The Artemisia Wind Harp, a sonic sculpture by Pamela Martinez comes to Confluence Park for Contemporary Art Month

Confluence Park visitors have a heavenly surprise as the park’s first temporary art exhibit launched during Contemporary Art Month featuring The Artemisia Wind Harp sculpture created by Pamela Martinez, in addition to a virtual sound bath March 31st at 6pm and a virtual art project that teaches you how to make your own wind harp at home.  Pamela Martinez, Luminaria Grantee in performing arts originally created this work as a necessary shift away from performance during the times of COVID.  Composer, director, harpist, reiki master, educator, and multi-instrumentalist, Pamela Martinez creates work under the moniker Teletextile.

Teletextile’s Artemisia Wind Harp is an eight foot Aeolian wind harp sculpture that produces ethereal harmonic frequencies when high winds blow across its strings.  The striking image of the wind harp’s physical structure is always present for the viewer’s eye, but can only be heard from strong winds that often come before or after storms, reminding us that in the most chaotic of times there is beauty to be found. 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.

Martinez created this sonic sculpture inspired by her own harps being played by the wind. 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.”

“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 visitors. San Antonians are lucky to have a place that combines the beauty of architecture artistically sculpting the sky of our natural world and the smell of the native plants that are so carefully cultivated all within the sound of the flowing river. The wind harp will add to Confluence’s magic by magnifying the invisible energy of the wind.”   - Pamela Martinez, Sound Artist

VIEW THE ARTEMISIA WIND HARP

The sculpture is currently on display for March and April 2021. Visitors may see The Artemisia Wind Harp free of charge during regular park hours. It is located between the Bridge and Tate Pavillion.  Park Map Link  Here the sound of a wind Harp: Pamela's Harp Played by the Wind

VIRTUAL SOUND MEDITATION EVENT

Pamela Martinez leads a free Sound Bath Meditation March 31, 2021 at 6pm to end Contemporary Art Month. RSVP via Facebook Event co-presented by The River Foundation & Teletextile The event will later be available on Instagram @teletextile @sariverfoundation  Facebook Event

MAKE YOUR OWN WIND HARP AT HOME

Learn how to make your own wind harp out of a cardboard box and pick up a free nylon string kit from Confluence Park to help get you started.  How to Make a Wind Harp Video

ABOUT PAMELA MARTINEZ

Pamela Martinez is the founder of The Teletextile Ritual Arts Ensemble, a group that weaves together a tapestry of music, movement, reiki and other healing arts to create a mixture of performance and spiritual practice among it's cast of rotating collaborators. As a genre-hopping performer and musician, Martinez has performed violin at Carnegie Hall with a Carnatic Indian music ensemble, sang in San Francisco’s historic Fillmore Theater and directs Whisperlodge, an ASMR immersive theater performance which The New York Times dubbed “an unusual mix of theater and therapy”. During her extensive international touring, Martinez realized the need for healing, wellness and the divine as a necessary element of her work and thus began TRAE. Find out more about Pamela Martinez / Teletextile art & monthly Sound Bath Meditations atwww.teletextile.org Instagram Facebook Martinez teaches music and wellbeing at The Southtown Music Studio

Creation of this work was made possible in part by an award from the Luminaria Artist Foundation with funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Arts & Culture of the City of San Antonio.