By Jenny Joyce

JJ

By Joe Cotter

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By Joe Cotter

jc

By Lyle Hehn

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The panel is 5 feet tall by eight feet long. It's a dreamscape. Some children from the early 20th century have arrived at the Loading Dock/Courtyard of Edgefield. Most of them are carrying buckets, so I would guess they are fetching water. But wait. Mr. Hammerhead has just used a cutting torch to convert the water tower into a giant light fixture. He is using a wagon and team of horses to haul away the star-shaped scrap metal. One of the boys has just plugged in the water tower light to an electrical outlet on the Power Station (where else?) and the other children are admiring the light show and seem to have forgotten the original reason for their visit.
The painting is about Edgefield's conversion from a place of agriculture to a place of leisure. The representatives of farm culture--the tractor, the wagon and the animals --are all leaving the scene. The children, representing playtime and leisure, are just arriving. The parallel metaphor is that water is being converted to light. The water tower is now a sparkly ornament and the water wheel is now being turned by colorful light bulbs instead of water. Functional machinery has been re-fitted for entertainment.
-Lyle Hehn

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