READING CIRCLE SHADE STRUCTURES, 2011
(2) shade structures and seating inspired by Mexican Luminarias (punched tin lanterns) crescent moon semicircles cast sunspot patterns on the floor as a 10’ circular occulus uses architectural glass to create a color wash. Fabricated of stainless steel and glass. Each structure us 27’ X 12’ Commissioned by the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Dept.
BOTANICAL FENCES, 2011
Fence panels of native flowers inspired by Mexican papel picado (cut paper) techniques. Fabricated of powder coated steel. Each panel: 5′ X 5′. Commissioned by the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Dept.
HISTORICAL FENCES, 2011
Fence panels of historical images inspired by Mexican papel picado (cut paper) techniques. Fabricated of powder coated steel. Each panel: 3′ X 5′. Commissioned by the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Dept.
Global Rhythm 2008
installed @ Green Valley Park Denver Colorado
Public Art Program of Denver’s Commission on Cultural Affairs
Djembe Drums & Earth Drum
Turtle Drum
ParabolIc Bench
Children’s Drums
Slapped PIpes
WIND WHEEL for SEAL POINT PARK
Wind wheel casts prismatic rainbows as it creates a circular gateway for vehicular traffic entering the park. 27’ diameter X 17’ tall .stainless steel, Aluminum prisms.15’ x 27’ x 27’ 2008. Commissioned by the City of San Mateo
PRAIRIE BELLS
celebrates the rolling tallgrass blackland prairie that the City of Frisco sprang from and commemorates each year since its founding in 1902.Rising from a native prairie landscape, the conical tower shimmers with dancing wind bells: each marking one year of Frisco’s history.
Commissioned by the Frisco Arts Program
Stainless steel, bronze, dichroic polycarbonate, plants
Dimensions: 40′ H X 19′ W X 19’D
THIRD STREET LIGHT RAIL
artwork enhancements for 7 platforms on San Franciscoís MUNI Third St. Light Rail in the Mission Bay area. Platform designs includeKinetic Helix marquee pole and shadow caster panels based on the Fibonacci spiral at the UCSF biotechnology campus station, Turbine marquee with shadow casters based on historical train yards, Flight marquee pole and shadow caster canopies of laser cut native bird silhouettes. Paving embedments and windscreens are based on historical train names, native birds, and Long Bridge, a horse car rail line that once traced the same route. Commissioned by the SF Arts Commission. Structural engineer: Paul Endres, Endres-Ware. Fabrication by Eastern Sheet Metal
WIND TORCHERE
creates a swirling candelabra of light in downtown St. Louis. A series ofspiral vanes resonate and flow within the infrastructure. At night, programmable LEDs within the column illuminate and transform the sculpture. Structural engineer: Paul Endres, EndresWare, Fabrication: Eastern Sheet Metal Dimensions: 40’X 3’
(M) BODY
A series of 8 cast concrete benches designed for the Recreation and Fitness Facility at Ohio State University in Columbus. OSU students were used as models for casting the stretching poses as concave impressions on the bench surfaces. (M)BODY expresses the delicate balancing act of mass in equilibrium; grounded to the earth while encompassing the dynamics of the human form. The work draws upon symbiotic archetypes and ancient physical traditions of sports, movement and meditation. Commissioned by the Ohio Percent for Art Program Fabrication: Baxter Precast Body Casts: Sean Derry
SPHERICAL TRAJECTORY
A series of 5 aerodynamic arcs and prismatic discs perform an aerial ballet as they rotate, shift and tilt in the wind. Prismatic discs change color as they catch the light. Sited adjacent to the sports fields of the Recreation and Fitness Facility at Ohio State University in Columbus.Commissioned by the Ohio Percent for Art Program Fabrication: Eastern Sheet Metal
Dimensions: 170′ X 25’ X 25’
CELEBRATION DRUM CIRCLE
A place for communal music making adjacent to Ohio State University stadium. Individual components include: African Djembe drums mounted on seats around an Earth drum played with the feet; Afro-Cuban Conga, Quinto and Tumba drums; and Sun Drums based on Brazilian and Indonesian archetypes. Commissioned by the Ohio Percent for Art Program Fabrication: Eastern Sheet Metal l
MANHATTAN SQUARE PARK
