Ebb of a Spring Tide
Sculpture | 2023 | Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY
Ebb of a Spring Tide is a large-scale sculptural installation that confronts rising tides through personal memory, ecological entanglement, and the precarity of home. Commissioned by Socrates Sculpture Park, the project centers on a recurring dream in which Mattingly’s ground-floor apartment floods during extreme tidal events—transforming the domestic into the aquatic. The work materializes a dreamscape into the visual language of a deconstructed apartment building, its remnants suspended from an architectural scaffolding structure.
Constructed with reclaimed materials such as bins, ladders, IBC totes, doors, and construction netting, Ebb of a Spring Tide explores the fragility and resilience of both human and natural systems.
Project Details
- Year: 2023
- Location: Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY
- Commissioned by: Socrates Sculpture Park
- Materials: Reclaimed netting, colorful industrial filler, scaffolding, waterproof textile, steel
- Dimensions: Approx. 25 ft x 40 ft x 20 ft
“This piece came from a recurring dream I’d been having where the tide overtakes the edge of the city and begins to rise inside the apartment I'm trying to escape from. I wanted to make that dream visible, and build a sculpture that could hold both grief and care. I wanted it to be a building that was made for water, not to dominate it but to respect its meandering flow and rhythm. Ebb of a Spring Tide became a way to imagine what we carry with us when the waters rise (memories, stories) and what it means to build a home for water, and a shelter that listens to the tides.” —Mattingly
Project Description
Ebb of a Spring Tide was designed specifically for the waterfront at Socrates Sculpture Park, where the East River’s fluctuating tides provide a literal and symbolic backdrop. Mattingly built the central structure using scaffolding—an architectural material often associated with repair and transition. The materials were intentionally selected to withstand the elements, suggesting that our future dwellings may need to be as adaptive and porous as the environments we inhabit.
Through its scale and placement, the sculpture offers an invitation to walk beneath the canopy, confronting viewers with the tension between collapse and growth, loss and regeneration. It reflects on the precarity of coastal living and the infrastructural and emotional shifts we must make in response to a climate-altered future.
Installation Views
Related Programming
Artist talk at Socrates Sculpture Park (August 2023)
Tide-tracking walks and story collection with local residents
Integration with NYC high tide maps and public data visualizations
Park visitor interviews exploring water memories and climate adaptation
Elements in Ebb of a Spring Tide
Saline Farming
Saline farming was a vital component of "Ebb of a Spring Tide." I identified fruits and vegetables that thrive in saline environments, like strains of potatoes, onions, and tomatoes. Visitors listened to the dripping salt water, savored the aromas of salt-tolerant herbs and flowers, and ate the foods. They could learn about the diverse flora from Socrates' online Plant Guide.
Water Clock
A symbolic mechanism inspired by a project I completed in 2021 in Glacier National Park. This device speculated about what water can teach in terms of fluid timescales, and watery rhythms, and acted as a reminder of environmental changes.
Canoe
At Socrates Sculpture Park, the canoe settled into the ground at an angle that made the ground look like it was water. What will the park look like in the future as water demands its pathways?
Flock House
This structure began as a greenhouse and was used as a studio during the duration of Ebb of a Spring Tide.
Salt Discs
The Salt Discs—resembling moons and planetary surfaces—emerged from the Water Clock installation at Socrates. Drawing salt from East River water, soft steel disks were placed into small saltwater pools. As the water evaporated and the metal corroded, the discs slowly transformed.
Neap Tide, 2023. 12 in x 12 in dye-sublimation print on aluminum.
Aside from depicting a dream, Mattingly drew inspiration from various sources. Writing from Kobo Abe, Samuel Beckett, and Vandana Shiva played a role. Mattingly has always considered water, food, and home to be her crucial investigations. She was raised outside of New York City and had a mixed relationship with water, because the water there was contaminated from agricultural runoff. This made her aware of the negative impact farming practices could have on drinking water and human health.