Wednesday, July 3, 2019

'PERSONA' wind-activitate sound sculpture at Washington State University

















PERSONA


Washington State University

Pullman



'Persona' wind-activated sound sculpture by internationally recognized artist Doug Hollis. At Washington State University in Pullman, it's atop Terrell Library on the library plaza with a beautiful Palouse view. Created in 1999, the sculpture was installed in 2000. Photos and video clips from PULLMAN :: Cup of the Palouse blog on May 8, 2019. 


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WSU sculpture singing again



September 28, 2009, WSU Today 


https://news.wsu.edu/2009/09/28/wsu-sculpture-singing-again



The wind sings



Following is a guest essay by Richard H. Miller,

Center for Distance and Professional Education



The wind sings when I’m trying to work.



It’s given voice by Doug Hollis’ kinetic sculpture “Persona,” four sound-generating weather vanes that spin outside my window at WSU’s Van Doren Hall. The vanes are mounted in a circle, held together by a mesh ring showing the points of the compass.



The sound shifts with the wind. Sometimes it’s a person blowing into a bottle, or the call of a whale. Sometimes, a man plays a saw. The vanes move. A ghost moans. I imagine a gauze-clad woman come to avenge her death.



Why “Persona”? Is Hollis saying we’re weather vanes, our beliefs changing with the wind? Or is the sculpture the persona, inhaling wind and exhaling sound? Perhaps the sound is the persona, spun into life from metal and air.



I check out Hollis on the Internet. He has made rain fall through the center of a building, turned beach chairs into harps, planted 950 wind vanes at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. He created a foggy beach, complete with boulders and 486 “fog nozzles” in front of the San Jose Civic Center. In other words, he turns civic landscapes into works of art that send people into a reverie. He makes us wonder when we should be working.



“Persona” is mounted on top of Terrell Library. It’s named after Glenn Terrell, the University president from 1967 to 1985. By all accounts, he was an excellent president, sometimes called the “Students’ President,” partly because he stopped to chat with everyone as he walked to work from his home on the west side of campus to his office on the east side. A scholarship is named for him, as is the Terrell Friendship Mall. The records from Terrell’s presidential years take 39 feet of shelf space in the WSU archives, a long shadow to cast, even if it is made of paper.



My own Van Doren Hall is named after Nancy Van Doren, college librarian and English professor here from 1892 from 1905. The hall turned 100 last year. It shares its centennial with the Model T, and the last time that the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.



A century can seem like forever especially to Cubs fans but it’s a blip in time compared to wind music, which dates to 6 B.C. Back then, ancient Greeks lay around on the lawn and grooved to the sound of Aeolian wind harps, much like the WSU students who sometimes loaf in the sun near “Persona.”



Clearly, the wind is to blame for this lassitude. We try to stay on-task, but the wind shifts, the vanes turn, and the archaic song continues afresh.



“Persona,” WSU’s metal kinetic wind sculpture, is singing again.



Since its installation on Terrell Library plaza in 2000, the slightest breeze or the strongest wind has caused the sculpture to “sing” by capturing wind and sending it through metal tubes.



This summer, however, the sculpture lost its voice. Severe wind storms in June left two of the sculpture’s metal fins “hanging by a thread and they were deemed dangerous” to those on the plaza and those on Rogers Field outside next to the library, said Keith Wells, WSU Museum of Art curator of exhibitions/collections manager. A fence was put around the sculpture and it sat silent.



Fabrication Specialties Limited spent about four weeks repairing the damaged fins in its Seattle shop. On Sept. 9, Trace Taft and Bill Hicks of the firm reinstalled the fins, said Terry Baxter-Potter, a WSU Capital Planning & Development project manager.


“Persona” is one of several sculptures on the university’s campus commissioned by the WSU Campus Arts Committee through the Washington State Arts Commission’s Art in Public Places program. Funds from the commission paid for the repairs.



Nationally known sculptor Doug Hollis of the San Francisco Bay Area created “Persona.” His works include at least three others in the state, A Sound Garden and Water Works, both in Seattle, and A Tidal Park in Port Townsend.



Wells and Baxter-Potter say they are happy the sculpture is back in action.



“Thanks to all who were concerned and told us the sculpture needed repairs and those who called with concerns as it was being repaired to check on its progress,” Wells said. “People being attached to the sculpture enough to get involved, illustrates the importance of campus art.”



Also pleased is Richard H. Miller, WSU Center for Distance and Professional Education senior marketing communications coordinator. Miller can see Persona through his Van Doren Hall office window. He can hear it, too. “The wind sings when I’m trying to work,” said Miller.