Public play space designed in collaboration with Landscape Architect Ken Smith (KSLA ) and commissioned by the City of Rochester, NY. Artist-designed elements include; a Viewing Tower and wind-activated Twist Sculpture; Slapped Pipes; Giant Gong; Wiggle Benches; Parabolic Bench; and Big Eyes, Big Ears, a rotating tower for extending the user’s listening and viewing capabilities with parabolic dishes and binoculars. Fabrication: Eastern Sheet Metal
CHILDREN”S GARDEN OF SCIENCE
Interactive drums and wind bells at the Kid Power Science Playground, NY Hall of Science in Corona, NY. Designed in collaboration with Joan Krevlin BKSK. The work is comprised of 7 drums based on African, Caribbean and Native American archetypes. Wind bells hanging from trees offer harmonic ambience. Fabrication: Eastern Sheet Metal
Sun Catchers – 1997
A series of 5 outdoor sculptures at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix designed to reflect sunlight and create harmonic musical sounds as they spin in the wind. As the wind blows, the rotation of each propeller activates a mallet which strikes a tone bar causing it to play a note. At the same time, the triangular glass prism vanes shift in the breeze, changing colors. Each SunCatchers station is tuned to a different note of a pentatonic scale. Together, they create harmonic overtones in all directions while reflecting brilliant colors. Fabricated of stainless steel, glass, Lexan, and aluminum. Dimensions: 20’ X 6’ X 6’. Commissioned by the Phoenix Art Commission.
PS 244: SOUND CARNIVAL – 1996
An installation designed for exploring music and sound phenomena at an elementary school playground in Brooklyn, NY. Slide shows a detail of the playground with one of two Listening Dishes in the foreground. When children speak to each other through the dishes, the sounds travel into a large underground tank below and they hear the acoustic reverberation. Commissioned by the NYC Public Schools, the NYC School Construction Authority, and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art Program.
PS 244: SOUND CARNIVAL, DETAIL – 1996
Two stainless steel “Palm Trees” are played by slapping the open ends of the curved pipes on the trunk of the ‘tree’ to produce tuned percussive sounds.
Echo Chamber
Sculpture allows children to speak and listen to the acoustic properties of an underground chamber through pipes and parabolic dishes. Painted steel and stainless steel dishes. 5′ X 3′ X 3′.
Big Eyes Big Ears @ P.S. 23
Rotating tower for extending the user’s listening and viewing capabilities with parabolic dishes and a periscope. Painted steel, stainless steel, optics. 17′ x 4′ x 4′.
PS 23 SOUND PLAYGROUND – 1992
Permanent sound installation at P.S. 23, a Bronx elementary school, commissioned by the NYC Percent for Art Program. The artists designed the entire playground including sound sculptures, paving, seating and landscaping. Bronze drum seats and tables where children create music and experiment with rhythm. Speaking tubes are embedded in the curved concrete bench so children can whisper messages across the play space to one another. Wind bells are mounted on top of the chain link fence, and the concrete paving is textured. Site dimensions: approx. 20′ X 150′.
Parabolic Bench @ P.S. 23
Ramped walkway between two 8′ diameter vertical stainless steel dishes creates an acoustic space for reflecting and focusing sound. Children discover they can generate sound waves and stop them with a wave of the hand.
FLIGHT WIND REEDS, 2003
Aerodynamic sound installation consisting of five elements, each 25 feet tall, composed of stainless steel and aluminum poles and topped with brass bells and steel forms that reference elements of flight and the abstracted parts of an airplane. The works turn, pivot and spin, making music as the bells on each reed are activated by the wind. Commissioned by the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC.
Atlanta Sound Pavilion 2003 Atlanta, GA
Interactive architectural pavilion for Adamsville Recreation Center in Atlanta, Georgia
Aeolian Garden 2000 University of Connecticut at Avery Point
Installation at the campus entrance circle incorporates artifacts from a garden previously at the site. A stone fountain was transformed into an aeolian harp. Commissioned through the Art in Public Spaces Program of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.
