatean, an immersive music based ritual at Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival 2021.. Martinez creates interactive experiences through the healing powers of music and flora for the general public with her performance group The Teletextile Ritual Arts Ensemble. Find out more about Pamela Martinez and her monthly sound meditations via Instagram
Pamela's Harp Played by the Wind
Press Clipping - LFSS Magazine