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William T. Wiley
Ship's Log, 1969

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Ship's Log
Artist name
William T. Wiley
Date created
1969
Classification
sculpture
Medium
wood, canvas, leather, rubber, paper, metal, salt, ceramic, cotton, ink, and watercolor
Dimensions
89 1/2 in. × 83 1/2 in. × 92 in. (227.33 cm × 212.09 cm × 233.68 cm)
Date acquired
1970
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
William L. Gerstle Collection, William L. Gerstle Fund purchase
Copyright
© William T. Wiley
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/70.37.A-L
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

Audio Stories

Wiley on how experiencing this artwork is like taking a voyage

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transcripts

NARRATOR:  

This sculpture by Bay Area artist William Wiley might seem a little puzzling at first. Its title, Ship’s Log, refers in part to the notebook you see down in front. Step closer and take a look at it. You’ll see that the watercolor on the left hand page shows a ship made from a tree trunk. This is Wiley’s visual pun on the name for the captain’s record of a voyage, which is the log. William Wiley.  

WILEY:  

The notebook is somewhat about the piece itself being built, ideas that I had while building the piece, putting different parts of it together. In it I kind of pretend like I’m on a voyage with a crew and I’m the captain, and it was recorded kind of day to day as I worked on the piece. Some of it’s practical, just talking about the actual materials involved, where they came from, how I put it together, something that didn’t work out, altering speed because something isn’t going correctly.  

NARRATOR:  

Many of the various elements you see here just happened to be around Wiley’s studio when he was putting this piece together– the gray straps, for instance, or the square salt blocks on the floor behind the logbook. Just as Wiley allowed himself to take an imaginative journey with these shapes and materials, take some time to experience this piece, and make up your own mind about where it’s going.  

WILEY: 

That’s what I did, and that’s where the magic and the mystery is. 

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