Flight of the Spectrum

April 16, 2019 by David

Seattle World School

In this school we learn to fly together, no matter where you come from.

A couple of years I was contacted by the Washington State Arts Commission about creating a project for a newly remodeled school in Seattle. I had no idea at that time what an amazing opportunity this would be, or what an incredible place Seattle World School is.

” It is one of only a few schools in the country designed as a preliminary entry point for immigrant children in their quest for academic achievement and full participation in American society.”

At the school there was a community of amazing faculty and volunteers working diligently toward this goal. I also met some dynamic students who helped in the forming of these acrylic bird forms. Seattle World School’s mission made me feel great pride in the values of our community. Their work should be commended for being at the forefront of helping the most vulnerable in our society.

The principal, Dr. Bruno Cross, told me the story of one 14 year old student. Just two weeks prior to being at the school, he was alone, riding on top of a train across Mexico, bound for the border. These are the kinds of kids that find them selves here. They find themselves embraced by a community who welcomes them, and is invested in their success.

It was a great honor to be selected to create something for this institution and this community that embodies these values.

The Concept

This drawing became the concept for the project. I thought the way I hung the ceramic fish in The Ghost School sculpture had some potential for different types of applications. I had been thinking that a flock of birds could work in a similar fashion.

When I visited the school office, there hung a chandelier of origami birds, nearly a thousand of them that one of the faculty had made. My visit to the the school breathed some life and story into the concept. The concept resonated with the school’s art committee, especially their art teacher Lori Leberer, who was head of the committee. With their approval the concept went into full design mode.

From Drawing to Reality

My process involves doing some mechanical drawings. These serve to to begin the dialogue with the engineer, Dave Hornsby of IDE Engineers. We have worked on many projects together large and small and the process was pretty straightforward. I decided to have the birds grouped into the colors of the spectrum and as they ascend they would no longer be constrained to their place in the spectrum

I also needed something to hang my flock from and I engaged my friend and collaborator Aaron Whelton to help design the grid the birds would hang from.

virtual design for the apparatus the flock hangs from — design for the apparatus that the flock hangs from

The Birds

Originally, I wanted to make the birds from laminated safety glass. I soon realized that it was not a practical approach for a variety of reasons. I was surprised to learn that the colors available in glass were not what I had been envisioning. Acrylic seemed like a perfect choice as it would be safe and durable, have the look of glass, a proper spectrum of colors. I would also

have an unlimited supply of birds to populate the sculpture with.

As a middle schooler in Colorado I attended Hill Middle School. I had an awesome shop teacher, Mr. Adams. In his plastic shop class I learned the technique of line bending acrylic to make my Mom a plastic napkin holder. This technique would be the solution to getting the array of bends I needed for the sculpture. Thanks Mr. Adams!

The colorful acrylic bird forms that make up the Flight of the Spectrum Sculpture

Installation

Installing something like this is a multiple day task. We attached 120 birds to an array of 210 strings. I had a lot of help from Spencer West, my wife Joanne Franklin, and my daughter Ruby.

Thank You!

The Faculty, Staff, and Students of Seattle World School, Lori Leberer, Dr. Bruno Cross, Chuck Zimmer, Aaron Whelton, IDE Engineering, Kurt Nordquist, Spencer West, Joanne Franklin, Ruby Franklin and Hieu Tran and the Washington State Arts Commission

Thanks for learning more about this project and Seattle World School,

David

Art Collaborations with Preston Singletary and Brian Perry

December 5, 2018 by David

Collaborating

Over the last couple of years it has been my fortune to collaborate on public art projects with two exceptional artists, Brian Perry (Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe) and Preston Singletary (Tlingit) These projects have made me become a better artist and it has been a dream come true to work on a large scale with artists that I have admiration for.

"Paddles Up" sculpture at The Point Hotel and Casino by Brian Perry — “Paddles Up” sculpture at The Point Hotel and Casino by Brian Perry

Building the Skills

My art education, which began with a graffiti crew in Denver, Colorado, culminating in a decade long apprenticeship to artist Duane Pasco. Duane is one of the foremost teachers of indigenous art forms on the Northwest Coast. This apprenticeship was invaluable to my development as an artist. The disciplines gained from this training led me to a career in sculpture and large scale public art.

