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Drift Inversion in Hi-Fructose Magazine

September 18, 2020 by David

 

Drift Inversion in Hi-Fructose Magazine
Hi-Fructose Vol. 56

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!

Drift Inversion sculpture

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.

Map showing location of Drift Inversion

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

Filed Under: Installations, News, Process, Public Art, sculpture Tagged With: Aaron Whelton, Aluminum, david franklin, Denver, Denver Parks, hi-fructose, hi-fructose little boxes, hi-fructose magazine, Park Creek Metropolitan District, public art, public art year in review, sand dunes, Sandhills Prairie Park, sculpture, Stapleton

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.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Awards, Installations, News, Process, Public Art, sculpture Tagged With: Aaron Whelton, Aluminum, americans for the arts, Art, david franklin, Denver, Denver Parks, Drift Inversion, Park Creek Metropolitan District, public art, public art network, sand dunes, Sandhills Prairie Park, sculpture, Stapleton

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

May 31, 2017 by David

Large scale Abstract Inverted sand dune sculpture

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
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

Filed Under: Installations, News, Process, Public Art, sculpture Tagged With: Aaron Whelton, Aluminum, Denver, Denver Parks, Drift Inversion, dunes, metal, North Stapleton, Park Creek Metropolitan District, public art, sand dunes, Sandhills Prairie Park, sculpture, Stapleton, Whelton Architects, Whelton Architecture

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

https://davidfranklinart.net/dfwp/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/For-Barbara-.m4v

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

Filed Under: Installations, News, Public Art, sculpture, Uncategorized Tagged With: Aaron Whelton, Aluminum, Civitas, colorado, david franklin, Denver, Denver Parks, Mortenson construction, Park Creek Metropolitan District, public art, sand dunes, Sandhills Prairie Park, Stapleton

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David Franklin

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Unloading #ceramic #fish from the #kiln @kohler fo Unloading #ceramic #fish from the #kiln @kohler for @shedd_aquarium for The Once and Forever Lake Michigan #artinstallation #sculpture #art
Sun Lodge 1.8.2025 Preston Singletary and David Fr Sun Lodge 1.8.2025 Preston Singletary and David Franklin.  The shadows of The Sun Lodge paint the wall of the new STEM learning building as the sun passes overhead at Pierce College in Puyallup. Learn more at davidfranklinart.net #publicart
View from the #scissorlift during the installation View from the #scissorlift during the installation of The Once and Forever Lake Michigan #sculpture @shedd_aquarium with @indianolafranklin made in cooperation with @kohler at their factory pottery in #kohlerwisconsin The sculpture was madewith the help of @aawhelton @sharisamstudio @jbue.ter and so many more..#fish #slipcast #ceramic #vitreouschina #chicago #kohler #sheddaquarium #lakemichigan davidfranklinart.net
This year @indianolafranklin and I finished the pr This year @indianolafranklin and I finished the project of a lifetime at the world’s first #saltwater #aquarium on the #chicago #lakefront @shedd_aquarium  Made with 1600 #slipcast #ceramic #fish, 6 species in multiple poses and miles of cables were made to create an underwater scene of predators and prey in #lakemichigan.  It was made with the generous support of @kohler the #kohler family and factory associates in #kohlerwisconsin Thank you and happy new year to everyone who helped us make this project a reality, with a special thanks to the great folks at the Shedd that helped us incorporate it into their vision for the future of the historic aquarium. #laketrout #walleye #northernpike #longnosegar #sturgeon #ciscoe
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