By Bland | filed under Snake River I have recently returned to Parsons in NYC to finish the last year of the Transdisciplinary Design Program. The previous two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity with the re-location of the Sheer Bliss sculpture in Snowmass and the completion of the Snake River Reverse. Here are some process shots.
The Snake River Reverse project is installed at the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts, and uses the scrap material that would have been recycled from a public art project for the Jackson Hole Airport.
I am currently residing in Lake City Colorado, in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. The endeavor I am working on is called Hard Rock Revision, and consists of a team of 7 creative individuals developing a vision for an inactive hard rock mine called the Ute Ulay. For more information you can follow the blog, or check out Colorado Art Ranch.
I am staying in Moose Cabin with the director of Colorado Art Ranch - Grant Pound. Moose Cabin is host to a constant flow of scientists over the course of the Hard Rock Revision project. Apart from the in-depth and engaging conversations that take place during the day, it is a treat to stay late into the evening to chat about miscellanea with intellectuals. Recently, the geologist Rob Blair stayed a night. By day the team learned about the geology of the San Juan’s on a micro and macro scale. By night, sitting under the placid stare of a mounted moose head above the fireplace, Rob opened up another avenue of thought to ponder – sea squirts.
Apparently sea squirts are the only creature with vanadium coursing through their circulatory system. Vanadium as you might or might not know is a heavy metal, and in the ocean this element can only be detected using finely tuned scientific equipment. Somehow the feeble sea squirt has evolved as a magnet in a haystack, in some cases concentrating vanadium to a level one million times that of the surrounding sea water. Why should anyone care about the feeble sea squirt? In gold country I have learned about new technologies and methods to extract gold from ore. The latest strategy is cyanide heap leach mining, in which a large area is prepared with a liner, ore piled high inside, and cyanide pumped over the top of the pile to leach out the gold. In tragic instances, this method fails with grave environmental consequences.
Back to the evening conversations - Rob Blair is describing in detail the sea squirt in all it’s glory and I am questioning where the conversation is going. He then began to describe how much gold is present in the ocean, suspended as microscopic particles. If the feeble sea squirt was capable of absorbing vanadium, perhaps a similar organism could be engineered to attract gold from its surrounding saline environment. Maybe it is a plant, or another type of organism. How much value would this creature capture? Gold is currently priced at $1,600/oz, while one square mile of ocean can contain as much as 25 tons of gold. The value of a miracle organism with an appetite for gold could yield almost 1.3 billion dollars, however the unintended consequences might be considerable, perhaps even comparable to dripping cyanide through ore.
By | filed under Hammocking Olive Nets! Apparently in Italy olive harvesting is accomplished using nets, spread over the ground underneath olive trees. The olives fall, and are transported using the breathable material. Now, after a harvest what purpose do these nets have? Maybe a shade structure? I am excited to learn about olive nets to potentially tap into dormant material to facilitate massive hammock hangouts. In Italy. This is going to be exciting.
The first time I heard the term decommissioned was at the Snake River Ranch, waltzing about with Ben Roth and Felicia Resor. We stumbled across sucker rod, and were intrigued by the flexible, 'ropey' quality the material had. But what was most amazing about this discovery wat the dormancy of the material. It was purchased and stocked for winter use. During the summer and fall, the sucker rod wasn't needed, so we proposed to borrow and return eighty of the rods to make a long tunnel form.
Farms and other larger businesses have a unique resource many times, whether it is old oil drilling equipment, or unused materials. The chance to borrow and imagine the unused and overlooked opportunities is empowering.
By | filed under Future Projects The summer schedule is shaping up nicely with a couple adventures in the works. The most promising and exciting opportunity is in the small Colorado town of Lake City, where I will be participating in a transdisciplinary collaboration. The project is administered by Colorado Art Ranch, a nomadic artist in residence organization. Titled 'Hard Rock Revision', the work will consist of envisioning future uses for the Ute Ulay Mine and town site in Lake City CO.