Over time I developed a team for tackling these kinds of projects. Kurt Nordquist of Davinci’s Workshop became my second mentor and the man who showed me how to make my ideas into a reality. He helped me find my way in the world of large scale, architecturally integrated, and free standing sculpture.

Completing Fabrication of "the Dance Staff" at Davinci's Workshop — Completing the fabrication of “the Dance Staff” at Davinci’s Workshop

Working With Brian Perry

Brian Perry and I have spent a lot of time carving and working together over the years. I have witnessed him grow and helped him develop as an artist, in part by passing on the skills I learned from Kurt and Duane. He was considering a career change when some large scale art opportunities materialized from his own Tribe, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. They were building a new casino at the time and were looking for artwork for their new hotel, The Point Casino and Hotel. Brian was interested in applying for the commissions and enlisted me to work in support of him. Brian took the lead in working with his tribe, the contractors and the architects on the project. In conjunction with this, I helped him work with my team to make it happen.

The result of this was the 40′ tall sculpture called “Paddles Up” that adorns the front of the hotel. Brian’s success led to a permanent position working for the Stillaguamish Tribe as a resident carver, teacher, and canoe-maker. He is actively providing traditional expertise to the Stillaguamish People.

Brian Perry tightening the final bolts in Place on the "Paddles Up" sculpture at The Point Hotel and Casino — Brian Perry tightening the final bolts in Place on the “Paddles Up” sculpture at The Point Hotel and Casino

Working with Preston Singletary

Much of my training as an artist was focused on art forms that originated on the coast of British Columbia and Southeastern Alaska. I had known of Preston Singletary’s work for years and was amazed by the quality of his craftsmanship and breathtaking use of color. Preston has a mastery of Tlingit design, combined with hard earned skills as part of the Studio Glass Movement.

Preston was raised in Seattle and worked with many of the preeminent contemporary glass artists of our time. He developed a style of work that I found to be a vital and enduring expression. I visited Preston’s studio and offered my services as a carver and a public artist in support of his vision. He enlisted me to help on a few things and our friendship grew. I discovered that Preston was one of the most generous and kind people I have ever had the fortune to work with. He had just scratched the surface of his public art potential, so we began to apply for projects together. We applied for several projects, and were successful in getting a couple of commissions.

Preston Singletary attending to Installation details.

First Projects Completed

Preston and I have completed two projects in the last year. “Dance Staff” at the Diane Apartments in Portland Oregon’s Pearl District, and “Sunrise Raven, Northern Lights Eagle” was completed at the Boney Courthouse in downtown Anchorage, Alaska.

Sunrise Raven and Northern Lights Eagle installation at the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage AK

Preston takes much of the lead in the design and conceptual part of the project when we collaborate. Once the idea is formed my work begins in finding the right team to bring the idea to fruition. Public art requires some dedication to navigate through all of the needs of a project. There is usually a mountain of paperwork and endless negotiations required to get the work successfully completed. I have gained a lot of experience at this process over the years of doing projects large and small.

More to come…

These collaborations have found great success and many more projects are in the works. One of the most exciting projects is a collaboration between Preston Singletary, Brian Perry and Anthony Jones Sr.(Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe) for the lobby of the new Burke Museum at the University of Washington.

While I pursue my own contemporary projects, I am fortunate to have great friends, and world class collaborators. The Regional Arts and Culture Council of Portland, Oregon and The Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe were great partners on these projects. None of it would be possible without my amazing wife, Joanne, and my family. They have all pitched in to make this happen.

David

New Installation “Sculpture in the Garden”

July 19, 2018 by David

The Crouching Figure Post — The Crouching Figure

The Back Story

This installation was made for the garden of a neighbor who travels the world collecting and teaching about exotic plants. He has thereby created an amazing garden at his home in Indianola WA. We have worked together on several projects over the years. He was interested in a series of posts for installation in his garden. He was interested in evoking some of the spirit of the Janseung (a type of totem-like carving from Korea) that he has encountered in his travels. Starting at this point I began to research and draw.

