vodstrup's photostream

Bustamante ate watermelon while I painted. The El Mercado was a small art gallery I ran from 1997-1999 in DeKalb, Illinois.

I've had the good fortune to work on several projects with local Albany, NY artists Matt Hart and Chip Fasciana. For this project they were commissioned by the Albany Pine Bush Preserve to build a large steel Karner Butterfly.

From the Pine Bush website: "Located in the heart of the Capital District Region, the Albany Pine Bush represents one of the best remaining examples of an inland pine barrens ecosystem in the world... its open areas present ideal conditions for wild blue lupine, a beautiful wildflower which is critical to the survival of the federally endangered Karner blue butterfly."

They wanted the butterfly to have a sound making element that was also interactive.

I have always dreamed of an opportunity to create a solar powered sound sculpture, and I had several prototypes lying on my soldering table. So, over the last few weeks I built some circuits. We also installed a speaker in the belly of the butterfly.

This is an installation of "Smashing" at reArting Troy in the Atrium in Troy, NY.

Folklore, based on observation and experience, is in essence, a dialogue with nature. It is a conversation in which we are losing fluency, perhaps even affinity for. However, the need to understand and adapt to the changing weather of our world has never been greater.