Note: The following which accompanied article no longer available … Photos above: Sunset (Oct. 2002) and blue sky (June 2006) photos by Shelly Hanks, WSU Photo Services. Fence (Sept. 2009) photo by Tim Marsh, University Relations. Persona audio (Aug. 2008) recorded by Brian Maki, Center for Distance and Professional Education.







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Rolls of sod ready to brighten roof



August 21, 2008, WSU Today




(Note: Photos which accompanied this story no longer available.)



PULLMAN – After a two-year drought during the renovation of the Compton Union Building, the Terrell Library Roof will once again be sporting green grass.



According to James Stone, construction engineer with Capital Planning and Development, soil preparation began Thursday morning for placing sod in the area. Large rolls of turf waiting in Terrell Mall will be placed as soon as an area of soil is workable and compost has been applied.



“Once the sod is placed it will receive a watering schedule that will hit the area three times a day in order to keep it healthy and encourage root growth,” said Stone. ” It will take anywhere from one to two weeks for the sod to be substantially  established.”



The sod was purchased and delivered from IDEAL SOD in the Tri-Cities area and the work is being performed by Clearwater Summit Landscaping out of Spokane. 



The completion date for project is Aug. 24, 2008.



Cutline for no longer available accompanied photos:



--Rolls of sod can wait 4 or 5 days to be planted.

--Construction crew preparing soil for sod.

--North side of Terrell Library roof.

--Sculpture “Persona”  singing in the wind.

--Crew member lifts rolls of sod for placement.

--Crew members roll out sod over soil covered with compost. The turf is then trimmed to fit the edges – like carpet.



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Sounds of the Palouse emanate from 'Persona'

By Heather Frye, 
Moscow Pullman Daily News, April 6, 2000

The wind shifted slightly to the east and "Persona" began to sing.

The notes emanating from the new wind sculpture above the Holland Library at Washington State University were gentle, like the first whispers of a Native American flute melody. Then the wind blew harder across the organ pipes and the music crescendoed, rising like a wolf song over the hills.

A crosswind caught the metal flags a moment later and the music ended until the structure creaked, swayed and found a new song in the western wind.

"Persona" is the brainchild of San Francisco artist Doug Hollis. He was commissioned three years ago to create the kinetic wind organ for WSU by the Washington State Arts Commission. The project is one of many bringing art to the "Terrell Mall," which is the route former WSU President Glenn Terrell used to take to work every morning.

Constructed on the lid of Holland Library, the structure sits at the crest of a small grassy hill. A low 115-foot ramp leads out to the 20-foot metal sculpture that overlooks the rolling prairie north of WSU.

"It's designed to be processional," said Marcia Garrett, Campus Arts Committee director.

The idea behind the sculpture was to create a place people could go to feel at peace and in tune with the landscape of the Palouse. Each of the four wind organs is configured to the four primary compass points. Metal flags rotate the pipes according to the whims of the wind.

"It's an observatory," Hollis said. "It lifts you into the air."

The sculpture has been in place since October, Garrett said, but the grass surrounding the hill needed time to grow. At 4 p.m. Friday, the fence around the sculpture will be taken away and a dedication ceremony will take place. The artist will join WSU President Samuel Smith and his wife at attend the ceremony. An informal reception will follow, with the artist answering questions from the public.

Hollis was chosen for the project because of his previous work creating art that incorporates sound and place. Among other projects, he has created "Sound Garden" for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building in Seattle.

At 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Fine Arts Auditorium, Hollis will give a lecture about his work. The talk is part of the WSU Museum of Art Spring 2000 lecture series, "Redefining Landscape."



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Dedication Ceremony for ‘Persona’ Art Structure


March 27, 2000, WSU Today



PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University President and Mrs. Samuel H. Smith will host a dedication ceremony for WSU’s newest sculpture, “Persona,” on the Holland Library Plaza at 4 p.m. April 7, 2000



“Persona” is wind-activated sound sculpture by internationally recognized artist Doug Hollis of San Francisco.



The sculpture, located on the Holland Library Plaza, encompasses four kinetic “wind organs” configured to the four primary compass points. The setting is intended to amplify the sweeping views of the Palouse and heighten one’s

awareness of the natural world through the creation of sound and its interaction with the setting.



Hollis’ work has been described as creating an oasis-like quality, where people can pause to catch their spiritual breath and focus attention on the world around them.



In addition to the dedication ceremony, Hollis will present an overview of his past work in a lecture at 7:30 p.m. April 6 in the Fine Arts Auditorium. The artist will also attend the dedication ceremony.



The lecture is sponsored by the WSU Museum of Art as part of its spring 2000 “Redefining Landscape” lecture series.