This project is intended to have some of the whimsical aspects of Janseung merged with some southern Salish Sea and coastal Alaskan influence. I chose second-growth Red Cedar for the project. The Cedar is readily available and locally sourced, though often dismissed as a low grade material for carving. The cedar was the perfect choice for this project consisting of relatively simple, but large scale, sculptures.

Each post is set back into the garden with the bases mostly hidden by the lower story of growth. The posts are mostly only able to be seen individually or with glimpses of another post in the background. Each post reveals itself in unexpected ways as you move around this hidden paradise.

I enlisted the help of Spencer West to help carve and with the sourcing, milling prepping, install and some of the carving. He is an accomplished timber framer and equipped with the tools to work with large logs. Spencer was a great asset to the project.

The Tracks of the Bear Post — The Tracks of the Bear

Faces of Day and Night — The Night and the Day

Spencer West and The Circles and Squares — Spencer West and the Circles and Squares Post

Images of the Carving Process

Below are some progression pictures of the carving of the Tentacle. The pictures depict Spencer’s rough out, secondly, refining the curves, and adding the details in my studio.

Dave Meyers of Myorian Studios in Indianola also helped on the project. Dave manufactured all the structural elements that hold up the posts. The parts of this project were all made by Indianola artists.

Thanks to: Camas West Spencer West, Dave Meyers, Sammy Hughes, and the best wife a guy could have, Joanne.

David

Drift Inversion Wins PAN Year in Review Award

June 16, 2018 by David

Drift Inversion Sculpture — Drift Inversion by David Franklin and Aaron Whelton 2017

Drift Inversion by David Franklin and Aaron Whelton Honored Today at Americans for the Arts Annual Convention

Portland, OR, June 15, 2018—Americans for the Arts today honored outstanding public arts projects created in 2017 through the Public Art Network Year in Review program, the only national program that specifically recognizes the most compelling public art. Chosen by public art experts, the roster of selected projects was unveiled this morning at Americans for the Arts’ Annual Convention in Denver.

One of the honored projects is “Drift Inversion” (2017), by David Franklin, artist, and Aaron Whelton, architect and Assistant Professor at Portland State University. This is David Franklin’s second Public Art Network’s Year in Review award.

Drift Inversion is an undulating aluminum installation in an underpass located in a developing Denver neighborhood, which was once the former grounds of Stapleton International Airport, and before that, a vast expanse of sand dunes.

Franklin and Whelton were inspired by a quote from John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” (1939): “Every moving thing lifted the dust into the air: a walking man lifted a thin layer as high as his waist, and a wagon lifted the dust as high as the fence tops, and an automobile boiled a cloud behind it. The dust was long in settling back again.”

The underlying dunes of this thriving metropolitan area were the inspiration for Drift Inversion, which turns the original landscape upside-down and transforms an otherwise cold and dark space into a place of wonder and warmth. Made from aluminum, paint and steel, the installation measures 18 by 128 by 32 feet.

Project Partners were Park Creek Metropolitan District, Denver Arts & Venues, Denver Parks and Recreation, Barbara Neal, Civitas, and Mortensen Construction.

“The best of public art can challenge, delight, educate, and illuminate. Most of all, public art creates a sense of civic vitality in the cities, towns, and communities we inhabit and visit,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “As these Public Art Network Year in Review selections illustrate, public art has the power to enhance our lives on a scale that little else can. I congratulate the artists and commissioning groups for these community treasures, and I look forward to honoring more great works in the years to come.”

This is the 17th year that Americans for the Arts has recognized public art works. The projects selected for Year in Review can be viewed on this page and are on display throughout the Annual Convention. Three independent public art experts—Bryan Lee, Jr., director of design at Colloqate Design in New Orleans; Karen Mack, executive director of LA Commons in Los Angeles; and Denver artist Patrick Marold—discussed the trends they uncovered while examining hundreds of submissions in selecting this year’s choices for the most exemplary, innovative permanent or temporary public art works created or debuted in 2017.

