ArtSpot: HydroGeometry
Current ArtSpot
Title: HydroGeometry
Artists: GYDE Architects & Vista 360
Location: Karns Hillside on Broadway, Jackson WY
Dates: Installed October 28, 2022
Funded by: Karns Family, Jorgensen Engineering, Town of Jackson, Westwood Curtis Construction, Guild Mortgage, Lexington Hotel & Suites, Wyoming Arts Council, Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, Haagen-Dazs, Fine Dining Restaurant Group
There is a new public art installation at the ArtSpot, titled HydroGeometry, the result of a year-long collaboration between Candra Day of Vista 360° and the local architecture firm GYDE Architects. This large-scale, three-dimensional sculpture explores the geometry of water as it transforms from rain to snow through layers of laser-cut steel. The installation will be illuminated with an integrated mesh of solar-powered LED lights.
The ArtSpot is a JH Public Art project, in which regional artists are invited to create site-specific installations that inspire moments of discovery and joy for the more than 30,000 daily drivers that pass by.
HydroGeometry was conceptually developed by Candra Day of Vista 360° and GYDE Architects’ Peggy Gilday, Nona Yehia, and Jessica Barnhouse, and fabricated by Premier Powder Coating & Custom Fabrication, out of Rexburg, Idaho. In the ArtSpot installation, three screens are suspended within the frame to represent the crystallization process from water to ice. The final design of interlaying hexagonal and triangular grids came together following an extensive exploration of rain and snow at a molecular level by the design team. References to the water cycle emerge from the form, drawing to mind water filters, solar panel cells, even geological growth as the form is brought to life in its interplay with sunlight and shadow, rain and snow through the days and seasons.
“A water drop is a 3-dimensional tetrahedral form that transforms into a 2-dimensional hexagonal snowflake in the process of freezing, drawing a crystalline order out of a seemingly chaotic array of water molecules. Temperature and humidity both play a role in snowflake formation; the more moisture that is present in the air, the more intricate the snowflake structure.”
H20 Poetry
As part of JH Public Art’s Community Artist summer program, and in collaboration with HydroGeometry’s designers, local poet Matt Daly was invited to create a collective poem about the water cycle. Community members at two Wednesday night Slow Food People’s Markets contributed words and phrases relating to the local water cycle on paper droplets in the geometric shapes used in the new ArtSpot. Each line in the following poems comes from a different droplet by a different contributor.
River rambles
under the bridge.
Rainfall patters
on rocky shores.
The river steps
toward tomorrow.
Frosty snowflakes dance
Along the silent shore
Sparkling vapor returns
to the beat of wind.
Water lives fully present
into nature’s geometry.
The snowflakes swirl
down mighty mountains.
The lake stands
after the moon sets.
Tiny droplets cascade
Into the void.
In the News
Sponsors
History of the ArtSpot
Over the years, many local artists have created installations, including:
Suzanne Morlock, John Frechette, Ben Roth, Doris Florig, Jenny & Sam Dowd, JH Wild – faces of JH, Cal Brackin, Wilson 5th Grade art class, Camille Davis, Olaus Linn, Cary Tijerina, Erin Ashlee Smith, and Wendell Field.
In 2008, the Center of Wonder funded Bland Hoke in creating the first edition of the ArtSpot, which was a repurposed gas station sign, “It was covered in black plastic and an eyesore” said artist Bland Hoke.
Blake contacted the owner to use it for art installations and began starting to create art installations with his friends Olaus Linn commented on his collaborative installation with Camille Davis in 2008, “It’s such an interesting thing to explore doing work at a scale that is almost too big to fathom when you’re putting brush to canvas. Suddenly individual brushstrokes cease to matter and the work becomes about big blocks of color and line to produce form.” Many artists work on two canvases, one for each side, that are 10 feet by 6 feet wide.
Eventually, the gas station sign left, providing Bland an opportunity to improve upon the ArtSpot design. “I wanted to build a structure that folded over on the side so loading it would be easier and safer” Bland said. “I used a chairlift tower donated from the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and carved intricate designs on the sides. The hinge needed to be super strong and luckily I found an old bank vault and torched off the hinge. The counter-weights on the arm are snowplow scraper blades and it raises and lowers with a car battery.” Bland said, “At the time I envisioned the ArtSpot as a stepping stone for artists to create public art pieces for the community while building their competitive resumes for public art commissions.” One lesson learned was that while the ArtSpot is a box able to hold art, other artists respond by thinking outside of the frame.
Many in the Jackson Hole community remember the Charlie Brown sweater installation created by Suzanne Morlock. She used large rolls of scrap material from a sequin factory where they were making shiny dots for clothes. The epitome of exotic waste. She knit the rolls onto a form to create her installation, which at one point traveled to the Charles M. Schultz Museum. Over the years, many local artists have created installations, including: Suzanne Morlock, John Frechette, Ben Roth, Doris Florig, Jenny & Sam Dowd, JH Wild – faces of JH, Cal Brackin, Wilson 5th Grade art class, Camille Davis, Olaus Linn, Cary Tijerina, Erin Ashlee Smith, and Wendell Field.
The Director of JH Public Art, Carrie Geraci is excited to develop new opportunities and ways to enhance the ArtSpot. One dream is to work with local businesses who commission large scale artwork for their property, but who are willing to first share it with the public on the ArtSpot. For example, Danny Shervin’s gunpowder art installation, General Sherman, will find a new home on the facade of Mike’s Body Shop. Geraci said, “We are eager to set this trend of rehanging installations after their turn on the ArtSpot, so spread the word that installations are also opportunities to acquire big art!”