Installing Bike corrals in Eugene

installed in front of the Kiva | 125 W. 11th, Eugene, OR

My friend, Lee Imonen, has been busy this year. As a class proyect he had his students design and fabricate bike racks for the city of Eugene. The first term the students researched and designed the forms which were then presented to the city and three designs were chosen. In the next term the class fabricated them as a group project. I've been watching these imaginative bike securing stations unfold over the last year and was able to lend a hand when they installed two of them.

preparing for installation

near the Eugene train depot.

Thursday morning the mayor  of Eugene Kitty Piercy had a dedication for the corrals and gave Lee the golden wrench of the city. I thought it was pretty cool that the project even made it to the papers and TV. Seemed like a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Working in Dexter on Imonen's 'Basin'

Last week I was invited to work at Lee Imonen’s studio in Dexter, OR. The final weeks of finishing a sculpture are usually the most stressful for an artist and I offered to lend him a hand to complete his latest sculpture 'Basin'.

Project Brief:

Imonen was recently selected to design a public plaza and sculpture for Owens Hall at OIT Oregon Institute of Technology in Kalamath Falls.

He worked closely with the OIT Civil Engineering Department, the campus community and the Klamath Falls community to develop a comprehensive plan for the space south of Owens Hall and to complete the fabrication of the sculpture.

Working with a good friend can even make the 12 hour days of sandplasting and painting more enjoyable.

One of the functions of this particular sculpture is educational. The conections illustrate many types of welds and forms to bind structures. The form below was fabricated from steel and will be suspended by the three colums that collect rain and spill it through the center core. It was covered with aluminum sheets and riveted into place to create a decorative skin around the metal.

Sculture at the Oregon Country Fair

This year we went South to the Oregon Country Fair to explore the forest for arts, crafts and music in Veneta Oregon. Here are a few fun sculptural pieces I encountered in the fair. It was impressive to see how the artists incorporated nature into their sculpture.