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, it has a record of more than 55 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard on this project to make it happen.

David

The Ghost School at the New KEC LAX

March 4, 2018 by David

Late last year I was invited to install the Ghost School at the new Kohler Experience Center, Los Angeles. Kohler Company provided an incredible spot to install the sculpture that I had made at the Kohler Factory, in Wisconsin, in 2015. For the next year it will be prominently featured in the window of their new flagship showroom in West Hollywood, California on Beverly Bvld.

The Kohler Experience Center 8955 W Beverly Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048

In November, I met my friend Ken Seger in LA, to begin the installation. The Experience Center was still very much under construction.

Two pallets of ceramic fish and sharks ready to become the Ghost School once again

We first installed the wooden framework and cables the school of fish was to hang from.

Installing the structure that the Ghost School is hung from — Installing the structure

We returned a few weeks later to begin the installation of the school itself. With hundreds of strings and fish and beads we recreated the sculpture fish by fish. After three long days of installing the sculpture was complete.

Kohler Company was kind enough to fly my wife in for the opening, and the Grand opening was a wonderful night to share with her. A dream come true. It was great to meet David Kohler again, and I am grateful for his kind words and actions toward me. It was David and Laura Kohler who embraced my work and made it a permanent part of the Kohler Company’s art collection.

The grand opening of the Kohler Experience Center LAX — The Kohler Experience Center LAX opened to a packed house in Dec 2017.

David Kohler speaking at the Grand Opening of KEC LAX

Kohler has some amazing people on their team. Tandra Sbrocco, Troy Opgenorth, Christopher Parrish, Angel Felix, and all of my friends in the factory whose names are etched into many of the fish that make up the sculpture. They bring back memories of times in Wisconsin with all those great people who helped make this piece of artwork happen. The Arts/Industry program is an incredible residency program for artists to work in the Kohler Factory. Thank you to Ruth Kohler and the kind people at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center for allowing me to take part in it.

The Ghost School installed at the Kohler Experience Center in West Hollywood, CA — The Ghost School Installed at the Kohler Experience Center in West Hollywood, CA. Made possible by the Arts/Industry program of the John Michael Kohler Art Center, and the generosity of Kohler Company and David and Laura Kohler.

So, if you happen to be in West Hollywood in 2018 please stop by and see The Ghost School! And learn More about KEC LAX here

You can learn more about the Ghost School here

David Franklin

Carving The Moon

October 30, 2017 by David

Carving in Action

I recently worked on a project involving carving a simple moon face. I thought it might be fun to take a time-lapse video of the project. This is the very frantic result. Please enjoy seeing the carving process, and watch the Moon emerge from the wood. For a higher resolution video please click here.

Music by: Agrupacion Ilegal Los Imparciales “El Choclo”

Thanks for viewing,

David

Drift Inversion on the Cover of The Front Porch Newspaper

October 7, 2017 by David

Drift Inversion made the cover of NorthEast Denver’s Newspaper, The Front Porch!

Read the article here:The Front Porch

…also enjoy a short video of Drift Inversion in Motion

Thanks to: Aaron Whelton, Kurt Nordquist, IDE Engineers, Barbara Neal, Denver City Councilman Christopher Herndon, Park Creek Metropolitan District, Denver Urban Renewal Authority, Civitas, Mortenson Construction, and all of my friends and family who supported this project and worked so hard to make it happen, and to my awesome wife Joanne.

David Franklin

You Are Invited to the Drift Inversion Dedication

September 23, 2017 by David

You Are Invited!

Public Art Dedication for:

DRIFT INVERSION

Sculpture in Sandhills Prairie Park

Date: Friday, September 29, 2017 Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am

Location: 5311 North Central Park Boulevard Underpass between Fifty-Third and Fifty-Fourth Avenues

Stapleton, Colorado

Please join us for refreshments and meet the artists,

David Franklin and Aaron Whelton

RSVP: Barbara Neal barbneal@mindspring.com

David Franklin and Aaron Whelton’s Drift Inversion Installation in Denver’s new Sandhills Prairie Park

May 31, 2017 by David

When I was a kid in Colorado, my family would travel almost every weekend to my grandparents’ antique shop in Silver Plume or to the family cabin in Pine. Those drives into the Rocky Mountains always took us through tunnels that marked our ascent into a different world from the plains below. That memory played a role in my choosing the pedestrian underpass in the Sand Hills Prairie Park at Denver’s Stapleton Airport as the site for this installation with my friend and co-designer, Aaron Whelton. Located in a relatively cold, windy, and unwelcoming part of the park, this tunnel seemed like the perfect setting to create an inviting, engaging space. Our challenge was to develop a concept that related to the natural history of the area.

