Tornado Sky: Sunrise

Thank you to everyone who helped make this vision possible, and to all of you who cheered me on !! Most of these are pictures I took with my cell phone. I don't have any professional photos just yet. The Opening on September 25th was Amazing, Fun, Sunny and very muddy !! The days before were torrential rains at times and heavy wind. Outside of the fact that the ground was already soaked, the wind blew my waterfall right out of the pond and left a cute little swamp before it was discovered and turned off.
I am very excited about the future of this piece. The waterfall portion will be closed down for the winter soon, then next spring... New flowers in bloom & up and running for the entire season. If any of you plan on passing through MN, feel free to get in touch with me. It would be great to meet you at the park for a picnic :-)

Only a few Finishing Touches left

Tornado Sky: Sunrise is up and running now!! Hope to see you all at the Fall arts Festival at Franconia Sculpture Park this Saturday Sept. 25th
For those of you who can't be here.... I will be posting photos and writing about the experience of putting it all together when I come back home and catch my breath :-)
I have so many of you that have helped bring this vision to life... to you I say... Woo Hoo... We did it!! Thanks for being a part of this amazing opportunity... & especially thank you to John Hock for the gift of Franconia Sculpture Park.

Work In Progress

This week we picked up the utility pole. It was so much more beautiful than I had anticipated, so I am pretty happy about that. Cedar Red Wood and bigger around than most. All of the pieces are falling neatly into place. Just wanted to post a few new images now that it is all coming together. Hope to see you at the Fall Arts Festival Sept. 25th. It will surely be a day to remember.

Summertime

Today I am dreaming of the simple leisure of a childhood summer day. The kind where you wake up without much of a plan and head out into the world for an uncharted adventure. My favorites included long bike rides to unknown places, butterfly nets and jars for catching small creatures, making a swimming pool out of my dads wheel barrel and climbing the tallest tree in the neighborhood all the way to the top until I could see the Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis.
I don't remember being the kind of child who sat around complaining about being bored. I was always stirring up some sort of adventure.
The new work I am doing this summer at Franconia Sculpture Park has brought me one step closer to a step back in time for a new childhood summer adventure.
The adventure I stirred up this time took a lot more contemplation and research than building a fort in my closet on a rainy day, but the basic concepts are the same.
Imagination and dream building at their finest.
As an artist it is so exciting to carry on this sense of adventure and discovery in life and share the work that comes out of it with others.
The open studio grant I received this year has given me the time and space to breath a little deeper, lay back in the grass at night and look at the stars, watch fireflies dance in the night and appreciate the flow of energy in life through childlike eyes.
The resulting project that comes out of this time I feel will pass the magic along a little further as people take the time to sit and enjoy for a moment the project I am creating.

The First 5 Weeks at Franconia

This last week I started the process of installing Tornado Sky: Sunrise.
Before that I started with building the deck, then an open steel house frame, built the frame structure for the Tesla coil canvases and finally found a telephone pole, which I ordered and will pick up next week.
The flower rack I started last spring took a dive one day after a heavy rain followed by strong wind... So I shoveled the remains into a heap... unearthed a dozen or so and re-planted them... so my work space has a little color. I am going to use bags of wild flower seed around my installation now without the Martha Stewart touch of landscaping in extra flowers.
Life at Franconia has been rich... Slide nights & dance party's... Bonfires & lots of hard work... 10 to 12 hour days in the hot sun welding, building with wood and digging dirt... until your sun burn has sun burn... I am loving every minute of it. There is always a cold beer and a chair on the porch waiting at the end of the day... the kitchen smells amazing around dinner time... and when the dinner bell rings there is a family style dinner for 20 outside at a picnic table.
I still have more than 2 months left before the Sept 15th deadline. Feels like I am doing pretty well with getting it together. It will be nice to have some time to make sure it gets up and running smoothly.

I'm Sailing Away...

I borrowed this image from Franconia's Blog... Where I have been daydreaming of what the summer ahead will be like... In attempting to have some semblance of control over what is about to happen in my life, I can only stand back in awe and be humbled by the fact that the universal law of abundance is at work and I am simply one tiny little spark in the fire that is the whole of what is about to happen.
As much as I dote over the fog for control... Time and time again, the pieces come together in spite of me. At this point I am resigning some of my control seeking nature to the universal flow and trying to wait out the next couple of weeks as gracefully as possible. On top of it... I have the pleasure and honor of some of my Icelandic relatives coming to stay with me the same weekend I leave for Franconia...
There is no way all of the world spinning around in my head is ever going to settle down... I just have to do the best I can between now and then to remember to pack my toothbrush!!

Adopt • A • Flower

The seeds are planted !! You can be a part of Tornado Sky: Sunrise !! Soon you will be able to adopt a flower and dedicate it to your wildest dreams.

