The Americans for the Arts ARTS blog asked to write about the Rippling Wall public art project. I figured enough time had passed to tell this story. You can enjoy it here. For those of you who worked on the project, or were close to it I am sure you will remember well. Enjoy!
David Franklin
This Tentacle installation has an interesting setting. It sits on a mantle I carved from fir in 2004 along with the panels on either side. The theme of the carvings were wind and water, with creatures from the water and the Moon on the right panel and creatures of the air and the Sun on the left panel. The mantle has wind and waves flowing out to their respective sides.
The Tentacles are a new contrasting sculptural element. They relate as a theme around the home and also to the carved Octopus on the top of the panel on the right. It is really amazing to work with such kind people who continue to appreciate your art as it evolves, and to see it all working together for a new effect.
This is a great article about public art in Portland, Oregon, take a look. Percent-for-Art: a point of pride in Portland Portland’s Regional Arts and Culture Council is one of the best organizations I have ever been fortunate enough to work with. The Rippling Wall project for Fire Station 21 on the East Bank of the Willamette was a dream come true for me, and there are very few metropolitan arts organizations that would take a risk on someone like me for a project like this. Not only did they embrace me and my work but have helped the project gain national attention. For this I can never say thanks enough, especially to Peggy Kendellen and Keith Lachowicz, who were a huge help to me. Peggy Kendellen is on of the best project managers an artist could work with.
The organization’s 30th anniversary is approaching and they have a number of exciting events planned, please take some time to check out the article and see what impact a really great art organization can have on a community and its creative people. Here is a link to their newsletter Art Notes July 2015
THere was bit of good news this week for The Rippling Wall project at Fire Station 21 in Portland Oregon. It was honored with a Public Arts Network Year in Review award which can be viewed here, by Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education. Their budget number is a bit off in their entry, my budget was a fraction of that and the building cost much more so I don’t know where that came from.
This year The Rippling wall was recognized as one of 31 outstanding public arts projects created in 2014 by the Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review program, the only national program that specifically recognizes the most compelling public art. The works were chosen from more than 300 entries across the country and were presented Americans for the Arts’ 2015 Annual Convention in Chicago.
Check out the other incredible public artwork that was selected here.
This project could not have been done without Kurt Nordquist of Davinci’s Workshop, or Arron Whelton and Whelton Architecture, who designed the building and worked closely with me on my project, a great team. Peggy Kendellen of Portland’s Regional Arts and Culture Council was amazing to work with as well.
Portland Fire and Rescue Chief Erin Janssens, Deputy Chief Marco Benetti, Station Captian Marty Getsch and all the firefighters at the station were great to work with too. Connie Johnson was the project manager with the City of Portland, David Dwyer with Skanska was, the contractor, and Ian Eikanas with KPFF engineered the project.
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Portland Fire and Rescue put together this very nice video about the new Fire Station 21 on the East Bank of the Willamette in downtown Portland Oregon adjacent to the historic Hawthorne Bridge. Please take a look, it is very well done, and is a great overview of the project. The narration is from the great dedication speech by Portland Fire Chief Erin Janssens.