Long before Stapleton’s runways and facilities transformed the area into a busy urban landscape, this particular corner of the Denver metro area was covered in sand dunes. They were my inspiration for “Drift Inversion,” a 23′ x 128′ installation that turns the original landscape upside-down to create a surreal experience for any visitor who happens upon the underpass.

Design and fabrication

In a previous post I shared some of the preliminary design renderings that Aaron and I created for the project proposal. Once those were approved, we focused on working out the endless details with the City of Denver’s engineers, my engineers at IDE, and my fabricator Kurt Nordquist at DaVinci’s Workshop.

Aaron Whelton working with two monitors — Associate Professor of Architecture at Portland State University, Aaron Whelton

technical drawings for Drift Inversion by Aaron Whelton — Technical drawings for Drift Inversion by Aaron Whelton

Each of the sculpture’s 258 aluminum “fins” is unique. To keep track of their specific locations, we assigned a number to each piece to identify its place in the length of the tunnel, and a corresponding letter to identify whether it went on the north or south side. These identifiers were added as each fin was water-jet cut, and we took great care to keep consecutive numbers in groups to make the installation process easier.

Water-jet cutting pieces of the Drift Inversion sculpture from 1/4"x 4' x 12' sheets of aluminum — Cutting fins from 1/4″ x 4′ x 12′ sheets of aluminum at DaVinci’s Workshop, Burien WA

Water-jet cut pieces of aluminum that make up the Drift Inversion sculpture — Fins after the water-jet cutting process

Once the cutting was complete, Jonathan Arreola, Juan Sanchez and Joshua Arreola, at Northwest Custom Auto Body in Burien did the painting.

Painting in progress (Photo credit: Jonathan Ariola)

While Jonathan finished the painting and we readied the fins for transport to Ship/Art in Denver for warehousing, Rio Grande Co. (also in Denver) was busy gathering all the hardware and fabricating the 1,548 galvanized steel brackets we would need for the installation. In the end, the project required nearly 12,400 individual elements (nuts, bolts, washers, bushings, and other hardware) including the fins, which, by themselves, weighed nearly 16,000 pounds.

One ton of brackets and a palate of nuts and bolts and 019 feet of unistrut — One ton of brackets, a pallet of nuts and bolts, and 910 feet of Unistrut

Installation work truck — The installation work truck

Structural installation begins (despite the weather)

The pedestrian underpass that houses “Drift Inversion” provides a glorious window to the Rockies in the West and a portal for viewing incredible rainbows in the East. It also seemed to focus and intensify the weather we experienced during installation. Every kind of Colorado spring storm imaginable passed through during that two weeks: heavy snow and bitter cold, a downpour with jawbreaker-sized hail, steady rain, 80-degree days…you name it, we had it.

Work began on a frigid, windy Friday morning that evolved into a very snowy weekend. Despite the enormous challenges of working overhead in the biting cold, Mike Adcock of Adcock Concrete in Grand Junction, CO, and his helper, Alexandro, did an incredibly accurate job installing all of the structural elements that ultimately would support “Drift Inversion.”

