Installations
Artist Statement:
These self-powered video installations are part of my work that explores sustainability. The installations produce all of the electricity they need to play a short video loop. Each piece has an informational component about renewable energy: the Sunbuggy includes a meter that allows the audience to see how much energy is spent playing the video, and Push it, is a pedal powered player that requires audience participation to generate enough electricity to watch the video.
I am in the process of developing wind and water powered video installations that will complete this series.
Greenhouse Effect
Greenhouse Effect, Firehouse Gallery, Burlington, VT
Materials: electric meter globe, forged steel, native Appalachian plants, and coal.
Dimensions: 18” high by 14” wide by 14” deep
Coal produces about half of the electricity the United States uses and nearly one
third of the greenhouse gasses that lead to climate change. Greenhouse Effect
challenges people to examine the impact of our electricity consumption through
the lens of an electric meter. A glass globe salvaged from an old electric meter
has been converted into a terrarium. Inside the terrarium live plants native to
the Appalachian region surround a lump of coal. Over time, the terrarium fogs up
and the plants slowly turn brown and die, illustrating the impact of increasing our
consumption of fossil fuels.
Push It
Push It at Berea College, Berea, KY
Push It at Berea College, Berea, KY
Push It is a pedal powered video player that allows viewers to create the power that plays a video loop about the human use of pedal power throughout history.
Sunbuggy
Sunbuggy 1 – The Sunbuggy with undercarriage lights
University of Northern Iowa Gallery, Cedar Rapids Iowa
Sunbuggy 2 – The Sunbuggy and video projection
University of Northern Iowa Gallery, Cedar Rapids Iowa
Sunbuggy 3 – The Sunbuggy at the artist’s home in Letcher County Kentucky
The Sunbuggy is an all terrain solar powered video display. The video displayed is titled Juice, a silent short edited from archival footage about electricity production.
Materials: Solar panel, galvanized steel, plastic wheels, battery, voltage inverter, electrical wiring, automotive lighting, LCD video monitor.
Dimensions: 36” high by 38” wide by 36” deep
Slow Voltage at the Headlands Center for the Arts
Slow Voltage 1 – A view of the solar power plant (center), slides (left and right), and rear screen projection (far right)
Slow Voltage 2 – detail of solar power plant, slides in background
Slow Voltage 3 – detail of slides mounted in landscaping plastic.
Slow Voltage 4 – electric meter slide #29
This solar powered installation projects a video loop about methods of electricity production.
Materials: Solar panel, galvanized steel box containing batteries and voltage inverter, rear screen video projection, 54 color slides of electric meters, landscaping plastic.
Room size 16 x 32 feet
All photos taken in building 960 at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Splitscreen installation
Splitscreen installation and coal truck photos
University of Northern Iowa Gallery, Cedar Rapids Iowa
Closer view of the Splitscreen installation
University of Northern Iowa Gallery, Cedar Rapids Iowa
Detail of the Splitscreen installation
University of Northern Iowa Gallery, Cedar Rapids Iowa
Splitscreen installation in the Appalshop Gallery, Whitesburg, Kentucky
The Splitscreen is a rear screen video projection on a coal truck windshield. The driver’s side features a coal truck driver talking about the challenges he faces at work, and the passengers side features the voices of coalfield residents who have lost loved ones to accidents with coal trucks. I used outtakes from the Coal Bucket Outlaw documentary to produce this three dimensional conversation starter.
Materials: Coal Truck Windshield, diamond plate aluminum, exhaust pipe, truck mirrors, video projection, sound system.
Dimensions: 48” by 60” by 88”
Description: I used outtakes from the Coal Bucket Outlaw documentary to produce this three dimensional conversation starter.