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Collaboration

It’s been quiet in my creative world…but not uneventful. Over the last couple of months I’ve had the pleasure of working with Cynthia Minet on her upcoming installation, “Migrations.” Cynthia is an accomplished artist and her creations are constructed from post-consumer plastics and LED lighting. Migrations depicts six Roseate Spoonbills in varying stages of flight. With this sculpture Cynthia hoped to push the lighting a little further than she had in previous work.

There were two goals.

  1. Have greater control over the color and brightness of each LED
  2. Add movement to the sculpture by animating the LEDs
P9813 LEDs

After some initial conversation a third goal popped up. If we’re going to be programming these LEDs could we also add some motion activated audio to immerse the viewer in the world of the spoonbill?

After some testing we settled on the P9813 LED pixels. The plastic casing around the actual LED helps diffuse the light. The fact that the strands run at 5v was an added bonus. 

To program the lights and the motion based audio I knew we were going to use something in the Arduino family. The spoonbills do not have a ton of room inside of them so we opted for a Trinket to run the lighting and a Trinket Pro to run the audio system. Ideally everything would run off of one board but that just wasn’t feasible here. This also cut down on the cost for each sculpture. 

The next few posts will get into the details of the wiring, programming, testing, and installation of the lighting and audio systems. 

If you’re around this weekend (Oct 21 and 22) you can see the sculpture in its current state at the Brewery Art Walk. Art Walk runs from 11a-6p both days.&nbsp #breweryartwalk

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Thanks for Artwalking

Friends, family and totla strangers. Thanks so much for coming to thespring  Brewery Artwalk. Hopefully you experienced some art that spoke to you…or at the very least whispered in your general direction. I appreciate everyone that comes by to support all of us here at the Brewery. Hopefully we’ll see you again in the fall. Dates will be announced shortly. If you didn’t get a chance to visit I’ll have my newer stuff up on art.vaughnhannon.com soon. Thanks again.

#breweryartwalk #vaughnhannonart

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PaGoda

There have been many, many trips to Burning Man and many, many plans to create something or other to display in the middle of the desert. As it goes time disappears and distractions mount. Participating in our theme camp was the primary focus for a long time. This year, at the last minute, I managed to pull together a little art project that would sit as a monument to my current obsession with the game of Go (igo, wei qi or baduk depending on your country of origin). The game originated in China some thousands of years ago and was nurtured and modernized by Japan. This structure was to be a nod to the Chinese and Japanese style of architecture without attempting to mimic any one structure specifically.

The plans had been rolling around in my head. I wanted to minimize the use of any screws or nails and make it as transportable as possible. I mocked up a little model in 3D and then set to figuring out the details…some of which didn’t emerge until actual construction.

Here it is, mostly finished. I did add four hanging pieces of fabric in the entryways to add contrast and motion.

Nearly complete less a few additional details.
Nearly complete less a few additional details.

There is more to do and I plan on finishing some of the details I had planned but did not have time to complete. I’ll also modify the structure a bit so it can live out on the open playa next year should I be accepted and placed by the Artery of Black Rock City.

Feel free to check our more photos in the PaGoda Album.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my friend Jeff for assistance in the planning and producing of this project…thank you sir. And, of course, Becky for the encouragement and support in the sometimes crazy things I try to do. Thanks dear.

 

#pagoda #burningman #go #igo #weiqi #baduk