Storm
This week is all about Storm. Storm is most known for her role in the X-men and her ability to control the weather. She can command wind, rain, lightening and snow at will and she can fly around which is an added bonus. Her medium is weather and so we will look at a couple artists using weather in their work and what it means aesthetically to collaborate with such a powerful force.
Nathalie Miebach is one such artist. Nathalie creates playful, intricate, hand woven infographic-esque sculptures, using weather and science data to direct her building process. Gathering data from ocean waves, wind and rain, she translates these collections of numbers into spatial forms and music. Although her work is very quantitative, it is also very beautiful. Perhaps Nathalie’s generative patterns encapsulate the same beauty we see in thunder heads and crashing waves, just in a different way. A great TED Talk of hers can be found here: https://www.ted.com/speakers/nathalie_miebach
Local artist Sidney Buchanan also has some storm history in his work. After the famous Omaha tornado of 1975 ripped through Pipal Park on its way to 72nd Street, Sidney decided to use some of the steel support beams from buildings damaged by the tornado to create the giant blue sculpture entitled “Patrick” that is currently installed at the peak of Pipal Park. Most of the sculpture’s bent beams feel intentional, but draping down from the three main pillars we find some more gnarled metal – twisted by forces beyond the hand of the artist. More information on the work can be found here: http://www.publicartomaha.org/art/info/97/Patric. Artists have always been good at upcycling materials that others might consider trash or to be ruined. I hope to see more transformative work like this emerge from storm torn areas around the globe.
-Weston