The transdisciplinary team is an amazing lineup of talented individuals: Hannah Freis (Massachusetts poet and associate editor of Orion Magazine), Julia Lewandowski (Public historian, writer and musician), Anna Macleod (Irish sculptor, curator, and environmental artist), Lydia Moyer (Videographer, documentarian, and educator), Becky Sobell (Landscape architect from Manchester, England), and Linda Wysong (Oregon public artist and community collaborator). Additionally, 6 advisors will provide technical guidance for the project: Rob Blair (Ph.D.), Todd Bryan (Ph.D.), Ronald Cohen (Ph.D.), Jonathan Lovekin (MS), Chris Ray (Ph.D.) and Joseph Ryan (Ph.D.). For more information on the team visit this link.
On a different but similar note, I am currently working on a final project for the first year at Parsons in the Transdisciplinary Design MFA Program. The project is very similar to the Hard Rock Revision project, and consists of envisioning new uses for the Hunts Point Produce Market. The lease for this property expires at the end of May, and a battle is brewing between New York and New Jersey for the Market infrastructure. The premise of our project is planning a scenario for Hunts Point, if the Market were to move to New Jersey, which by a reputable source has a 50/50 chance.
Could the Market be part of a larger closed-loop food system, scaling Will Allen's Growing Power model to employ the community and serve New York City with produce?
The Hunts Point Market is the largest food distribution center in the world, channeling 60% of New York City's food through a centralized distribution center, generating 2.3 billion dollars of revenue annually. The Hunts Point peninsula is literally at the bottom of the food chain as it is the poorest congressional district in the US. Due to the 60,000 trucks that traverse the community on a weekly basis, residents have the highest ashma rates in the country, as well as high obesity rates due to the lack of access to healthy food in the community. To read more about this project visit this link.
Sandwiched between these projects is the installation of the Snake River Reverse project, pictured below, and the relocation of the Sheer Bliss sculpture on Snowmass Mountain. The mix between theoretical projects, and hand's on activities should make for a very diverse and expansive summer before entering the final year at Parsons.
By Bland | filed under AAO In a couple weeks I will be flying off to Athens, Greece to participate in a project titled 'Against All Odds'. Very Exciting!
Here is how it works:
The team I am part of consists of a diverse crowd of students and faculty from Parsons, and the New School. The spread consists of: Transdisciplinarians, Design and Technology, Environmental Studies, Management and Urban Policy, Architecture, and History of Decorative Arts. We will be working with students from both the National Technical University and the Athens School of Fine Art. The goal is to tackle an urgent Athenian issue, which I can only guess at this point what we will uncover. As a boost of confidence, our group was informed that a troupe of parkour-ists will be engaged in the project as well. The challenge will be to soak up as much soci-spatial information to make informed ideas come to fruition in one week's time.
1/6 of the entire Snake River Reverse project for the Center for the Arts. The lighting is a test, using x-mas lights. The final work will be equipped with LED's, potentially emitting the color of the Snake River in late August- a beautiful deep green blue.
The project has been an exciting endeavor in it's entirety. I convinced my family to snorkel the Snake one day. I used it as 'experiential research' and took note of the contours of the river bed while oogling the hundreds of fish and occasional stick.
By | filed under Snake River I have begun work on testing visual textures for the Snake River Reverse project. The surface area is much larger than it's counterpart at the Jackson Hole Airport, and requires a slightly different approach.
I began my research into flow patterns, and ran across the work of Jim Soliven. His flickr set is embedded in a folder titled, "Attempts at art, (I'm not an artist)." I would argue otherwise, as the flowing patterns generated by programming languages are inspiring and reveal his curiosity and interest in playing around with visuals.
The image above is the entire mural for the Center for the Arts, measuring about 57' long. The highlighted section is pictured below in a test. One concept was to ignore the path of the river and grind in long flowing lines to provide two aspects. During the day, the long shiny lines would be more prominent, while at night the backlit river would take precedence.
