Patterns of Energy: ON the Map and OFF the Grid  2012

Galvanized Steel, heat strengthened-low iron-laminated glass, white plexiglass, full color graphics, LED linear fixtures

Commissioned by the MIssouri Department of Transportation (MoDot)

Rock Port, Missouri I-29 MoDot Welcome Center

Rock Port has demonstrated to the region what is possible and has become a hopeful model for a continued and growing embrace of energy conservation and alternative energy usage.  Through the past few centuries the world has experimented with ways of harnessing the power of the elements such as wind and water to produce energy that could be utilized in our daily lives. 

My goal is to create a lyrical movement of form, color and content that will engage the weary traveler as they recharge their bodies for the road ahead. The design will welcome and invite a lingering investigation by visitors.  The hope is for them to have little epiphanies about aspects of energy and all the while about the patterns that reflect Missouri’s heritage.  Like other projects that I have created welcoming visitors, I hope that this piece will invite visitors to explore more about what Missouri and the field of energy has to offer for our future.

Our connection to the environment and these early “energy machines” such as windmills and gristmill is depicted in a long tradition of quilt patterns.  Other than being inspired by David Rankin and his pioneering efforts to use a windmill, I am inspired by cyclical movement and patterns that make up many of these “energy machines”, both past and present. Today Rock Port is one of the first communities of in the United States to power their entire community on an ideal windy day by the four wind turbines directly across I-29 from this welcome center.

The movement, repetition and symbolic nature of these traditional quilt patterns for me is a solid foundation for this concept.  The quilt patterns that reflect the movement of windmills and gristmills today reflect a similar movement that is produced in nearly all forms of energy production where a form of turbine is utilized.  From nuclear and geothermal to hydroelectric power, mechanical turbines are used to give birth to many forms of energy.  I was further inspired by the cyclical nature of other structures and forms that relate to energy. 

The foundation of my concept is laid down by the “patterned” background, which consists of numerous traditional quilt patterns.  These patterns are not just reflective of windmills and gristmills but some of these patterns reflect themes related to the sun, stars and agriculture.  Still yet other patterns reflect themes of the road and trails such as “Paths to Happiness”, “Trail of Friendship” and “Road to Fortune”.  One theme reflects the past presence of Native Americans and their reverence for nature, entitled “Wind Power of the Osages”.  Other patterns specifically represent Missouri, such as “Missouri Gateway Star” and “Missouri Wonder”, among others.  This grid of patterns also reflects the Jeffersonian grid of rural Missouri from a bird’s perspective.  I also see a similarity to the crystalline patterning on the façade of a solar panel.

The colorful background of geometric patterning gives rise to a series of other types of non-grid patterns, shapes and forms reflective of alternative energy and conservation.  This imagery is woven throughout the two horizontal frame works that spell “ROCK” and on the other side of the double doors “PORT”.  The largest image infused within “ROCK” is the subtle abstraction of the windmill—symbolic of our past and at the time the windmills’ inventive usage by pioneer David Rankin.  Blended within “PORT” is a large wind turbine, which directly reflects today’s pioneering efforts of people like Eric Chamberlain who helped put Rock Port “on the map and off the grid”. The connection between the two series of panels is lines of continuous text that references a variety of bird species, flowers, horses, dogs, universities, sea shells and river valleys.  Besides the literal reference to nature these words are also the code names by which all various configurations of transmission cable are identified.