My work is primarily concerned with the flow of energy in life. For about the past 5 years the sculptures that I have been creating deal with processing grief. Channeling the flow of energy in life through the events of loss into rejuvenation.... despair into hope & acceptance. Opening up to an understanding of the cycle of life and believing in a bright future against all odds.

Your flower can be planted in the butterfly garden of Tornado Sky: Sunrise... or you can bring it home and plant it yourself. Either way you will be participating in the creation of this Electric Water Garden installation... A beautiful retreat from your day to day life where you can sit for a while and contemplate the pieces of your life falling into the universal flow of life that surrounds us and takes us along for the ride!!

It is the universal experience we have collectively as people that I am interested in finding in my work. Opening up the opportunity for you to share in and be a part of bringing it to life is a very exciting dynamic of the work for me.
Watch for updates in May...

The Wildflower Butterfly Garden

The next 48 hours around here I will be hosting my own studio marathon. Organizing, Creating promo materials and planting flower seeds in Dixie cups. Just as the caterpillar undergoes a major transformation on his journey to flight... so am I.
The flowers in Dixie cups are part of my fund raising plan. The rest of April pretty much will be spent getting prepared for May fund raising events.
My dream time has been pretty vivid and intense lately. I even got to spend some time last night with my dog who recently passed away... That was really nice. All in all I feel pretty energized and ready to get to work. I think I am past the fear factor now.
After all... Tornado Sky: Sunrise is a pretty Cool Gift for all of us... I just happen to be one of the people here to bring it to life!!
I am really looking forward to giving others the opportunity to be a part of it's creation.

The Real Work Begins !!

When your work is actually chosen for funding... a funny thing happens... All of a sudden you have a lot of work to do :-) Which is all wonderful and fine... accept for the fact that at least in my case now... it means taking on new roles that I have very little experience with. Like what you say ??? OK... Like... FUND RAISING !!!
The past couple of weeks for me have included a lot of incubation time for my creative problem solving thought process combined with a heavy dose of good old fashioned get the bills paid work.
There are a few great concepts brewing in my mind as to how to move ahead and actually make this summer as financially stress free as possible.
#1 — I need a truck !!
#2 — I need to get busy !!!
Every thing else will fall into place. I am a firm believer in the universal law of abundance. I do my part, and the rest will fall into place.
Today the project is to put together a promo package so that I will be able to talk to people effectively about what it is I am trying to accomplish.
When this step is complete I have a list of places to contact in order to get the additional support needed to fully realize this Most Excellent opportunity!!
I am looking forward to sharing the journey with you here !!
To infinity and beyond... Let's Go !!!

Tornado Sky: Sunrise

My Sculpture Installation proposal has been chosen for a Franconia Sculpture Park NEA Open Studio Fellowship for 2010 to be in residence to create and exhibit work at FSP. The art review committee, staff, and board of directors are excited to have my work included in their 2010/2011 exhibition!!

Tornado Sky: Sunrise is an Electric Water Garden combining a bench, water falling from a street lamp that is protected by a lightning rod, a pond with a butterfly garden and a “glass house” containing life size images of electricity shooting out from Tesla coils toward a centered grounding post. The overall feel of the piece is somewhat of a modern Salvador Dali version of an Alice in Wonderland style mad
scientists laboratory.
Every aspect of this installation holds symbolic reference to the flow of energy in life. From the street lamp lighting our way with its lightning rod offering protection and its continually cycling flow of water falling and rising simultaneously. We are offered a seat to sit back and consider just where it is we are in life, while we look out over a pond surrounded by wildflowers and butterflies. Off in the distance we see a “glass” house filled with images of fierce electrical energy and a grounding post to diffuse its power back into the ground where it will recharge the earth once again.

With the concept development, research & grant writing phases behind me... It is with great excitement that I dedicate today as the beginning of a great adventure in bringing this project to life!! The deadline just 6 months away.

The Eighth Wonder of the World

The Seven Wonders of the World actually pale in comparison to Nikola Tesla. A Creative Genius who revolutionized the modern world. This was an experimental Studio he had in Colorado Springs. His influence far and wide has entered my world a bit more closely in recent days. The proposal I am currently involved in putting together for Tornado Sky: Sunrise includes 2 Tesla coils in a glass house. Researching the possibility of creating my own has taken me into a world of language I barely understand... This makes me all the more curious. I have discovered a group of Tesla coilers in the process that I am getting to know online. The next year is looking pretty exciting. Working with Electricity in art lately has gotten me thinking about what it must have been like to be a painter when you had to go out and figure out how to make the paint before you could paint the picture. I am in the process of creating Electric Lightning Blue...

Tornado Sky:

Metaphorically Rich... Weight on your shoulders, Impending doom, sense of Fear, Your world being torn apart, all of the the pieces of your life you need to feel secure and grounded seem out of reach, Up against more than you can manage, You know the feeling...

