public art year in review Archives

Drift Inversion in Hi-Fructose Magazine

September 18, 2020 by David

In support of Hi-Fructose’s Instagram spin-off @Hifructose.littleboxes ,the renowned art magazine, published a full page photo of Drift Inversion. Being included in Hi-Fructose is a dream come true. For me, it is the magazine that revived my faith in the contemporary art world. Showcasing contemporary artwork executed by artists with mind boggling skills and discipline. The magazine shows the best of what the art world has to offer. Being included makes me feel that all the years of battling to keep growing as an artist have been well worth the effort. Big thanks to everyone who helped get this far. You can get your copy here!

This was a project I did with my long time collaborator Aaron Whelton. He is now a full Professor of Architecture at Portland State University. Aaron is an amazing creative partner and good friend. We also had a lot of help from family and friends. More can be read about this installation and its creation here and here.

David Franklin and Aaron Whelton in Colorado — Aaron and I in Colorado

Where is Drift Inversion?

Located in Denver, Colorado on Central Park Boulevard. It is in the underpass between 53rd and 54th and can be accessed from the bike path on the Northfield Highschool side. It can also be accessed from the parking on the northwest side of the 54th intersection.

New Little Boxes

In the Spirit of Hi-Fructose Little Boxes I thought it would be good time to preview a new sculpture series that is in the works. Some projects have been delayed due to the current state of the world. Others projects have continued to slowly creep along. This is one of the most exciting things in the works because if its location and huge scale. It will be installed at the Tetra Hotel in Sunnyvale, California in cooperation with T2 Hospitality and Andrea Schwartz Gallery

Early renderings show the scale of these installations.

Current physical scale models of the installation.

This and other exciting new projects will be coming soon!

David Franklin

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

July 1, 2015 by David

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

June 13, 2015 by David

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.