Guide to the Objects

#8: The Phoenix of Wadhams

The Phoenix of Wadhams, Rotating Installation of a Minimally Processed Found Object, 12’ x 20’ rotating area, made from a silo dome and supported on a rotating pedestal made from a tractor axle and a wooden telephone cable spool.  This was the first of the objects, and it happened when my neighbor took his silo down (it had taken on a dangerous lean). I hauled the piece over to my yard and created the newly twisted form I had designed using my tractor.  I then engaged the services of another neighbor to design, craft and install some iron staples to hold the new twisted shape in place. We used the red iron piping from within the silo as internal bracing, and he created an iron bracket that he then attached to a tractor axle.  The contractor who did all the digging and concrete work on my house renovation poured a two ton block of concrete in the ground to act as an anchor and provided a crane to place the creature, precisely balanced, on the turning point.  It worked like a dream.  And a decade later it still rotates in the winds whistling up the valley.  All in all, a formidable display of local engineering skills and cooperative spirit.  The title is a reference to the rebirth of farming in the Boquet valley. Completed 2002

#9: Two Tone Stone Cone

Two Tone Stone Cone 5’ x 12’ diameter, piled stones of varying size. For more information on the Stone Cones see Stone Cone One, below. (under construction)

#10: It SO Happens

It SO Happens, free standing construction, 22’ x 30’ diameter.  This piece was originally made in 2004 but has changed and weathered over the years.  It was conceived as a meditation on the virulence of life.  I was for many years uncomfortable with the idea of multiple universes and a consequent feeling of cheapness.  My liberation was provided eventually by contemplation of the uncertainty principle and its outstanding corollary that there cannot be a perfect vacuum.  The spontaneous creation of matter is therefore required by the impossibility of perfect emptiness (a bizarre conception confirmed by experiment).  My head was turned and I began gratefully to ride the crest of a wave of life ever growing, a liberation encouraged by observing over many years the hectic growth of the grasses and the wild way they wave in the wind.  The decisions inherent in this sculpture are made in the light of this ongoing discovery and are intended to encourage the viewer to take pleasure in the inconsistencies of balance and broken symmetry.  The sculpture is much simpler than it was at first although the ladder is a recent addition and the light at the top still blinks when I turn it on.

#11: Old Boyhood

Old Boyhood, free standing construction, 17’ x 10’ x 12’, grain chute from a harvester, cart wheels, iron pipe, iron seed box, blue glass circle, broken mirror shards, sea shell, animal skull (fox?), ceramic doll, sand, rocks, volunteer plants, gilt.  The piece gets its name from its apparently jaunty, if somewhat arthritic gait, and its sentimental inner life as depicted in the box. It has been often modified but dates from 2006.

#12: Fences

Fences, stacked bed frames, relics of a house fire, 8’ x ‘12’ x 6’,  (under construction)

#13: Chariot

Chariot, free standing construction from welded farm machinery, 12’ x 6’ x 14’. Modified this season and will probably be renamed Applause. The name is merely a fanciful reaction to an abstraction based solely on balance and design. (under construction)

#14: Boquet Bouquet

Boquet Bouquet, 7’ x 5’ x 6’, construction to be assembled around the cornhead to a forage harvester, or Chopper, and also including several red fire extinguishers, red plastic sled, a green compressed air tank, toilet parts, lampshade frame, mop handles, garden hose, blue plastic tarp, gallon jug, toys, and other random objects; a joyful, colorful medley of modern trash imploring us not to worry so much.  (under construction)

#15: Mortgage Crisis

Mortgage Crisis, construction in place and fountain, 14’ x 8’ x 10’, television dish-antenna, disassembled hot tub parts; intended as a fanciful representation of the recent frustration of our American Dream of home ownership. 2013

#16: McCormick Deering Reaper Binder

McCormick Deering Reaper Binder, farm machine, c. 1930.  This piece strongly calls to mind the surrealist paintings of Ives Tanguy, and it is a matter of amazement that it arose from and carried out difficult, practical work.

#17: Three Pipes

Three Pipes, found object, 12’ x 6’ overall diameter,water transmission pipes for the Wadhams dynamo.  This piece is very much in the manner of Richard Serra, the contemporary American sculptor, employing the same materials and creating a related type of dramatic, folded space.  2006

#18: Plowshare

Plowshare, 3’ x 5’ x 3’; an example of the basic tool which opened the continent to modern farming, this one probably dates from the nineteenth century. 2013

#19: Good News Bad News

Good News Bad News, mounted relic of a house fire, minimally gilded, 10” x .5’ x .5’; the good news is nobody died. 2013

#20: Dump/Rake

Dump/Rake, farm machine, c.1920