Cloud
Weave

In the Sonoran Desert the sky remains a consistent source for cultural expression, made evident by its awesome beauty and the way the desert plays with the light but also by its necessity for rain, nourishment and shelter. The adulation of clouds in the desert arts is one part worship, one part survival.

location

University of Nebraska Lincoln - Carolyn Pope Edwards Hall

client

Nebraska Arts Council

year

2022

collaborators

Terrol Dew Johnson

For this project we once again take on the problem of building structures informed by clouds and in particular their color as it is perceived in the desert sun. The result is a series of eighteen hanging constructions called Cloud Weave. This work is a continuation of our ongoing collaboration with Tohono O’odham artist, educator, and activist Terrol Dew Johnson.

Nine different color palettes are determined through a process that mixes machine learning and intuitive hand picking. Each palette contains seven colors selected from a generated image of a Sonoran sky. The image is produced by an ML algorithm trained on a database of photographs collected from local social media.

Each Cloud Weave is made by bringing together modular arcs into bundles that ensure variation and rigidity.

RGB values are then translated into a metal finish that is a patina/oxide pigment hybrid, hand mixed in 63 different colors. The following application was developed to assist in the construction:

Navigation Instructions:
arrow keys to rotate view
‘g’ regrows geometry
‘i’ saves image
‘o’ saves .obj

Cloud Weave is a permanent installation in the Carolyn Pope Edwards Hall at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Cloud Weave #1

Cloud Weave #2

Cloud Weave #3

Cloud Weave #4

Cloud Weave #5

Cloud Weave #6

Cloud Weave #7

Cloud Weave #8

Cloud Weave #9

Cloud Weave #10

Cloud Weave #11

Cloud Weave #12

Cloud Weave #13

Cloud Weave #14

Cloud Weave #15

Cloud Weave #16

Cloud Weave #17

Cloud Weave #18

UNL 2022

INSTALLATION AT UNL

Together the baskets float through the space like clouds, each changing in response to the light throughout the day.

CONSTRUCTION

The eighteen different Cloud Weaves are made of over a mile of ⅛” steel round bar. The steel is coiled, cut and welded into delicate bundles of strands that join and diverge based on a structurally resilient geometry.

Recognition

Type

Year

University of Nebraska Lincoln

Award

2022