Uprooted & installed again: collage commission 6

             Well, the decision was made to uproot "Rooted Together" and move the collage to the adjacent wood-paneled wall. The wood frames it nicely but I wish the metallic lines didn't intersect the piece. If I had known it was going to be placed there, I would have made the collage as one piece, rather than on four panels.Most people will never know it wasn't intended to go there though. And the client is the ultimate "decider." Hopefully many people, strolling by, will enjoy it. This location does allow people to approach the collage more closely for a look at the details.

Finished and installed: collage commission 5

                The art consultants, Noyes Art Designs, have hung the collage in the surgical waiting room as planned. Unbeknownst to them, outlets for a flat screen television were installed late in the process and the area is now compressed. I'm not happy with how it looks — the lines of the white tree trunks are confused by the adjacent white boxes.  Still, people seeing the work for the first time at the grand opening tell me they were drawn into the work and didn't even notice.Over 7000 people attend the grand opening and most all the commissioned artists were there to discuss their work, including me. What a beautiful hospital. The views of the mountains are stunning.There is talk of adding another television, to the two already in the room, and moving the collage to the wood-covered wall about ten feet away (you can see a bit of it at right in photo). It seems that there will not be even one area of the waiting room where someone can get away from the visual stimulation of 24-hour news coverage! The wood wall also has a grid of silver detailing which I think may not relate well to the grid structure of the collage panels... But we'll see.

Hardhat tour at commission site

I've been commissioned to create a four-part collage for the new Castle Rock Adventist Hospital. A fun first step was a hardhat tour, with all the commissioned artists, to see where our art would ultimately be located. My work will go on a wall in the surgical waiting area.The commissioned pieces will all relate to the aspen tree in some way. After measuring the wall, and spending time thinking about the root concept that was requested, I drew up a series of rough, thumbnail ideas with some notations about intent. These were presented by the art consultant who is managing the process.The hospital art selection group decided on a quadrant format that will have a hillside cross-section motif. The root idea, a nod to connectedness and community, will be the focus of the piece. Did you know the aspen tree is the world's largest living organism? Really! Whole groves are connected by a single root system.The four panels are now getting prepped with gesso in the studio and I'm anxious to get the project underway. More on this endeavor to follow...