The Floor of the Gateway Building

This past winter Head of School Craig Sellers and Facilities Supervisor Gary Harper asked if I would like to design and stain floors for the student area of our new Gateway building. I replied that I was confident my students and I could come up with some ideas. (I do not always think through these obligations…)

For the next week students in Advanced Studio Art each came up with ideas. They researched acid staining of cement and made drawings and watercolors. From these first individual design images they teamed up around four ideas that seemed most promising. In small groups they put together color samples and fit their designs to the unusual floor plan. Each team wrote a statement of how their plan addressed the future student lounge.

The four teams presented their proposals Mr Sellers and Mr. Harper. They did marvelously. We all agreed that any of the designs would have yielded exceptional results.

Here is what the chosen team said about their design:

We are proposing staining tree slices scattered about the floor. These end grain views have a strong environmental connotation, just as the Gateway Building has the mission to be as green as we can make it. The rings of the stumps also make a statement about the development a student has at The Derryfield School. The growth of a tree is evidenced in it’s rings. Think of each tree shown about the floor as an individual Derryfield student. Each ring of experience signifies an event in the life of that student: state championships, stage performances, class debates, papers accomplished and grades earned.

FAST FORWARD THREE MONTHS…

I returned from Switzerland in July with assurances from Mr. Harper that the building was ready for our design work. I walked into a BUSY work site. Our design required a shut down of the downstairs of the building. Subcontractors were put on hold until we were done! I called my student phone tree. I needed help. And the students poured in to participate.

There were late nights and early mornings, but in four days ambitious students had the floors done and work crews back into full operation. There were many students who came by to volunteer but could not be put to work on a particular day, and as many who so wanted to be there, but had family obligations. What an exciting event for all of us who were there. What a great learning event for all who had input.

One morning, after an especially late night, one of the carpenters showed up and admired the work. “Some day, twenty years from now, those students will come back and show their families what they did at The Derryfield School.”

Jim Larson and Stephanie Horn were the first to arrive, and what workers they proved to be.

Amy Trinh put plastic down as a stencil.

Grace Alenson…

and her brother Grant Alenson cut and taped the designs down to the floor…

I think they had fun working together (I bet he will miss her next year. I WILL!)

Jim Larson never seemed to go home.

So I fed him. (Is he having fun or what?!)

The staining was done in three stages: 1. dark bark…

2. Then Kate Ridinger peeled tape and plastic to expose the area between the tree designs for a green overall floor color…

3. Then finally the tan interior color was swept with dark rings to complete the composition.

The student efforts were generously complimented by the support of Billy Madden, Derryfield’s hard working and beloved staff. Gary Harper assured that Billy was available as needed to do the BIG cleanings and final mop/sealing.

As I reflect on my job, I am forever thrilled by the deep familairity each of us shares with the others in this team we call a school. For example, Billy knew each of the students who came in to help - and they know him - personally.

Postscript

One of my unmet goals of the Verbier 3D Residency was a third piece on the mountain that used my sapling technique and hand-made stones. I had gathered saplings early in the residency, but they were just too short and not my usual maple, oak, beech. They were pulpy and soft woods - mostly spotted alder and a cottonwood variety. I was not able to get the strength and length I needed for the high environment. But in our closing days I applied silver paint to them and built a piece for the final party:

My industry and insecurity with my stones meant that I had over 20 made for the 9 I fit into my sculpture. The remaining ones were placed as remnants of my visit to Verbier. Here are some of the placements:

Placement #1

Placement # 3

Placement # 5

Placement # 7

Final days @ Verbier 3D

The final days were a blast of energy and fun. The finished works went up the mountain with huge efforts by many folks. We had several long days working around holiday schedules and the unpredictability of media, weight and just the complexity of each installation. My work and Donna’s were done with good timing, but Donna and I each had a final afternoon on the mountain getting grass arranged, soil raked, paint touchups done. Saturday the 25th we were up on the mountain until late in the afternoon, applying finishing touches and getting through final video interviews. We then came back to the tent to build our final sculpture.

Together we built a sapling Ibex, the mighty mountain goat of the high Alps. Our structure was covered with a layer of straw and soaked with oils. We set our Ibex in place on a steel mountain I had fabricated and then dressed for the evening’s party. It was a well ordered affair with a lovely VIP cocktail, the usual introductions and goodbyes (in both French and English), a painting competition (Art Battles), fire dancers, and lots of great music. As the evening scrolled to a close we ignited our sculpture. It went alight with magnificence. It was a GRAND close to our fine time in Verbier.

The after party went past our dropping time but we danced for hours before calling it a day well spent.

Sunday we all gathered for a walk through of the high mountain site at 2pm. We rode up the lift and then walked along the road between the end of the lift and the restaurant where Donna’s piece is so well featured out the main dining room windows. It was a great time for us all to talk and share the experience. Many impressions of the work were shared. Several of our new friends joined us for these two final events. Donna and I have several standing invitations for places to stay when we are next in Verbier!

By four, most the artists and guests headed down the mountain, but Donna and I faced the clearest day we had yet seen in the high mountains, so up we scampered. For the next two hours we hiked into the alps, following a trekking trail to the first of the mountain lodges. By the evening barbecue, both of us were sore and exhausted - spent but smiling. It was glorious!

