David Franklin

Drift Inversion Wins PAN Year in Review Award

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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.

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New sculpture in development for Denver

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I am currently working with Aaron Whelton  on a new public art sculpture project for Sand Hills Prairie Park in the Forest Hills development in Stapleton.  Not far from where I grew up and went to high school, this is an amazing opportunity to get back to my home town and get to practice my craft.  What we are envisioning will transform an otherwise mundane space into something exceptional.  This is a preview of what we have in mind.

The site for the project is this pedestrian underpass in Sand Hills Prairie park with Central Park Boulevard running over it.

Pedestrian Underpass at Sand Hills Prairie Park
Pedestrian Underpass at Sand Hills Prairie Park under construction

The theme of the park is based on sand hill landscape formations that existed in the area before the building of Stapleton Airport.  The concept emerged from the idea of sand formations.  We designed a sculpture of sand dunes that will be approximately 116′ long and 23′ wide.  The model looks like this.

preliminary model for Sand Hills Prairie Park
preliminary model for Sand Hills Prairie Park

The sculpture will be hung from the ceiling of the tunnel for a very surreal effect as you move through the space.

Rendering of the Dune Sculpture from the entrance of the pedestrian underpass
Rendering of the Dune Sculpture from the entrance of the pedestrian underpass
Rendering from the opposite entrance of the Dune Sculpture concept in the pedestrian underpass
Rendering from the opposite entrance of the Dune Sculpture concept in the pedestrian underpass

Rather than decorate the entrances to the overpass we wanted to transform the space inside the tunnel itself.  The sculptural members will be painted a white to brighten the space and hopefully the whole effect will make it a destination to be experienced.

 

 

rendered view from of the sculpture Inside the Central Park Boulevard underpass
rendered view from of the sculpture Inside the Central Park Boulevard underpass

The tunnel is also oriented almost due east and west which at sunrise and sunset should allow the reflective nature of the sculpture change with the light and color at different times of the day and year.

detail of the Dune Sculpture installation
detail of the Dune Sculpture installation

We are right now finalizing the design and going through all of the steps for approval required by the various stakeholders.  Keep your fingers crossed and we should be installing in the early fall 2016.

 

David

How to Succeed at Public Art When Everything Goes Wrong

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Iron worker installing ripple panel.
Iron worker prepares to lift section of the rippling wall.

Please take a look!

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

Thank You to the Regional Arts and Culture Council Portland, Oregon

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view of the rippling wall from the Hawthorne Bridge Portland Oregon
Portland Oregon’s Fire Station 21 on the east bank of the Willamette River from the historic Hawthorne Bridge.

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 

 

Rippling Wall Receives Public Art Network Year in Review Award

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Fire Fighters in front of Fire Station 21 Portland Oregon
Fire Fighters in front of Fire Station 21 Portland Oregon

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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