U.S. 101 Interchange Project - Capitol Expressway/Yerba Buena Interchange

This coming Friday there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for the completion of the pedestrian/bike overpass at Capitol Expressway and 101 in San Jose, California. This ribbon cutting will also celebrate the contribution of local middle school students to the development of the art enhancements for the Tully/101 pedestrian/bike overpass. Photos of the final transit art can be found at this Flickr set. The project was made possible by a generous loan of HP stylus tablets from the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College. Three classes of 6th grade students at Renaissance Academy at Fischer participated in this project in the fall of 2011. I conducted the workshop series in the art classes of Mr. Jesus Guerra. This project was a program of the VTA in collaboration with the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs.

Tamale radial pattern design inspires laser cut steel pattern on entry gate pillar of pedestrian/bike overpass.

A student photo of a neighborhood fig tree was the source image for the pattern generated in the software tool Repper. The design inspired the pattern for concrete impressions on street dividers.

Student photos of the local neighborhood included images of Reid Hillview Airport. A student pattern created in Repper inspired the laser cut steel pattern included on gateway pillars to the pedestrian/bike overpass.

Past blog postings on the student work process:

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2011/11/student-pattern-reflections-on.html

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2012/01/student-patterns-for-freeway-art.html

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2011/11/it-is-interesting-challenge-to-begin-to.html

Past Blog postings on the fabrication process:

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2013/11/youth-art-in-street.html

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2013/11/student-art-on-street.html

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2013/09/progress-made-on-freeway-overpass-art.html

 

Synapse Tapestry installed at Albert Sherman Center

Today I received images of the Synapse Tapestry installed at the Albert Sherman Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. I will be making additional mixed media tapestries for this stairway passage.

Synapse Tapestry

completed sculpture

Over the past few days I have been completing this tapestry sculpture for a neurological research center in Boston. I shipped it off today in a bicycle box. To fit the 5ft x 4ft piece into the bicycle box, I designed the sculpture to separate into sections that snap and hook together. I have two more tapestries to make in this series.

part of assembly instructions

Detail of 3D printed element on sculpture.

Mayo Clinic Butterfly Installation

I just received a few photo of the butterfly sculptures installed at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Care Center. This was a lovely project to work on. The butterfly forms echo butterflies found in Minnesota: the Tiger Swallowtail and the Gray Comma. Here are some postings on the process of creating these pieces, early sketches , and a preliminary small model.

Mixed media butterfly sculptures installed at Cancer Care Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.

Another view of butterflies installed

Neuron Tapestry Work in Progress

This weekend I am adding decorative hand stitching to a tapestry commissioned by a neurological research center. The cardboard is just for temporary support. More elements and layering of fabrics will be added but this is what is developed so far for this Synapse Tapestry for the Albert Sherman Center.

A Japanese Boys' Day Carp is taken apart and parts are incorporated into tapestry.

Soundscape Audio Collage Project

I have been exploring creating the first sample of a sound collage for a public arts project tied to bus stops in San Jose, California.
Here is the first test of a collage representing the area in and around King and Alum Rock Road in San Jose. I look forward to collecting more audio to make these compositions richer. I have a lot more recording to do of community elements and am enjoying this audio journey into various communities.

Youth art in the Street

The 101/Capitol Expressway-Yerba Buena Rd Interchange Improvements will include these youth designed panels. The next step is to drill holes for the bolts and then they will be powder coated with color. These laser cut sheets of steel will be integrated as decorative panels on pillars at the entry points of the bike and pedestrian freeway overpass at Capitol Expressway. These patterns were created by 6th grade students at Renaissance Academy at Fischer in San Jose, CA. Additional student work will be at the Tully/101 Interchange and will take the form of concrete textured lane dividers.