Atlantis the Tide Keeper

How the vison took shape,

Elisa Vanelli: "On the morning of April 8th, during a solar eclipse, I had a dream.
A mermaid, resting in stillness—covered by the high tide, revealed by the low.

When I woke up, my heart was racing. I knew this was a revelation.
I asked myself, “Where does she want to be?”
The answer came like a whisper: Manchester Harbor.
A sacred, quiet place.

I walked to Singing Beach, shared the dream with a friend, and then went to Masconomo Park.
The tide was low. And there, at Days Creek, I saw it—a stone wall built long ago by fishermen, its remains rising from the sea.
That was the moment I knew: this is where she belongs.

And so the dream began to take form.

I received all the necessary permits—from the Board of Selectmen, the Harbormaster, and the Conservation Committee.

Now, the creation begins."

Atlantis: The Tide Keeper will be cast in bronze and placed where the ocean greets the land at Days Creek. She will rise with the tide and disappear beneath it—a living symbol of our connection to the sea, the moon, and the rhythms we’ve forgotten.

No other mermaid like her exists in the world.

She is more than a sculpture—she is a presence, a portal, a reminder.
A landmark for Manchester. A destination of wonder.

Forged in bronze, breathing with the tide.

Then I started thinking about Cape Ann—the magic, the beauty of this land surrounded by ocean—and the vision expanded.

The Tide Keepers is a larger initiative to install tide-responsive sculptures across the Cape Ann towns. Each piece will interact with the sea and invite reflection on our relationship with nature, water, and memory.

Together, these works will form a constellation of beauty, reverence, and reconnection along the shoreline.

Elisa Vanelli is a visionary sculptor whose work bridges the human and natural worlds. Her forms often merge human and animal characteristics, evoking an ancient time when the two were not separate but deeply intertwined. Influenced by natural geometry, energetic systems, and the memory held in water, her sculptures invite us to remember our original bond with the Earth and its creatures.

She currently serves as the Exhibition Chair of the New England Sculptors Association and was named one of Art New England’s 2024 Emerging Artists. Her work is gaining recognition for its ability to stir memory and awaken a sense of sacred presence in the natural world.

Atlantis: The Tide Keeper is her most expansive public work to date—a culmination of years of listening, sculpting, and attuning to the rhythms of water and land.

A documentary is now in progress to follow Atlantis’s story from dream to reality—to capture not just the sculpture, but the spirit of what it means to remember our connection to nature, to water, and to each other.

This is a community effort. Elisa is donating her time and skills to sculpt Atlantis.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit is being created to support this initiative and fund the bronze casting and installation.

Atlantis is rising.
And she carries with her the knowing that when we come together—
when we follow the rhythm of our hearts—
dreams do come true.