I made a test on one section of the mural, splitting the work in two with flowing lines on the right, and 'topographic' lines on the left that follow the path of the river. As of now, I am leaning towards the topographic lines as they are more fun to work on, and produce a painterly end result. If they are a bit busy, I may use an orbital sander with fine paper to buff out the surface to reduce the extravagance and subdue the work as a whole.
By | filed under The next step is here! After a successful installation of the Jackson Hole Airport's public art project by Custom Iron Design, the inverse cut-outs will begin their transformation into an additional work of art!
The inverse pieces were proposed as an innovative public art project for the Center for the Arts.
The pieces would have otherwise been recycled, however their innate
potential was recognized and capitalized on to create a cost effective
derivative project.
The surfaces of the work for the Center for the Arts will present a
large canvass for creative patterns and textures. It will be an exciting
adventure after learning so much from polishing the work for the
Jackson Hole Airport.
By Bland | filed under Ideas Discovery: The Snowtorium is a thought shared by others!
The internet reveals amazing characteristics of society. A friend sent me a link to the Freeze Project and more specifically the work of Molo Studio in their creation titled, 'Northern Sky Circle'. The work stirred some thoughts that when mixed with theories of Emergence, authored by Steven Johnson, are provoking to consider.
The work is amazingly similar to the Snowtorium, and another project I collaborated on, and another a friend completed (independent of the previous, but within a time span of 1 month). The point is not to question originality, but rather why in the world this form pops up in artistic endeavors. Maybe Richard Serra has a better grip on everyone than we realize!
Serra's 'Torqued Ellipses' most certainly inspired the development of the Snowtorium (as noted in this video). The work of James Turrell, whose interest in light frames it in poetic and captivating simplicity, was also a reference point. Alas, this is an interest shared in 'Northern Sky Circle', combining the framing device of a vertiginous hallway.
So what's the big deal between people thinking in similar ways, or using styles that sing to each other across continents? The interesting point I want to draw is that the internet provides an aerial view of this creative aptitude, with surprising effectiveness, and much faster than any form of communication previously. The 'Northern Light Circle' project found me. A friend, through some mysterious perusing, found the project which had made it's way onto the web. The connection established itself, and I wonder if Moores law will eventually enable interests and ideas to congeal like oil on water. What will the effects of overlapping intrinsic motivations result in when the internet brings like minded people together to collaborate?
The magic of collaboration is evident when the collective output
exceeds the individual inputs of a team (buzzword=synergy). A successful
collaboration is a measure of the human potential, and a glimpse of
what we can achieve when the conditions are right. It is necessary to
understand factors that influence successful collaborative work
environments to spawn a successful endeavor. Thus, the purpose of this
post is to identify a couple factors that amplify successful
collaborations.
Purpose is paramount. An individual will truly embrace and celebrate
their work when it is fascinating and provocative. This work cultivates
intrinsic motivation, fueled by curiosity and intrigue, enjoyment and
personal challenge. The opposite is extrinsic motivation, dictated by
deadlines, expected evaluation and forces outside the content of the
work itself. The two sources of motivation are not entirely opposed, and
may coincide to produce synergistic reactions[1]. However, this post
will focus on internal forces rather than imposed structures, which
leads to the next topic on how successful groups form.
Collaborations must occur naturally, blossoming from a common interest.
When intrinsic motivations overlap, a powerful reinforcing feedback loop
is created that exponentially increases the motivation between
individuals. Their combined curiosity swells and rapidly multiplies
through engaging conversations and later brainstorms. The collaboration
is fortified and emboldened by the collective interest in the subject
matter. It also serves as a central point from which everyone can
explore tangents and externalities, returning to a location where these
ideas can percolate and buzz within a collective environment.
