Sculptures Through Petrification in Santiago del Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands

Abstract

Our Research Group Art and Environment: Creation, Conservation, Communication has maintained, for more than a decade, a line of work dedicated to investigating the petrifying quality of the waters from gallery-mines excavated in volcanic terrains and the various ways they can be used to create sculptural works. We have simultaneously experimented in several aspects of the topic: 1. Investigation of the environment and creative application of rocks (Sánchez, 2015; Sánchez et al., 2022); 2. Methods for petrification in 3D molds (Meier et al., 2019); 3. Production of lime and its application in mural sculpture and bioclimatic architecture (Sánchez et al. 2023); and, on multiple occasions, creating sculptures through carving processes applied to stone blocks from the interior of channels or pipes, with results that have been presented in successive collective exhibitions between 2013 and 2024. Here we propose a topic that maintains some relation to the aforementioned but has not yet been addressed with sufficient breadth and depth: the creation of sculptures through petrification on molds or preforms; for this purpose, a gallery located in Santiago del Teide – X 321.824, Y 3.130.169, Z 773 – whose waters have very high conductivity (5,965 µS/cm) and flow into a freely accessible ravine has been selected. Using traditional sculpture techniques (modeling, molding, armatures or preforms in various materials), the forms for petrification have been prepared, which, subjected to the action of water (immersion/spray) for periods ranging from one to three months, have allowed the creation of varied sculptural works, opening up possibilities of great interest in our field of knowledge.