Major Projects: Hyatt Regency Wall Sculptures
Title: Emergence/A Flower Location: Hyatt Regency Hotel Lobby, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Size: 8 ft. x 6 ft. Materials: Steel, wood, aluminum, copper, prisms, beads, plexi glass, and paint. When I saw a flower blooming during the Texas heat wave of 1989, I thought, "How can anything grow in this?" Despite the gummy hard clay, cracked earth, and boiling temperatures of a Texas summer, so much manages to grow, create, and thrive in Texas. The rivers, lakes, sea side, ground water, sky, land, trees,hills, and the mountains of Texas are teeming with vitality—life past and present. The art is an image of the possibility that emerges in nature, in individuals, and in the world of enterprise. It's inspired by flowers that bloom in dry dirt and rocks, by the intricacy of geological layers, by natural ponds that grow in rock formations, the critters that call Texas home, and the uncontainable vitality of Texas and Texans. I found the Roy Bedichek quote long after starting the work and found it to be a perfect companion to the piece. As he proclaims, "It's magic, pure magic, and nothing else." —Karen Blessen 
Title: Return to the Water/The Many Chambered Mansion Location: Hyatt Regency Hotel Lobby, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Size: 8 ft. x 6 ft. Materials: Steel, wood, aluminum, copper, prisms, beads, plexi glass, and paint. "Return to the Water/The Many Chambered Mansion" is a companion to "Emergence/A Flower". Emergence, and Return. Rain returns moisture to the land. Rivers return to the ocean. LIke the butterflies, frogs, damselflies, blue herons and egrets at D/FW airport, we are drawn to the water. It's our wondrous, life filled, life giving necessity—a longed for oasis, a respite from the sun-burnt landscape, a resource for agriculture and industry, and a place to play. Sometimes water churns into a fearsome force of nature. Water flows through us and under the homes, communities, and businesses of Texas. We live over subterranean lakes and intricate, elegant passageways where cool water flows. In "Adventures of a Texas Naturalist", Roy Bedichek wrote, "A cluster of living forms had already begun to gather ........ until every nook and cranny, hole, channel, or minute interstice of this many-chambered mansion would be crowded with life flowing in with the water." One other inspiration for the piece was the country song "Cool Water", by Bob Nolan: "The nights are cool, and I'm a fool, each star's a pool of water. Cool water. But with the dawn I'll wake and yawn. And carry on to water. Cool, clear, water." Art Process
In the next stage, the art was built, in paper, at approximately 1/8 of the final size of the constructions. Then the models were given to the team of fabricators at The Wolf Company in Dallas. They recreated the art at its final size of 8 ft. x 6 ft. x 1/1/2 ft., and in steel, wood, aluminum, copper, prisms, beads, plexi glass, and paint.
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CONTENTS:: Emergence/A Flower:: Return to the Water :: Art Process MAJOR PROJECTSSpecial Section::: Africa Editorial: :: One Bullet :: Faces of a Plague Corporate: :: Hyatt Regency Wall Sculptures Theater: :: Today Marks the Beginning Civic: :: Times Square Public Art: :: DART - Baylor Station :: Love Field Sidewalk Proposal Books: :: Peace One Day :: Be an Angel Non-profits: :: Red Cross Blood Museum :: Dallas Animal Shelter |
Contact Karen Blessen :: kblessen@sbcglobal.net :: Karen@29Pieces.org :: kblessen@TodayMarkstheBeginning.org :: 214-827-3257 :: Email Webmaster
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