In a recent project to re-envision the TransDesign studio space, I
collaborated with two fellow students to research the effects of studio
spaces on creativity. Intrinsic motivators drove our research interests,
which led to in-depth inquiries into separate aspects of the studio
space such as light, sound, and creative surroundings. We each pursued
an independent tangent that contributed to a holistic view of the studio
space. This strategy was especially successful because it provided
individual autonomy within a collaborative group, enabling each of us to
capture the energy and inspiration from our personal intrinsic
motivations. The end result was a cohesive vision that promoted the
curiosity of its individual contributors.
It is essential to understand why individuals are attracted to ideas,
and how their interests propel the cognitive work that results from
overlapping intrinsic motivations. Powerful levels of creativity ignite
when work or research transcends labor and is driven by passion and
curiosity. This environment is fertile due to the commonalities shared
by everyone involved, and the drive to understand and tackle problems
from various angles that draw on prior experience and motivations. The
result is identifying the right answer, the most appropriate endeavor,
and the feeling that it must be done.
In the spirit of collaboration, please feel free to influence this
post, or future topics on collaboration, cooperation, participation, and
co-creation. Let’s make a game of it!
By Bland | filed under Parsons 'Collaboration’ – a buzzword in business and education. Recently,
collaboration has spread to lifestyles with Rachael Botsman’s notion of ‘Collaborative Consumption’.
In companies the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Logic Model, and
Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis (PIPA) help coordinate efforts.
As a form of collective behavior, collaboration is becoming an
underlying characteristic of our times. It may be appropriate to label
it an emergent mental infrastructure…
Thus, the Transdisciplinary Design program relies heavily on
collaboration. The wickedness of society’s problems and the challenges
that lie ahead require reflexive collaboration among small groups to
navigate complex intertwingled issues. However, if collaboration is the
fertile soil from which a new crop of Transdisciplinarians will blossom,
should we first consider some fertilizer or compost to grow farther,
faster?
After catching myself repeatedly analyzing the up’s and down’s of
collaborative brainstorming sessions, I decided to visualize the
situation playing out in my mind. The resulting image revealed an
astounding amount of time spent analyzing collaboration, questioning why
some ideas blossom within a group while others fall flat.
After reading about the prospective brain,
a light flickered on. Apparently, humans rely heavily on memories to
imagine future events. For example, if I were to envision a
revolutionary roller coaster, it would likely come from the experiential
knowledge from riding heart-throttling coasters in the past. In a
collaborative setting, I attempt to paint a verbal image of a new type
of ride, ‘The omni directional gummy bear time warp’. Of the many ideas
generated, this one falls short. This is due to a disjuncture in
memories between group members, which is a fundamental challenge to
collaboration when consensus is the method of moving forward. The result
looks something like a small group of gardeners trimming away the
organic direction of an idea to reveal a finely manicured topiary bush.
How in the world did we end up with this half-hearted elephant? I
posit the answer lies in the fecundity of the soil; that with a little
care and compost the ground will yield resilient sprouts with the
strength to grow beyond the reach of a pruning saw. The goal of doing so
is to ensure that if collaboration is the primary method of growing
ideas, a good place to start is to work on the process by which we
organize and actualize ideas.
By | filed under Press The wonderful Katy Niner at the JH News and Guide decided a retrospective was in order to close my fellowship and stint of creative freedom in Jackson WY. I owe many accolades to Katy's grandiose talents as a means of describing the intracacies of the projects I've cooked up over the past couple years. Now, if only I could find a like minded writer at the New York Times... Any suggestions out there?
Before enrolling in a design school I pondered what exactly
‘design’ is/was. The word is used in so many different contexts, frames, and
capacities the syntax now resembles an entire dictionary of possibilities.
Since arriving at a design institution, I have noticed an underlying abhorrence
of design simply as a trade skill. However, it’s past is informed by craft and
clean cut disciplines.
