Nonverbal

I have an installation up at the Portland Building (in Portland, Oregon) through November 9th, 2007. It features an 8′ x 11′ wall with a full scale window in the middle of it. The window has a shade pulled down to just a crack. When a viewer looks through the crack, they see a house floating in the ocean. The piece is motorized and lit by leds. Here’s a PDF of my original proposal, if you’re interested in reading more about the piece.

Here’s a video of the first time I had the waves and house hooked up to the motors all at once. The interior lighting hasn’t been added at this point.

Lightship initial test run from Nonverbal on Vimeo.

Skeleton View: An early view of the wave cylinders. Before bumps, paper and paint were added.

This is the framework for the waves. Just have one done here. Checking placement.

Bearings keep the waves moving smoothly.

Close up view of table and chair.

First night of installation. Painted all the walls, constructed 1/3 of the enclosure.

Day 2 of installation. This was early enough in the day that I could still crack a smile.

Side view of house. You can see the motion mechanism for the house from here.

The back of the house had to be cut at an angle so that it would fit between the waves.

The stars are there so I know which gear goes with which wave.

Finishing touches.

2:30am, finished! Here’s what the piece looks like from the front. Visitors peer through the window crack to see the house floating in the waves.

A big thank you to Patrick Rock, Dave Benz and Chuck Nakell for all their help and hard work on this piece.

I submitted a proposal to create a piece in the Portland Building Installation Space. This is a 7′ x 13′ alcove in the lobby of the Portland Building. I figured my chances of being selected were slim, mainly because I finished the proposal with just enough time to get it down to RACC exactly at the deadline, to the minute. Also, I wrote it with the idea that a drawing would accompany it, but lack of time meant no drawing would happen. Lastly, I’ve never done an installation piece before.

The notification day came and went, and I hadn’t receive my SASE in the mail. I figured I was out of the running and started thinking about other places I could submit the proposal. 5-long-days-of-waiting later, I got a voice mail saying that I was selected as 1 of the 6 artists (they pick 6 artists and 6 students each year)! It actually took a couple days for this to sink in, but now I’m busy figuring out the best way to build a lightweight portable wall, looking into quiet electric motors, and trying not to FREAK OUT! As things progress, I’m hoping to document the whole process here.

Here’s a pdf of my proposal, if you want to read it. My piece will be up October 15 - November 9, 2007.

You can view past installations using this search form.

Old view of some works in progress. Thought it made a nice tableau.