The final meal was full of goodbyes. We all regretted the end of this unique and lovely adventure. Donna and I left as the sun set, walking the last two miles down the mountain to our hotel to pack. 7:30 lift off for Venice!

THE FINISHED WORK:

UPROOTED 2011

When a tree is wind beaten to the extremes of uprooting, it is a trauma that leaves a scar beyond the individual that is toppled. When a forest titan is blown over and the earth is torn by the tenacity of roots, even boulders can be hoisted aloft. These excavated stones leave an impression, the uplifted roots draw a shape, the remnant hollow becomes a shelter.

Man has marked this earth deeply. We are well rooted.

I am unsure how as an artist, I can respond to the extremes of the Alps. My work is not a triumph over adversity. It is a personal story. I am recording my presence. In the fragile state of today's world I am determined to draw with a mark that lasts. In this Residency I aim to leave a significant trace.

UPENDED (a ghost print) 2011

When a printmaker places a second damp page on the plate without pausing to re-ink, a ghost print is produced. UPENDED is a retelling of UPROOTED. Like a ghost print, much of the mass is gone. The impression is skeletal, but structure is evident. In a second pressing, only the deepest image remains.

UPENDED works well in all seasons but was designed for the brilliance of the mountain terrain. Fog and clouds isolate the linear design and suspend the stones in vapor. Sun on snow creates a stark shadow reflection. The image will be doubled, compressed, stretched as the sun angle changes throughout the day.

The steel rod has been bent and shaped into layers that lack geometry but that evoke volume - much as a brush patch occupies a distinct physical space with abundant disorder.

UPENDED implies both geologic and organic events. The stones reference authentic shape and colors while revealing a hand-made sensibility. They invite trust in their materiality as boulders, but show a painterliness, brushstrokes and surfaces that are distinctly created. Splash, drip and color confound believability. That was my goal for these still-life rocks.

June 22 23

Rocks for UPENDED proved to be a challenge. The colors I chose were based on the flowers and vegetation about the mountain terrain. The mauves, reds and yellows were impossible for me to wrap my head around. I made over 20 rocks for a total of 9 spaces. On the 24th I was driven up to install. The red ones were wild and untamed and intimidated me. They were finally replaced by genteler but still dynamic rocks. I was thrilled by the final composition, but the installation was not without a lot of agony.

RED STUDY

Individual stones

UPENDED Andy Moerlein 2011

June 21st

Donna gets her stone base delivered on Monday and Tuesday she FINALLY gets the BABY BRINGER hauled up the mountain…

It is laid on its side, then hooked to the sling built into the pipe spine we secured into the sculpture.

SHE FLIES!

The truck driver pauses as the work settles upon the stone and expansion anchors are drilled and secured. Donna is a proud busy bee.

Jerome is lifted up by a strap to unhook the bird and close up the head hole.

BABY BRINGER

Donna Dodson 2011

My UPENDED is hauled up and secured in place. I still have rocks to complete...

A FEW too many days slipped by….

It has been WILD around here. We laid the lovely stork down on her back to put a steel back bone for her to be carried and secured to the base.

I returned to the mountain and secured my footers.

We visited the studio of a local artist. JeanClaude has a small but efficient studio. Check out that roof!? They use flat stones as shingles, attached with a clever hook system. According to our buddy Matt, they never leak and last as long as stones… I just want to see the raftering it takes to hold it all up with an added 5 feet of snow!

We had a stunning day at Art Basel, one of the worlds hottest gallery exhibits. This year they burnt all the records for sales on day ONE! We got VIP passes to be there. Basel was such a delight. Driving down the twisty road from our high alps paradise, through deep valleys peppered with castles, then on to the low flat lands of lakes and cheese on our three hour ride to the German speaking end of Switzerland - we got a renewed perspective of where we are — MAKING ART IN THE ALPS!!!

I spent a day making a hap hazard scaffold up on the mountain so I was FINALLY staged to cement… then waited for a day of reliable weather, a cement mixer, a truck to haul my materials and finally made the move…

I still have several days getting a finish coat and color on… but now I move on to FINALLY securing my last bit of steel and making rocks for my second piece.

Dona has been working TOO HARD> She has done two 2am nights in a row and still insists on getting up at 6. Last night i refused to stay up with her and woke up in a fright when she never returned. I strolled over in my PJs and recovered her. The work is huge and lovely. She will be forever proud and I am confident the helicopers will film her piece as a local landmark.

Speaking of helicopters, we work with two of the finest world class “off piste” (off groomed trails…) snow boarders. Matt and Jerome have been filmed and also film some of the areas most spectactular glacier drops on snow boards. Matt is a huge help - he knows everyone who lives here and can solve almost any problem. He speaks good english and it is so interesting to hear him go from steady calm English to the emphatic and expressive French. Same conversation - but French has a completly different approach use of intonation. It is built into the language.

Jerome speaks good but limited English. Working bilingually we smile and share a lot — and often miss a lot… but both these guys work like real heros.

The promised video of STORK! getting a spine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xidv9uBL6uA