It is interesting to contrast art and design as intellectual
pursuits. Take the term ‘fine art’ and consider the past 50 years, where the
term has broadened to the extent that a limp meter of blue yarn in a room has
the capacity to rumble the foundations of consciousness, or provoke a critic to
pour over the creative act as if it were divine and otherworldly. It’s yarn, on
the floor, in a white room… Oh art, we had a good run… This example is
sensationalized, however to bring design into the conversation, I am excited to
participate in a program that investigates the yarn from divergent
perspectives: where did the material came from, how it was transported, who was
employed in it’s placement on the floor, who will be invited to learn from it’s
divine presence, and can this be replicated to influence society in Alabama and
beyond?
Design synthesizes information. It is an effective tool that
is being used in many different capacities generally framed as trying to make
the world a better place. Design coalesces process, constitutes collaboration
and provokes action. Everything in the world has been designed. Look around,
and consider everything around you was designed, fabricated and brought into
reality for a specific purpose. Art has the unique advantage of existing
outside purpose or function, much as a jester did in a king’s court. Blending
the two creative acts can draw on the power of imagination while intertwining
purpose into reality. Our future will be largely influenced by design. A
critical discourse is apparently underway, fueling the burgeoning desire and
realization within the profession of design that it has the capacity to
accomplish much more than logos.
I learned yesterday about Jay Parkinson, who was educated as
a pediatrician and preventative medicine specialist, and has since
revolutionized the delivery of healthcare in Williamsburg New York. Design has
played a critical role in the creation and implementation of his practice, both
in the sense of making the interface his patients interact with pleasant and
engaging, but also in the design of how he delivers his service. To read more
about how Jay uses creative design to improve health visit delve into these
articles:
This one
in Design Observer, and then this
article from The Atlantic.
By | filed under Magnum Photos Let the Transdisciplinary Program commence! At 10 am on Monday August 30th the group of 20 or so students milled around, and soon the action began with From A2B, our first assignment to document our journey from wherever in the world to Parsons using photos. The focus was quantity over quality, and this resulted in me taking 964 images in 33 days. I organized the images as they would appear on a color wheel to discover what color I was most prone to capture.
This mosaic was then animated, and a 5 minute exploration of the color spectrum ensued. Look for this video in future posts.
The first week is an Intensive. It is designed to foster rapid decision making and fast paced strides towards a completed project. Our client is Magnum Photos. If this name doesn't ring a bell, here is a description and a recognizable image for reference.
'Magnum Photos is a photographic co-operative of great diversity and
distinction owned by its photographer-members. With powerful individual
vision, Magnum photographers chronicle the world and interpret its
peoples, events, issues and personalities. Through its four editorial
offices in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, and a network of fifteen
sub-agents, Magnum Photos provides photographs to the press, publishers,
advertising, television, galleries and museums across the world.'
Steve McCurry – Afghan Girl
Apparently the world of photography, and professional photographers themselves are experiencing a similar roller coaster as the music industry with the advent of Napster. Social media, powerful point and shoot cameras, crumbling advertising revenues, a decline in readership of printed news media, and a myriad of internet enabled photo sites are sending shock waves through the industry.
So how do companies like Google and Apple, the MET and Pepsi stay ahead? They employ creative individuals to suss out the situation and figure out new directions and avenues to pursue. Without a vision of what the future will look like, and how to predict and respond quickly to changing situations, there is little hope for an agency-let alone an industry-to stay afloat in a time where in 26 days two people on exact opposite sides of the earth can coordinate and place a piece of toast on the ground. Earth Sandwich is a project of ze frank, and was first successfully completed in 2006, which is a bit dated but provides a scope of how fast news and information can travel when in the past this was impossible.
A serendipitous occurrence of timing- 2 days prior to
orientation at Parsons the New School for Design, I voyaged 1000 miles away to
Roanoke VA to go lamp poling. For those that are unfamiliar with this obscure
activity, it is an exercise of mind and matter, resulting in aggregate
constructions that evolve over time in separate iterations.
Along with Matt Rink and joined by Vincent Appel, we jostled
down the interstate in a 24’ Budget box truck filled with 5000 lbs of lamp
poles and gear. Pennsylvania must have a good grant writer, as that wonderful
state sure did have some ridiculous highway projects underway, most of which
were excessive and caused great delay to the mission at hand.
