Thanks for asking, Marcie...
Flowforms are sculpted vessels set up in cascades of 3 to 12 or more,
through which water flows, from one to the next. The Flowforms' shape
coaxes the water (which would otherwise flow along the axis of the
cascade by gravity) into eddies and vortices, a pulsating figure of eight
pattern in each form before it drops into the next--a mimicking of the
action water undergoes in its natural undisturbed flow in, say, a
mountain brook...as opposed to captive water in manmade channels or
pipes.
The action in a Flowform cascade is freeing, healing and enlivening to
water that has been deadened by pollution or pumping.
Flowforms take many sizes and shapes, with certain common
characteristics: a smaller entry "bowl" which receives water from the
source or the Flowform above, from which it flows into two larger basins
where the figure of eight movement takes place, then an outlet through
which the flow drops to the next Form. To give an idea of the size, you
could probably almost encircle most Flowforms with your arms. The size
and positioning of the entry bowl, its outlet, the larger basins and
their outlet and the shaping of the surfaces over which the water flows
is what does the "coaxing" referred to above.
Flowforms are typically made in molds, of cast concrete/aggregate, after
much design work in clay.
They are used as indoor and outdoor landscape features; as a means of
potentizing the Bio-Dynamic preparations (in the same way homeopathic
preps are potentized); as a means of purifying and oxygenating water in
water treatment and bio-remediation contexts, including constructed
wetlands for sewage and dairy farm effluent ponds. The alternation
between chaos (as the water enters the Flowform) and vortex is what does
these jobs.
John Wilkes, in England, was the originator of Flowforms and his work is
being carried on at the John Wilkes Flow Design Research Group, Emerson
College, Forest Row, East Sussex, England RH18 5JX.
Jennifer Greene designs, makes, and distributes Flowforms in the U.S.
from Water Research Institute, Rt. 177 P O Box 930, Blue Hill, ME 04614.
Work is also being done by the Ecological Design and Research Institute
(the Flow Research Group), P O Box 1255 Hastings, Hawkes Bay, NZ.
This is a bare bones introduction to Flowforms and does nothing to
communicate the "aliveness" of the atmosphere surrounding them, or the
grace and beauty of their design and their workings. Flowforms have been
used in therapeutic settings for disturbed children, in greenhouses where
the effect on plant growth is astonishing, and in meditative settings.
They are a low-tech, high art, and Nature friendly technology well worth
looking into further.
Woody Wodraska
woodyw@juno.com
"There is no scarcity abiding in Nature.
Any scarcity we see is our own doing."