Client: Ingevity Corporation

Overview

For the 40' wide x 15' tall stair space wall, Mary Edna Fraser created a chart of Charleston featuring the Cooper River, North Charleston area, Charleston Peninsula, and James Island to Folly Beach. Mary Edna batiked the chart of Charleston onto silk dyed in brilliant colors: blues for water, greens for land and orange for marshes. A high-resolution image of the batik was then enlarged to create the 40’ x 13.5’ installation. The Charleston Charted design was printed onto 12 stretched canvases, 10’ x 4.5’ each.

Goals

Ingevity is a global company specializing in sustainable reuse of paper mill byproduct. "Charleston Charted" spans the 3-story wall in their entry stairwell. As you climb, each floor stands alone visually in design yet must also work as a cohesive unit. The artwork is almost neon with color saturation. The first floor depicts the Atlantic and barrier islands. The second features the tip of the Charleston peninsula. The third floor highlights the actual location of Ingevity’s new corporate headquarters.

The precision needed to carry us from concept to final installation required ultimate professionalism from each collaborator. Mary Edna, her staff, photographer, printers and installers all had to be incredibly careful in making art that could stand up to pedestrian traffic in such a tight space. In a single day, 15 individuals coordinated efforts to produce "Charleston Charted."

Process

LS3P Architectural Firm commissioned environmental artist Mary Edna Fraser with designing the 40’ x 13.5’ Monumental Wall at Ingevity Corporation headquarters in Charleston SC. Fiber reactive dyes and wax were used to create the original batik on silk "Charleston Charted", 171” x 54”, which took 4 months of studio time.

Rick Rhodes has photographed Fraser’s large scale batiks for 30 years. He produced the high definition grid needed to reproduce the original artwork. Canvas Giclee Printing provided 12 museum quality metallic canvas reproductions, each 10’ tall and 4.5’ wide. The canvases are mirror wrapped and stretched on poplar bars. The work is moisture and UV protected, as well as abrasion resistant, with inks designed to last 100+ years. Using scaffolding and ladders, Brad Harder’s installers worked their way bottom to top using Z bar cleats to secure the panels.