Upon arrival, we camped in a Wal Mart parking lot after
being turned away from camping at the park where we were installing the work
the next day. Amidst the buzz of powerful street lights and a sea of asphalt,
we grilled veggie burgers on a cantilevered grill platform (the truck ramp) and
hammocked inside the box. Morning saw a stream of visitors entering Wal Mart to
pick up staplers, socks and scented candles.
Three delightful helpers assisted in the unloading process
at Vic Thomas Park, and soon the work began to construct the 4th
iteration of this set of 40 poles. The work was complimented by shirt drenching
southern heat amidst grinder dust and welding spatter. Nothing builds character
like drips of molten metal down your shirt, invoking crazy dances and yelps to
shiver the sparks away.
In conclusion, I am addicted to large-scale sculpture and
the adventures posed by making impossible ideas come to reality. The challenge
is to choose the right ideas, and in this case it took four ‘drafts’ to realize
the most compelling arrangement for the work. Now, hopefully it sells and finds
a permanent home. Interested?
By | filed under NYC I landed in NYC yesterday, and only realized that I was moving here a little while ago. The buzz of the streets and the eternal hum of the city will be a stark contrast to hearing the drop of dew and silent whisps of an owl swooping down to snatch a meal in Jackson WY. Oh my.
I am staying in Spanish Harlem for a couple days with a friend before moving on to Dean St in Park Slope Brooklyn for the duration of the year as I settle into a newly accredited program at Parsons the New School for Design. The MFA in Transdisciplinary Design is simple- it creates an academic space for design practices that transcend disciplinary boundaries. Confused? One student put is succinctly in that she will be studying design to change the world. Ambitious, but why not shoot for the moon and land a career in making the world a positive place through creative interventions!
By | filed under 100 Hammocks. Custom printed with sponge stamps for your enjoyment.
Now imagine floating peacefully in the trees with musicians soaring above. For example: A fully rigged electronic drum set, or an electric cello playing a suite of Bach.
July 25th from 3-5 PM. The Vertical Orchestra will be a sight to behold, and a slew of sounds to ponder.
Sharing. It's a sensible and generous act for furthering a species. Ex: The dandy lion (intended spelling) shares itself so splendidly, up to 100 seeds are released to share itself with the future. It is interesting to note that sharing is quite different from borrowing or loaning.
I was pondering these concepts for a proposal I am collaborating on with 5 fellow Transdisciplinary Design MFA students at Parsons the New School for Design. I can imagine you paused, gazed upwards and squinted in question of this type of education. So did I and thus here I am. Broadly speaking, the first year students for this progra will be delving into a nebulous field of inquiry, pondering the potential of design within the academic labratory of New York City.
Our group will submit an inquiry to the Times Square Allicance, along with our respective qualifications to carry out our written concept. It will be an adventure, somewhat akin to navigating the Amazon on a boogie board and knee pads.
Until next time, and the arrival of 2000 yds off-spec webbing. For tips on sourcing industrial waste, scrap, surplus and exotic garbage that is amazing as ever - an overview is due!
By | filed under ArtSpot A New ArtSpot is installed in Jackson. v2.0 is complete with a hinge system enabling the structure to tilt sideways to the ground for safe installations of artwork. A welcome change from the previous teetering gas station sign that required a 30 foot extension ladder and the confidence of a matador to change artwork.
The structure is a chairlift tower, cut and modified with aesthetic designs inspired by Cal Lane. Additional free materials used in the device are a bank vault (for the hinge plates) and WYDOT scraper bits from snow plows (for the counterweight). It seems everything I make is way to heavy, or involves some degree of life threatening activity. Perhaps some day I could outsource these tasks to adrenaline junkies that enjoy manual labor.
By | filed under Center of Wonder Ha Hoo! This was the message left by an employer after I installed the first ArtSpot exhibiton 'Barn Chicken', created from paint swatches from hardware stores. It coincided with the annual art fair in Jackson.