Mike Adcock and Alexandro, from Adcock Concrete in Grand Junction, CO, install the unistrut — Mike and Alexandro installing the Unistrut with drill in anchors every 18″

My brother, Bryan Franklin, and my brother in-law, John Wilson helping Mike Adcock install the Unistrut and brackets

Unistrut and bracket installation nearly completed — Unistrut and bracket installation nearly complete

Over three days, the crew installed 1,500 brackets and nearly 1,000 feet of Unistrut.

from the left, Bryan Franklin, David Franklin, Aaron Whelton, Mike Adcock — From left: Bryan Franklin, me, Mike Adcock, and Aaron Whelton

Final assembly begins

Once all the structural elements were in place, it was up to the Franklin family and some devoted friends to install the sculpture’s 258 fins. It was a truly epic process, supported from the sidelines by many folks bearing hearty lunches and words of encouragement, including my high school friends Chris Flores and Heidi Gartland, Bruce and Tricia Gallagher, my mom, and my sister in-in law, Brooke.

The first two of 258 aluminum pieces to be installed — The first two pieces installed

Working with my brother Miles. Photo by Heidi Gartland — My brother Miles and me (Photo credit: Heidi Gartland)

Assembling Drift Inversion with Aunders Mavis — Adding another fin with Aunders Mavis

Drift Inversion in progress — The work in progress

David Franklin holding one of the Drift Inversion fins. Photo by Bryan Franklin — Just me and a fin (Photo credit: Bryan Franklin)

My Dad came to the rescue — Me and my dad, who came to the rescue

Two weeks later, after installing tons of aluminum and tightening thousands of nuts and bolts, “Drift Inversion” was complete. After two weeks of installing tons of aluminum, and tightening thousands of nuts and bolts, the project was complete.

This 23' x 128' installation is an inverted sculpture of sand dune forms. It is installed in a pedestrian underpass tunnel under Central Park Boulevard between 53rd and 54th in Denver, Colorado — The completed “Drift Inversion” installed in the pedestrian tunnel that runs under Central Park Boulevard between 53rd and 54th in Denver, CO

Panoramic view of “Drift Inversion”(photo credit: Miles Franklin)

Drift Inversion detail — “Drift Inversion” detail

Abstract photo of yellow Drift Inversion sculpture and blue sky — “Drift Inversion” (Photo credit: Miles Franklin)

A few more thanks

There were so many helping hands involved in this project. I acknowledged some people earlier in this post, but would be totally remiss if I didn’t mention the invaluable support of these folks, too: My truly amazing wife, Joanne; the quintessential art professional, Barbara Neal; Alexander Abel with Adcock Concrete; and all of the members of the Park Creek Metropolitan District Public Art Committee who made this installation possible. Thank you all!

David

Cultural House of Cards on Seattle’s “The Stranger”

January 14, 2017 by David

The Cultural House of Cards on the Cover of Seattle's The Stranger — David Franklin’s Cultural House of Cards on the Cover of Seattle’s free weekly newspaper, The Stranger, for the week of Jan 11-17 2017.

This house of cards symbolizes the fragile cultural structure we build together in our societies, and the beauty within each part of it.

Ever since my wife and I moved to Seattle in 1993 there has only been one source for truly comprehensive coverage of local music and arts, that has been The Stranger, Seattle’s best free weekly paper. If you are looking for an event, no matter how obscure it’s in The Stranger. The Stranger has an independent minded perspective on anything and everything important happening in the city and the world, with a true sense of grit and intelligence. It’s this creative viewpoint that has always made it the final word in Seattle’s vibrant culture.

The digital version of this week’s Stranger can be seen here.

This is such an honor because of the feeling of acceptance in my local arts community it provides, something that has not always come easy for me.

This piece, The Cultural House of Cards, sits within the high barbed wire fence of The Green Hill School in Chehalis, WA, but it has refused to stay imprisoned. WIth a feeling of it having a life of it’s own this project has gained the attention of Hi Fructose Magazine, Montreal’s Mural Festival and now The Stranger. Its themes are very appropriate to the times we live in and the challenges before us a s a diverse society.

Cultural House of with daughters. — Sitting in the Cultural House of cards with my daughters prior to painting.

My wife Joanne, my kids, Mike Sweney, The Green Hill School, Kurt Nordquist, Brian Perry, Scott Wipff, Jonathan Areola, and Western Graphics all had important roles in making this Washington State Arts Commission happen.

Thanks to everyone that has enjoyed this project and seen the importance of the message about all of us contained within it,

David