Posts Tagged ‘biomimicry’

“Suspended Earth:” My Contribution to SculptureFest 2016

Thursday, September 15th, 2016

suspended-earth-2

This installation – which I installed for the “Grounding” SculptureFest 2016 at King Farm in Woodstock, Vermont – continues a body of work that concerns multiple elements creating a larger form. I was curious about finding a way to float clay in the black box of what I like to call the zen pagoda. I like the idea of taking something earthbound and floating it in the air. In creating this piece I was also inspired by images of asteroid belts. This clay has experienced many uses: other installations, as casting form for sculptures, masks and giant puppets. It is unfired and will be recycled eventually. The balls are hanging on 40 lb test monofilament.

suspended-earth-3

As I worked on this piece the process of applying these 200 clay balls was additionally a type of meditation. I could listen to the wind blow, people talking, teams practicing down at the high school, the town lunch horn blow, grass cutting, art being created, crickets chirping and the birds singing. For four days this was my grounding to this place, my way of being present to each moment. It is no secret that being aware of these moments is the root of happiness.

suspended-earth-with-dancers-1

During the 3 September opening, it was a pleasure to have dancers Tracy Penfield and Chelsea Palin choose to move through and with my piece.

For several years now I have enjoyed the space and freedom offered by the magical space that is King Farm. This place is a fantastic art lab, where artists can experiment and float new ideas. It is a place where time has worked its special entropy into these buildings and land. I feel so lucky to be a part of this fabric that is the evolving history of King Farm.

The Art of Sustainability at Mount Holyoke College

Thursday, April 30th, 2015
Spirit of Sustainability Masks

Spirit of Sustainability Masks: ‘Nature’ and ‘Community’

In an effort to expose students to sustainability through art, Mount Holyoke College invited artist Jay Mead to campus on April 9th and 10th to lead a workshop on the “Art of Sustainability,” deliver the Miller Worley Environmental Leadership Lecture and facilitate a community art installation entitled “The Spirits of Sustainability.” 

Art of Sustainability Workshop

Geo Class, Art in Nature Collage, April 2015

On April 9th, Jay led a workshop with Professor Serin Houston’s 15 “Sense of Place, Sense of Planet” Geography students. Using found natural materials such as mud, seeds, grasses, bark, wild scallions, leaves, sticks, rocks, acorns, trees, water, flowers and snow, students created art installations around a lake on campus. During the second half of class, students described their processes and pieces, and Jay offered his own observations into the creative dynamics underpinning the installations. Students’ stories travelled from the past to the present to the future and touched on a range of themes including identity, wonder, success and home. While this workshop was a wonderful exercise in the diversity of expression and interest, additionally, the students were given time to engage in serious play with natural materials. Jay emphasized that such creative exercises allow participants to experience deep right brain thinking. Such thinking can lead to insights into issues of personal and global sustainability.

Miller Worley Environmental Leadership Lecture

That evening Jay presented a public talk on “The Art of Sustainability” to about 50 people. He discussed what it is like to live in the “Cobb Hill” eco-village in rural Vermont and how sustainability inspires the art he creates. “The first thing is love,” Jay told the assembled faculty, staff and students at Mount Holyoke College. “You have to fight for something you love. You have to engage your heart.” He went on to say that “Sustainability needs to flow from the heart and be so integrated into the way humans live that we no longer have to use the word.” Clearly engaged with these ideas, students, faculty, staff and community members asked Jay a multitude of questions about how to translate such expressions of sustainability into urban contexts, how to keep creativity and art alive in the face of ecological crises and how to embody personal ideals to the fullest extent possible.

Spirit of Sustainability Masks

Creation of mask molds

Creation of mask molds

On April 10th at the entrance to the Mount Holyoke Art Museum, Jay facilitated a day-long, community workshop open to all. Despite the cold weather, some 50 dedicated passersby participated. “Sustainability is a lot about community,” said Victoria Dawes an environmental studies major from Corning, New York. “When the entire community is coming together and thinking about environmental things, it’s an interesting way of getting onto the same page.”