Since then, the original ArtSpot structure exhibited over 11 installations on Wyoming's busiest highway. The repurposed sign structure was removed when construction began on a new bank in Jackson.
Fast forward 1.5 years, and I am now torch cutting (more specifically engaging in metal surgery via a Dillon MKII torch), to reduce the overwhelming weight of a 'extra-strong pipe' chairlift tower. The 1/2" thick steel is easily sliced with precision and efficiency, revealing an interwoven structural web interspersed with aspen leaves. The greatest challenge is on the horizon- developing the counterweight and winch system to enable v2.0 to cantilever on it's side to receive artwork. Yahoo!
By | filed under Design through making. Yes, this is an asset and a pitfall of creative thinking. It is a magical shift in consciousness that happens while actively participating in the process of making. Imperceptible ideas materialize through the very act of creating work.
I have recently encountered this imbroglio in designing a public art project for the Airport in Jackson, courtesy of Custom Iron Design. An aerial view will be laser cut from stainless steel. The islands and river banks would otherwise be recycled, by that would be somewhat of a waste given they are perfectly usable! Hence, I will pursue the installation of the would be waste in a public space. This approach is akin to the broken locket, where two friends possess halves of a whole. The separation of the two is what creates a unique energy betwixt the pieces.
By Bland | filed under General The heat is on! With less than a month before a couple applications are due, I am madly cranking away at conceptualizing essays, text for projects and quantifying how I want to proceed with studies at a graduate school, that is if all this thought and preparation pays off!
The question is how to illuminate the many facets and tangents of the projects I facilitate. For instance- The Snowtorium enabled local artists to broadcast sound-scapes (via a motion activated solar powered sound system) within it's semi-sustainable snow walls, which lasted until the 4th of July, wherein the fireworks replaced this temporary architecture project.
Or Go Hammocking, which sought to illuminate the benefits of relaxing in a hammock, the sale of which (at the Art Fair) funded a micro-grant awarded after a Go Hammocking event in a timely manner (about 30 minutes) to a creative idea generated under the influence of relaxing alpha brain waves (the mind's most relaxed state of wakefulness). An added layer is the hammocks were made from material was unsalable due to streaking, and the webbing was surplus, enabling the Center of Wonder to distribute the hammocks for a subsidized price of $5 (the price of a froo froo coffee).
The challenges that lay ahead are many, including the grand conceptualization of how I must describe my intentions of broadening idea development (a nebulous field). In any case, I am excited to engage in a process as it promotes reflection, which is frequently overlooked in our era of constantly moving forward at the speed of life.
By | filed under Public Art Plan A Public Art Task Force has been assembled. The gears are beginning to turn, with an unpredictable future ahead of us. A couple dropplets of serendipity have made waves including a Call for Artists by the Airport in its renovation and expansion, along with another call for a 200 foot long mural for a library in Lander.
I am preparing an application to for the Airport commission through Custom Iron Design, a local metal shop I work at. The most obvious and intimidating space is a 200 foot long wall, what we have dubbed as 'The Great Wall of Jackson'. It needs an infusion of art, or it will be a wall...forever...
The Public Art Task Force will guide the development of a comprehensive Public Art Plan for Jackson. This Plan will create opportunities for artists such as myself and a myriad of local and regional talent to work within a system to enhance the imminent built environment in Jackson.
I slowly drove up the parking garage last night at 2 am and had the relevation that a municipality wouldn't spend the money on a structure it doesn't predict will be used. It may be empty now, but all of it's 200+ parking spaces will likely be consumed as growth takes place in Jackson. It was a revelation that distinctly felt reminiscent of a small family in Ohio hoarding canned food in their basement, preparing for something dreadful...What if that family was hoarding food in a grotto, with lilly pads and small mammals making merry? Public art isn't the solution to sustainable growth, but it sure will make the concrete environment a bit more livable.
