WAVES OF HEALING
An opportunity to take part in my new project for humanity

As an international sculptor, I feel called to respond to the recent Hurricane Helene crisis in WNC by creating a series of sculptures that will capture the grief and loss and healing of people, homes, businesses, and even the landscape of this beautiful area. These sculptures, made from fallen trees from this devastating storm will be called Waves of Healing. These waves will start in WNC to capture what has been lost, and also the strength of what has been created in the aftermath of the destruction. But this is just a start…

Each one of these waves, carved out of wood, will honor within its curves, the grief for those who were swept away, those who lost their grip on something solid, those who were so surprised, they couldn’t act before the water hit. They will honor the suffering of the people who have survived, but have lost their homes, their belongings, their jobs, the trees or streams they knew by heart, and their sense of safety.

To start, I will create:

A Wave of Healing for Western North Carolina
A Wave of Healing for New York City and 911
A Wave of Healing for the fires in Lahaina, Hawaii
A Wave of Healing for the devastating fires on the West Coast

I have been a visionary artist for the last 40 years creating fine art and production art in stone, wood, raku steel, water, and light. I have lived on both coasts, and currently reside in Asheville, North Carolina, my home for the last 9 years. I find that I am turning toward creating artistic public installations to inspire, motivate, and lead people into authentic living, more care and love for humanity, and commitment to responsible stewardship of our planet.

In Asheville and the surrounding communities, we have all gone through an unthinkable nightmare in the devastation left by Hurricane Helene. While Katrina dumped a combined 7 trillion gallons of water in Louisiana and Mississippi, Helene’s wrath was 40 trillion gallons of water. The topography of the mountain communities means that habitation is almost always built along a stream or river, because those are the easiest areas to gain access to coves that move up the mountains. The velocity and steepness of the terrain, combined with those streams and rivers, plus the saturated soil the week prior made this the worst disaster in the history of North Carolina.

The destruction is surreal. Many people have lived here for generations, and often live in the same cove or along the same river. One family lost 11 family members. Others watched as their neighbor’s homes washed past them not knowing if there were people inside. Mothers grabbed desperately for their children, while fathers lifted family members up onto roofs, tied themselves to a carwash for safety. Still others who escaped with their lives sat in the dark listening to the raging river for hours until the storm abated.

Roads were ripped away from their foundations. The railroad hangs like a ribbon off the mountains, and massive 10,000 pound trees, steel containers, houses, barns, trailers, and cars bashed into the banks of a once gentle 40  footwide river that turned into a raging, extremely powerful 200 foot wide monstrosity. Near my house I saw a grove of 60 to 80 foot trees mowed over by the raging water as if they were matchsticks.

The loss of life has been devastating, and the trauma and shock we all experience is palpable. The coroner said early on that he was no longer announcing the body count, because so many were missing. There are still thousands unaccounted for.

All this devastation helps me to touch into what people must have felt and experienced in New York City during 9/11. I can now also imagine the horror of the fires in Lahaina. I can picture the mass exodus, the coming together of neighbors, and the tremendous waves of grief as people heard the names of loved ones lost. I was there during the Painted Cave fire in Santa Barbara, where some people in that area had no way to escape and literally burned alive. I remember a friend’s wife calling him for help, while she desperately tried to find a way out and he could do nothing to help her. Similar to the woman in Swannanoa, NC who snapped a photo of her husband and child sitting on the roof of their home, just before the roof collapsed and they were swept away. Or in Old Fort, NC when rescuers threw a rope to a woman with an infant in her arms to help pull her across a chasm of water and with one misstep, she went down and spluttered back to the surface without her infant in her arms.

These sculptural installations that I’m drawn to create are for all of us.

They are to help us understand.
They are to help us remember.
They are to help us repair.
They are to create a place to grieve and heal in community.

They will create more awareness around emergency preparedness, and will be an inspiration to all of us to come together as a community before a disaster happens, not just in its aftermath. These sculptures will be a vehicle to allow the natural and innate grieving and healing process to rise up and spill out so that we can come together to discover our strength and resilience, with more love for our humanity. These sculptures will remind us to practice care and compassion towards ourselves and each other, to live our lives fully and not take any moment for granted.

Will you join me in this project?

To create these 4 Waves, I am inviting you to donate for the purchase of the following:

From the Stihl chainsaw line:

—2 MSA 300 C-O electric chain saws.
—A set of higher capacity batteries 3 AP 500S
—Battery chargers.

Also, donations of the transportation of these larger trees to my studio, not a small task when each piece weighs more than a ton and up to two tons.

Or, Become a sponsor of one or more of these Waves.

Pacific Wave – $250,000
Atlantic Wave – $100,000
Caribbean Wave – $50,000
Pipeline Wave – $10,000
Salt Creek Wave- $5000

I trust that these sculptural installations will have positive impact on the hundreds of thousands if people who will experience them.

Will you accept my invitation to be a part of this potentially life changing offering?

With appreciation and gratitude,

Mark
Mark St. Michael Studio