ArtistElaine S. Wilson
Sentinels
Date2014
MediumOil on linen
Dimensions24 × 48 in. (61 × 121.9 cm)
Framed Size: 25 3/4 × 49 1/2 in. (65.4 × 125.7 cm)
Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection
Object numberDCCAH2017.044.1
ClassificationsPaintings
Locations
- Committee on Health (1350 Penn Ave NW, 115)
DescriptionThis painting of the McMillan Filtration Plant silos was made standing on the sidewalk of First Street NW. The site is the locus of a long controversy about neighborhood development. Originally built to filter the water for the city, it was landscaped in the early part of the century by the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted and was for a long time the only unsegregated park. It has a deep history and there are passionate feelings about it.
The silos’ simplicity is a template for continuous discovery. Their siting—20 silos in two rows of 10 with small brick buildings in between—in a huge open space which is built on top of underground vaults means that from many sides there is interest. The space is at a high point from which one can see the Capitol and the Washington Monument to the south, and the domes of the Catholic Basilica and Washington Trinity to the east. In some ways the site is like the Roman Forum or even the underground cisterns in Istanbul. There is nothing quite like it in any other American city.
One day while Wilson was painting a passerby asked her if she was going to paint the flock of Canada geese feeding on the grass. She replied, no, that they moved around too much. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she realized the answer should be yes, and they became part of the painting and the title as well.