The Washington State Arts Commission’s Art in Public Places Program supports “Persona” as a part of its goal to maintain a state art collection that represents the work of regional, national and international artists.



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Sculptor Doug Hollis to Speak April 6, 2000



March 10, 2000, WSU Today



PULLMAN, Wash. — Nationally known sculptor Doug Hollis will present an overview of his past work in an April 6 lecture at Washington State University.



The 7:30 p.m. talk is sponsored by the WSU Museum of Art as part of its spring 2000 “Redefining Landscape” lecture series. The talk will be held in the Fine Arts Auditorium.



The free lecture and a dedication ceremony for his sculpture “Persona” were originally scheduled for March 23. The dedication ceremony has also been rescheduled, and will take place at 4 p.m. April 7 at the sculpture site.



Hollis is best known for his wind- and water- activated sound sculptures.


Many of his pieces have been publicly selected, site-specific works such as “Persona,” which was commissioned by the WSU Campus Arts Committee through the Washington State Arts Commission’s Art in Public Places program. Some of his other recent public artworks include “Mountain Mirage”

at the Denver airport and “Watersongs,” commissioned for the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif.



Hollis was born in Ann Arbor, Mich. He received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Michigan. 

He credits his interest in Native American culture and the time he spent visiting and living with Native American families in his youth as having a strong influence on his life and his art.



In the late 1960s, he began working with natural phenomena and responsive environmental structures. His collaborations with musicians, dancers, film makers, engineers and physicists resulted in projects such as the performance - installation “Laser, Sound and Air” at the Cranbrook Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.



Hollis began his current work with wind- and water- activated sound in the 1970s. These early works include his development of the first “Aeolian Harp” for the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1975-76.



In 1983, Hollis worked with four other artists in the creation of “A Sound Garden,” a 2000-foot shoreline walk commissioned for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. He frequently

works with other artists, landscape architects and architects on projects such as “Tidal Park” in Port Townsend and “A Garden of Voices,” a collaboration with artist Richard Turner, for Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park.



“These and other projects are indicative of my growing involvement with public art and with making places which have an oasis-like quality, where people can pause to catch their spiritual breath in the midst of their everyday

lives,” Hollis said.



The Hollis lecture is the last event of the museum’s spring lecture series, “Redefining Landscape.”



Funding for museum exhibitions and programs is provided by WSU, the Friends of the Museum of Art and private donors. A portion of the museum’s general operating funds for the fiscal year has been provided through a grant

from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency providing general operating support to the nation’s museums. Additional support has been provided by the Kenneth and Marleen Alhadeff Foundation; the Delta

Air Lines Foundation; the Washington State Arts Commission; the National Endowment for the Arts; the WSU Visual, Performing and Literary Arts Committee; the Pullman Kiwanis Club; Tri-State Distributors; and private

donors.



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Visually stark, the Doug Hollis' wind sculpture "Persona" on the top of the library comes to life when the wind blows, with marvelous chords sounding out in response. People like to just lounge around underneath it and listen to the concert that results.  Note: This page is part of the Paul Brians tour of WSU and the Palouse and is no longer being updated.




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Persona, 1999



Douglas Hollis

(American, born 1948)

Location: Washington State University, Pullman



http://www.artswa.org/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=3529;type=101



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Persona is a kinetic sound sculpture by artist Douglas Hollis that "sings" when wind passes through four spinning weather vanes. Richard H. Miller, WSU's Director of the Office of Student Media, described the sculpture's variations of sound in a 2009 essay, noting "sometimes it's a person blowing into a bottle, or the call of a whale. Sometimes, a man plays a saw. The vanes move. A ghost moans... Perhaps the sound is the persona, spun into life from metal and air."



This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Washington State University.



ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist Douglas Hollis creates sound-based sculptures and installations that are activated by wind and water. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan.



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Wind sculpture "Persona" on the top of Holland Library. 
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository






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WSU's Persona wind sculpture in Pullman, Washington. This photo is taken on top of the library (which has a lawn and seating, overlooking part of the north Pullman valley, the football practice facilities, and formerly Martin Stadium. Late fall harvests (of the Palouse's hundreds of miles of rolling wheat fields) cause thick dust in the sky, creating some truly breathtaking sunsets as the sun dips down towards the coast, cascading across eastern Washington.






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'Persona' wind-activated sound sculpture by internationally recognized artist Doug Hollis. At Washington State University in Pullman, it's atop Terrell Library on the library plaza with a beautiful Palouse view. Created in 1999, the sculpture was installed in 2000. Photos and video clips from PULLMAN :: Cup of the Palouse blog on May 8, 2019.