Saturn Seat at Liberty Science 2000 Jersey City, NJ
Along the walkway to Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ, a sundial gnomen rises from a stainless steel globe encircled by a seating ring. The globe is perforated with a star map of the Jersey City night sky at the solstice in the year 2000. At night the illuminated globe, seating ring and star map appear to be floating above grade.
Parabolic Bench at Liberty Science Center 2000 Jersey City, NJ
Ramped walkway between two 8′ diameter vertical stainless steel dishes creates an acoustic space for reflecting and focusing sound. Participants can generate sound waves by clapping and stop them with a wave of the hand. The red walkway terminates at Saturn seat shown above.
Westside Space Station 2000 Jersey City, NJ
A climbing and listening structure inspired by lunar landing modules for New Jersey Light Rail. A star map is integrated into the parabolic roof.
New York Gamelan NY Hall of Science 1999 Corona, NY
A Sonic Global Village for the Kid Power exhibition at the New York Hall of Science includes: Xylophones, Sonic-Tubes (tuned pipes played by slapping the open ends with beach sandals), and Big Ears for listening to sounds overhead. All instruments feature a Universal Global Tuning common to Indonesia, Africa, China, India, and American Jazz.”There are no wrong notes in the Sonic Kingdom”
The Big Wave 1997 New York City
A 270 foot fence surrounding the 6th Street & Ave B Garden on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. Laser cutouts of the gardeners’ hands are incorporated into the design as a gesture of protection and a ‘big wave’ to the neighborhood. Designed in collaboration with artist/designer Kim DePole. Commissioned by The Trust for Public Land in partnership with the City of New York and underwritten by a lead grant from Metropolitan Life Foundation.
Airway Heights Sound Park 1993 Airway Heights, WA
Listening Dishes and Big Eyes Big Ears designed for a pubic park and commissioned by the Washington State Arts Commission.
Aquaphones 1991 Otego, NY
A listening device for water sounds installed in Otego, NY. Stereo pipes direct sounds from the water’s surface to the listeners’ ears. Each pipe is approximately 18′ long.
Socrates Sound Observatory 1990 Long Island City, NY
A participatory sound installation for a waterfront site at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY. Community concerts take place at the site. Components include: Earth Mound with parabolic Reflecting Dish, five steel conga drums and three Drum seats surrounding an Earth Drum played with the feet.
Akron Antennas Akron University 1990 Akron, Ohio
Sixteen different antenna-like structures mounted on light poles along the Commons of the University of Akron campus in Ohio. The sculptures rotate in response to wind direction and incorporate bells as sound elements. Each antenna is approximately 5′ X 4′ X 1′ and fabricated of aluminum tubing and mylar.
Orchestra 1988 Candlestick State Recreation Area, San Francisco, CA
A participatory sound installation built at Candlestick State Recreation Area (next to Candlestick Park) in San Francisco. Components include: Sun Gongs, Conga Drums, and three Drum seats surrounding an Earth drum played with the feet. Site dimensions; 25′ X 25′.
Adirondack Sound Park 1984 Lake Placid Center for the Arts, NY
Site specific sound park design for the grounds of the arts center. Sculptural instruments include: two large-scale environmental xylophones made of tuned pine and granite bars, two gong trees fabricated of steel, and a series of steel gongs mounted individually. Site dimensions: approximately 25′ X 30′.
Adirondack Sound Field.
Wires radiating from a central architectural listening post transmitted the aeolian sounds of a 4 acre field to the listeners ear.
Wind Bow 1981 Lewiston, NY
Temporary work formerly at Artpark in Lewiston NY explores the synergy of site, sound and design. Materials include: an earth-banked chamber, steel pole and 60 stainless steel strings tensioned by a laminated wood arc. This work was designed to attune the ear to the soundscape of the Niagara Gorge. Dimensions:12′ X 14′ X 5′.
