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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
::::
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."
:::
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.
Shcl138-00
:::
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.
Sh126-00
:::
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.
:::
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.
:::
Wind sculpture "Persona" on the top of Holland Library.
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
:::
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.
#
'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.
