"It's a way of surveying the land, but actually marking where the elevation occurs. The lines were found, not imposed," Godfrey said. "The lines are not randomly placed. In the words of John Cage, it was a chance operation. I followed a process to find form."
One interesting aspect of the project is that the lines look perfectly level from the road below, but standing above them it becomes apparent that they actually curve. "This is the type of project that you can't really see. You have to experience it from different vantage points and create a mental landscape, much like you do with a map. It isn't a map, though, or a photo," said Godfrey.
Godfrey calls the project a representative drawing, an act of depiction and a feeling of a place. He said that he did not want to invent form, he wanted to represent form. "In the art department we often tell students that work from life yields more interesting results than working from your head," Godfrey said. "An important function of art is to experience familiar places in new ways."
Three students, Todd Smith '03, Nate Robinson '02 and George Denes '02, helped Godfrey with his project.
"The project went fairly smoothly," said Smith, a fine arts major. "The materials we had were kind of hard to work with, and Professor Godfrey had to create a spray paint machine to make the lines."
Godfrey tested the idea while he was in graduate school in Scotland and had proposed the idea for many art competitions. The idea was never accepted until the College decided to support it. "I really appreciate the support from the College," he said. "Getting permission was a complex process. It had to be approved by the Board of Trustees."
The Trustees viewed the project when they met shortly before Homecoming, and Godfrey said that they seemed interested and complimentary towards the finished product.
The lines will eventually fade away, according to Godfrey.