The harp transforms wind energy into musical sounds known as aeolian tones, named after Aeolus, the god of wind in Greek mythology. The wind harp is one of the oldest musical instruments discovered by man. According to legend, King David hung his harp in an open window and heard it played by the wind. In more recent times, aeolian tones can be heard singing from telephone and power lines. When an aeolian harp string is activated by the wind, the fundamental is never sounded, only the overtone series. Wind velocity is directly related to the pitch heard by the listener; the greater the wind speed, the higher the activated overtone. The resulting tones have a shimmering, ringing quality.
In accordance with the laws of fluid dynamics, when air flows past a cylinder (in this case, a string), it sheds vortices to either side. These are shed in a stable and alternating pattern. When the frequency of this oscillation matches the frequency to which the string is tuned, an aeolian tone will result. The string always vibrates in a direction perpendicular to the wind.
Wind Antenna 1982 New York City
Temporary work formerly at Art on the Beach, NYC. The aluminum parabolic dish functions as a resonator and provides ideal focus of wave frequency transmissions. Wind Antenna uses both mast and parabolic dish to convert wind energy into sound waves. Dimensions:15′ X 8′ X 8′.
Wind Antenna 2 1983
Temporary work formerly on Lake Michigab for the New Music America Festival in Chicago. The aluminum parabolic dish functions as a resonator and provides focus of wave frequency transmissions.
Harmonic Compass 1983 Lexington, NY
Temporary work formerly at Lexington, NY. An architectural sound structure in which the tuning system is generated by the topography of the Lexington Valley. Wires ranging in length from 20′ to 250′ are tensioned between five galvanized steel poles and a delta-shaped resonator/shelter at the top of the hill.
Wind Pavilion 1995 Zanesville, Ohio
Aeolian harp at the International Center for Wild Animals (the Wilds), a 9000 acre wildlife refuge in Central Ohio. The work offers shelter and seating for visitors as they listen to the sounds of the wind. The cedar pavilion reflects the shape of the octagonal earth mound at the Hopewell Indian site in Newark, Ohio. Eight copper and teakwood harps are tensioned with stainless steel strings. Built in collaboration with Skip Stander and Charles Bremer.
Sound Vessel 1996 Varanasi, India
A performance/installation on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India for the Sound Sattra Festival. A rowboat equipped with a wind harp, underwater microphone and contact mikes on the oarlocks ferried passengers along the bathing ghats on shore. For the finale, the Mallick family of musicians led by Biddu Mallick, sang North Indian Dhrupad songs while floating along the river.
Wave Magnet 1992 Thread Waxing Space, New York City
Radio compositions heard on FM headset receivers as the participant moves around a shortwave radio. Sounds are individually triggered by motion sensors and stored on a computer-controlled digital sampler.
Sonarium 1991 Grand Rapids, Michigan and Linz, Austria
Portable touring installation using a rotating shadow wheel, infrared detectors and computerized electronics which creates sonic pathways that can be explored by the participant.
Antenna King 1990 PS 122 and Parsons Gallery in New York City
Anthropomorphic sound Installation for a performance collaboration with David Van Tieghem at Ps 122 in New York City. Based on Ranger space flights mapping the dark side of the moon.
Sound Engine 1989 Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center
Installation of sculptural configurations of parabolic dishes and cones as sound stations with speakers. The sonic compositions are digitized sounds triggered by motion detectors and are comprised of electronic constructions in combination with a collage of environments from around the works. The work interacts with the viewer and with the space in which it is installed by reflecting its sonic qualities.
Clockworks 1988
Interactive ball game with sampled sounds at Staten Island Childrens Museum and Citicorp Center. Wooden balls dropped through a series of triggers that created sounds. Different surfaces were used under the balls path for percussive effects.
Sonic Maze Pinball 1986
You don’t keep score, you play the score” miniature percussion orchestra activated by pinballs movement. Objects included phone bells, xylophones, graters and spinners.
Sonic Miniature Golf 1984
9 hole miniature golf course at Art Awareness Gallery Lexington New York. Balls roll down percussive surfaces before activating xylophones and striking bells.
SInger Songs 1981
Electronic work using treadle sewing machine, propeller, shortwave crystal radio and strings on a dreidel. Moving the treadle activated sounds of clattering Mexican trains and wind harp recordings.