Introducing: Art is something that should happen on your way to work

P.Klee, “Death and Fire”,
1940

Trained as an architect and jazz musician, I have always thought that creativity should be a part of whatever you do- lawyer, stay-at-home parent, financial geek, whatever… Always try to think outside the box. As artist Paul Klee once said- “ Art is what makes the strange familiar and the familiar strange.” (OK. Maybe Alice Cooper takes it too far?) With that thought, allow me to muse about my last trip to the mid-west.

It started with attending the second annual CODA- Summit held in El Paso TX, Oct 2-4. At the cocktail party the first night I ran into some old friends-Martha Peters, the Director of the Ft. Worth Public Commission. She was director when I created “Parking in Color.”

“Parking In Color”- Ft. Worth, TX

I also caught up with one of my favorite public art managers, Patricia Romeu, head of the Miami-Dade Public Art Commission. She was was my point-person on the creation of the “Harmonic Convergence” installation at the Miami International Airport in 2011. I also met up with Alex Lemieux of CREOS. CREOS and I have joined forces to tour “Sonic Forest” as part of its goal to enliven public spaces all over the globe.

“Harmonic Convergence”-
Miami, FL

The CodaWorx management had us broken into small groups and go to various places for dinner. I had a dynamic group including Catherine Cathers, director of Coral Gables PublicArt. I told her about my first major public installation in the Arquitectonica’s “Miracle Center” shopping Mall in her district titled “Rainbow Pass” in 1989!! I also met Lauren Lockhart, with the San Diego Airport Public Art Program. That airport has done some great projects.

At the conference the next day, there were numerous presentations on art and technology projects around the world. All very informative.

“Sonic Forest” on Tour-
Glastonbury, UK

Meow Wolf is always great. Others, too hi-tech- (“It’s easy to be complicated.” C. Janney) I presented at 3PM and showed an opening video montage for an upcoming film on my work titled “Exploring the Hidden Music” scheduled to be made by Louisiana Public Broadcast for 2020 release. Its a nice clip with me and friends Sheila E.,Trilok Gurtu, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Sir George Martin. I then went into depth on a number of my

“Harmonic Grove” – Baton Rouge, LA

children’s hospital projects and the need for interactive “touch” environments in children’s hospitals environments. Unfortunately, I had to cut my time at this year’s conference short in order to fly to Baton Rouge for the ribbon cutting of my most recent piece “Harmonic Grove” serves as the grand entryway (PIC) to the new Our Lady of The Lake Children’s Hospital. Like my other “Urban Musical Instruments,” this 4,000 square foot colored glass canopy invites people to “play” with the architecture – transforming the entrance into a soothing but playfully-creative destination a good example of “art is something that should happen on your way to work.”