Objects of Affection, 2017

Aquarius panel shown above
Studio Without Walls installation
West Park Block, Eugene, OR, 8/18/17
All panels are 2′ x 10′, total span 144′

Aquarius text:

“In one deep thought without words he kept the continents from drifting apart. The seas obeyed not his eyes, not his words, but the beating of his heart.”

Objects of Affection is a work I designed to surround the Salmon Fountain in the West Park Block in Eugene, Oregon.  As part of an artistic collaboration with the City of Eugene, artists activated the West Park Block in the summer of 2017 with works that involve the audience in art-making.  I used the framework of the zodiac and related each sign to an excerpt from the book Raids on the Unspeakable by Thomas Merton.  My visual imagery interprets both the zodiac sign and the text.  I completed six panels and invited the audience to complete the other six, providing materials onsite with both visual and written prompts.  I have included four of the panels I completed on this page.  I used unconventional materials in this piece such as bottle caps, foils, and fabric remnants.  My team and I made over 6,000 trinkets from these materials in an effort to give and bring appreciation to objects that are generally discarded.  In a time when social equity seems unattainable, my intent at the inception of this piece was to try to articulate and activate what I think unquestionably unifying:  Our gaze mirroring what we hold precious. 

Many thanks to the Logos Project team:
Alexandra Bryson, Abigail Dolby, Edward Dasso, Greg Dasso, Bill Kulik, Darla Sanders, Cas Steele, Bob Williams

Photography: Alasdair Burns

Aries panel, detail

“Oh silent man of lava, with feet in the green surf, watching the stream of days and years!”

Sagittarius panel, detail

“When it is evening, when night begins to darken, when rain is warm in the summer darkness and rumors come from the banks of rivers, then shores and forests sound around you with a woodless solicitude of mothers.”

Audience Participation

Libra panel, LCC gallery, Eugene, OR

“It is then that the flowering palms enchant the night with their sweet smell. Flowers sleep. Thoughts become simple. Words cease. The hollows of the mind fill with dreams as with water.”

Photography: Bob Williams