The curved wall

The gabion wall tapestry system was hung on a curved wall offering numerous vantage points in the courtyard.

Gabion Detail

Each gabion basket (3x2x1) is braided with the adjacent basket creating a stronger connection between all baskets. This allows the weight of the entire wall to be shared by all the baskets.

Gabion

Last autumn, I had an independent study that looked at the history, evolution and new techniques in design using gabion baskets. The final project for the class conceptualized a gabion wall art piece in a 17' sunken courtyard for a new hotel in Aspen, Colorado. The concept expressed the natural resource materials found below the surface of the earth. Furthermore the concept took this pattern found in the Earth and used it to show an abstract of an above ground landscape, even though the courtyard is below ground.

The concept is now being built. Part of the process was to create fabrication details that accentuate how the baskets are being held together, how stone gets stacked, how lighting is integrated within the wall and how the larger basket systems appear to be "hanging" off the wall.

Being able to conceptualize and idea and then becoming a part of the implemenation has significant value. Not all design issues can be dealt with at a desk. Getting physically involved with the building of art piece allows one to further understand materials, fabrication, dedication and techniques.

Light Projection

Light Projection
Artist: Jenny Holzer

What:
The projections transform the enormous, seemingly empty gallery into an engaging and provocative meeting place flooded with words, bodies, and light. Also on view is a new series of paintings from declassified government documents, first shown, in part, at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Holzer's display of government documents, such as planning maps for the invasion of Iraq, reveal the bureaucratic administration of war through the cloud of paint and the weight of a looming installation.

So What:
The use of text as art to convey as message.
Rhetoric on government policies-challenging the norm
Unconventional means of using the ceiling, walls and floors as the canvas for communication

http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=339

River Po Line

River Po Line
Artist: Richard long

What:
Nature has always been recorded by artists, from pre-historic cave paintings to 20th century landscape photography. Richard Long makes nature the subject of his work, but in new ways. River Po Line maps out the flow pattern of the river that once went through this lowland farmstead in Italy.

So What:
Contrast of agrarian land use with the natural flow of a river channel
Contrast of color and material helps to articulate the point of the art piece
The piece reflects the water that is no longer there because of the agrarian land use
Scale of the project—allowing for human interaction

http://www.richardlong.org/index.html

Whirlpool

Sequoia Whirlpool
Artist: Chris Drury

What:
The sculpture was developed based on the movements of fluids in the body and movement of water on the planet. Sequoia Whirlpool measuring 16’ x 8’ x 10” was made from Redwood sticks on a bed of strong smelling Bay, merging to redwood needles at the edges. The pattern of the double vortex around the stone is taken from a Cardiac Twist; the pattern of tissue at the apex of the heart.

So What:
Use of natural materials to show flow and energy
Links a pattern of flow in the human body to the flow in the natural landscape
Size (16’x8’x10”)
Use of the Sequoia limbs. The Sequoia are one of the oldest species in North America.

http://www.chrisdrury.co.uk/shows.htm

Trees of Aspen

Trees of Aspen

Artist: Alan Sonfist and Steven Spears

What:
The Trees of Aspen is a temporary environmental installation located in Snowmass Village, Colorado. Western Colorado has experienced significant wildfires over the last decade, which has drastically altered the natural landscape and human patterns. The fires have generally started because of significant droughts, many whom believe is a result of global warming.

The Trees of Aspen is made up of approximately two dozen burnt pine and aspen tree trunks, specifically selected from a nearby forest fire. The composition of the burnt tree trunks varied in height and size, mimicking the diverse growth pattern of the forest. The temporary installation was placed adjacent to a golf course, which is one of highest water consuming human made landscapes for western Colorado.

So What:
Each tree trunk had the seeds of the regenerating forest planted beneath it, symbolically creating the ecological lifecycle.
Each tree trunk was placed on a steel dowel allowing the trunks to move in the wind, creating a ghostly atmosphere of the skeleton of tree.
The burnt tree trunks are left stark as if the soul of the tree has moved on but the burnt skeleton remains
The juxtaposition of the burnt forest against the green golf course

*note-writing for this piece does not exist but nonetheless, it is a significant influence.