Using hundreds of pounds of clay, car tires and recycled styro-foam, participants collectively shaped the clay into two larger-than-life head molds, “The Spirits of Sustainability.” One head was embraced by a series of hands to exemplify Community, while the second head featured a starfish, butterfly, flower and the sun to symbolize Nature. Then, they layered papier-mâché over the molds as a second step toward creating masks. Jay later returned to campus to release the masks from their clay molds.

Painting the 'Community' Mask by Keely Savoie

Painting the ‘Community’ Mask by Keely Savoie

On April 24th, as a part of Mount Holyoke’s Pangy Day (a celebration of spring, the college and the Earth), the masks were collaboratively painted by students. These two “Spirits of Sustainability” will be used for future college events and celebrations.

Jay’s visits were sponsored by the Miller Worley Center for the Environment, with additional support from the departments of geology and geography, environmental studies, architectural studies and art, as well as the Office of Student Programs and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.

More Reporting

From Mount Holyoke by Keely Savoie: “Re-imagining sustainability as art”

From Earth Day Network’s MobilizeU campaign, an international movement of concerned and active university students mobilizing their campuses

“The Forest Within” SculptureFest Installation

Thursday, August 29th, 2013
Forest Within

“The Forest Within” is in a salvaged pavilion (12′ x 18′ x 10′) and comprised of painted saplings, bark mulch, polyethylene, and burlap.

Just yesterday, I completed my new SculptureFest installation, “The Forest Within.” It’s across from my “When the Moon Came to Earth” installation (2012) at King Farm, Woodstock, Vermont.

This structure was originally used as a summer pavilion by the King family. When it was moved, the building was damaged and lacked a proper foundation. The first order of business was to jack it up and put a couple of beams underneath to provide some structural integrity. In the process, the building was made more or less level. Trim and shingles were also replaced and the building was spruced up.

To me, this installation is an exploration of the organic lines created by the saplings and their interstices. The black interior was necessary to provide a space of high contrast. Breaking all the elements down to three strong colors – white, black, and red (iron oxide) – allows for additional clarity. The pavilion has a Zen quality and these sparse elements pay homage to that aesthetic. The trees can be viewed as conduits of earth to sky and vice versa. How many times have we witnessed the trees dancing in the wind? Is there a dance here? How do we carry the forest in us?

The painting of the saplings arose out of last year’s installation of “When the Moon Came to Earth,” standing to the east (see time-lapse video). The initial impetus came from the “Hand on Pianos” project when the piece “Tree Songs” was created (see video of musical performance on piano piece).

The SculptureFest Opening is this Saturday, August 31 from 4-7pm. At 7pm there will be a performance of the play “Art” in the King Farm Barn. Get tickets at BarnArts. I hope you’ll come and see my installations, those of other artists, and the play. SculptureFest is always free and open to the public from dawn to dusk through foliage season. Here are directions.

When the Moon Came to Earth – New Video

Thursday, September 20th, 2012

Enjoy this time-lapse video produced by Colleen Bozuwa of my “When the Moon Came to Earth” installation at King Farm in Woodstock, Vermont.  Thanks, Colleen!

Also, Marie Kirn of Hartland, Vermont gave my piece a kind endorsement, saying it is “striking and moving” in this broadcast of Vermont Public Radio’s En Plein Air. Listen to the short segment.

When the Moon Came to Earth – Installed

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

When the Moon Came to Earth, detail

This is my latest piece “When the Moon Came to Earth.” Each disc is made of saplings and measures 10′ in diameter.  It’s installed at King Farm, which is an extension of Sculpture Fest.

The opening is at King Farm on Saturday, September 1st from 4-7pm.  The theme this year is “Poetry on the Land.”  At 5:15pm, Bonnie Gale will do a presentation on “Living Willow Sculpture” at the Prosper Road location. Bring your own picnic.  Then, Barnarts will present the play “Eleemoysynary” in the Barn at King Farm at 7pm. Buy tickets for the performance here. More information on Sculpture Fest is available here.