Sunrise.

: The Moment in Time Each day where the Harrowing Darkness of Night, carrying with it whatever our burdens may be, fades away giving us the light of a new day full of Hope and possibilities for a better life... and to all of us who have had the warm comfort of a cushy bed and loved ones surrounding us... The strength to reach out and help someone in whatever way possible... sometimes all it takes is the simple kindness of a smile or a kind word... at the very least, it is a great place to begin.

Electric Energy: Connecting

The Flow of Energy in Life is my primary interest. Understanding the physics of it through Light, Color, Wind, Fire, Electrical Storms, Rainy and Sunny Days & Ocean Waves I find endlessly fascinating.
Time for me creating works of art opens up a dimension where I find myself contemplating the parallels of energy that animates our universe with the interactions between each of us and the people most closely interacting with my world.

Part of what I am doing now is taking notes... The subject matter is all over the place so I am just doing my best to capture thoughts as they present themselves. It reminds me of of Duchamp and his Green Box... A collection of thoughts on scraps of paper relating to The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. The process is the same. We all do it when we think about our work... a sketch here, a note there, thoughts drifting through our minds at any time of the day or night relating to it. In time I will sort out what to do with them. For now it feels like I am out in a field trying to catch Butterflies and Grasshoppers to put in a jar... for my amusement, until I decide their fates.

Water: Falling

Tornado Sky: Sunrise... Although this sculpture installation is complete in my mind and on the page... I am still catching the pieces floating through my head on intellectual as well as practical levels. Naturally my own life experience resonates through the combination of iconic references. The danger of explaining my connection to the work is in the diminished magic you are left with to pour yourself into it with.
So sit back and relax as the pieces unfold... One day they will all come together here for you, as they did eventually for me over the coarse of several months...
As for the practical business of bringing it to life... I am riding on tornado winds catching the pieces and sorting them out...

Tornado Trail

Just as the sky before a lightning strike forms a plasma leader to prepare a path for the energy to flow through.... My Tornado changed the flow of energy around here dramatically for weeks afterward. People moved slower, time seemed almost to stop. It was a world of it's own apart from the rest of the city. After the electric company cut the power to downed lines I was able to go out and retrieve electrical remnants from the debris. One piece I wanted to have was a street lamp I found on the side of the road. Still connected to a broken pole I was going to need some tools to get it... So I went home to get them... less than an hour later when I returned it was gone. I had even decided I would just put it over my shoulder and drag it home if I had to... The opportunity was gone. I kept the image in my mind throughout the rest of the summer and carried on collecting the pieces of what has recently become Tornado Sky: Sunrise.... It is really about the flow of energy in life... Very complex yet pure and simple all at once. Today I am researching... How to bring all of the pieces out of the tornado winds one by one and help them fall neatly into place.

Dreams and Visions

Fall is looking good. Whatever was going on that insisted I sleep and dream every other minute over the summer has faded away and replaced itself with active and productive and awake 18 to 20 hours a day... I have a lot of work on my table ranging from documentation to building new pieces, grant writing and allowing visions of future work to form in my mind and on the page... next is the research to make it happen... The most interesting piece of all is destined for an amazing sculpture park here in Minnesota... I think some of the dream time this summer definitely contributed to the work I have in mind... none the less... you will see the sketches soon as I move into the next phase of bringing it to life...
It is all a part of Tornado Sky: Manifesting our dreams and visions...

Tornado Mile

My vacation time this year is amounting to 3 days off at home... The first of which feels like a blur. The really interesting thing however is that having started work on my new series Tornado Sky about a month ago... It appears I have attracted some serious attention... From Mother Nature. I now am surrounded by the wreckage of a tornado that passed through my own back yard a couple of days ago. I took a walk through the neighborhood to see some of it's effects this morning, collected a couple of remnants and tomorrow when I wake up I am heading out with my journal to do some thinking about it all. Otherwise I have been busy studying the physics of lightning... and forming images for the new series... some of which is destined to be created outdoors... perhaps even with a little collaboration from the earth, wind, and Gods fire...

New Work

My two favorite words today are Harrowing and Stellar... The New Work that is coming from my mind now promises to be both. The process of transitioning from one body of work to the next included a fair amount of healthy isolation in allowing space for ideas to present themselves to me and the time needed to process and shape their voice and direction. I spent a lot of time outdoors with the open sky, near rivers and lakes... time at the Walker Art Center... time on my roof... and curled up in the seat of my car along the side of the road napping and playing in dreamland. I have set up new work space and along with tying up loose ends with documentation I am embracing the life of the new work that is making itself at home in my universe...
The one where I have dedicated my life to my creative spirit, so as not to waste one moment of this opportunity to explore and share this truly unique gift that I have been entrusted with.