Installation: We are Live!

June 2 is here! "WALTArt: The Installation" opens tonight with a reception from 5-8 p.m. in the Bellevue College Gallery Space.

The installation is really pretty cool. It's all dark, and the center piece is the brain which is actively counting not only the very high energy cosmic rays entering the atmosphere above us, but also the "regular old" cosmic rays that penetrate the atmosphere.

The counter is really clicking! I had no idea how often my DNA was getting rearranged by the cosmic particles (just kidding).

Atop the brain in the server rack is Edgar's piece, which is a thinking pyramid. Can I say that?

The pyramid is constructed primarily from recycled components of the old Bellevue College reader board, with LEDs which light in a sequence soldered into small circuit boards hanging off the piece.

Seeing the piece in situ, watching it blink, makes me think that we are receiving some sort of communication from outer space. It's fun to experience.

In addition to the live action where we are recording actual high energy rays, we have "dummy" collectors which we've turned into art pieces.

We've positioned the collectors in various sections of the installation. All of the dummy collectors are lit with black light.

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One corner of the installation houses a sculptural piece Yuri constructed by casting plastic.

She lit the insides of the individual pieces and pierced them with holes, so not only does the entire structure glow from within, it emanates small piercing shafts of light.

My piece is a suspension, lit top and bottom for now with UV light.

Later on we have plans for changing the piece, but for now the light just picks up the edges of the lucite which I've shaped using a jigsaw.

The idea of this piece was to create a time/space continuum. I see energy and matter as somewhat of the same thing, and that what we perceive as solids are actually particles orbiting one another so closely we do not see the space between.

I'll post the sculpture statements in another post, along with some statements Kevin is working on which connect the physics to the art.

For now, remember to visit us tonight, June 2, from 5 - 8 p.m. in the Gallery!

It's easy to get to the Bellevue College Gallery Space.

Enter Bellevue College at the main entrance on 148th SE, follow Landerholm Circle around to the left and continue down the parkway about 50 feet. You'll see a sign marked "Visitor Parking". Turn right, go up the incline and down into the parking area. Drive all the way down and park close to the building area.

Walk west from the parking area through the first building section, onto the open plaza. Spot Carlson Theater on your left (and if the doors are open, you can use their stair case to reach the second floor). We are directly to the west of Carlson Theater, on the second floor.

For parking maps of Bellevue College, click here.

Installation: Walls, Sculpture, the List Goes On

I don't remember going home on Wednesday and Thursday night. All I remember is that I hung yards and yards of "camo" cloth.

I do know I must have gone home because I remember putting my key in my door and thinking, "Do I still smell paint?".

We were building walls in earnest.

We used lumber left over from wood shop class, and Ross sketched out how he planned to frame the space. We needed two walls: one for an entrance and the other for an exit. Both need to be 36" away from the steel wall to accommodate anyone with mobility issues.

We extended the portable walls to overlap the steel wall so that people can enter the exhibit without ambient light entering as well.
After the frames were built, they were levelled and hung.

We used a particle board facing (again, recycled from wood shop), and all of the exposed wood was painted black.

As soon as the space was reasonably defined, we began assembling the "fake" data collectors and hoisting them to the ceiling.

Over in another part of campus -- actually, where the actual data collection equipment is installed, workers are in the process of replacing the roofing. This has necessitated the temporary relocation of the WALTA data collection equipment, making it opportune for it to be installed here in the gallery.

Note: credit for this photo of us lifting the brain into place goes to Ross Brown.

Kevin brought over the "brain" and we began the process of attaching it to the server rack and getting it powered up and working. Then while Kevin was going through the operations manual for the brain, the rest of us were working on our sculptures.

Four days into the installation, we had our first real chance to see what they looked like.

Throughout the entire project, we've had requests for photos and descriptions of what we're working on. In the grant proposal, for example, a request was made for a specific map of the project and how it worked.

This shows one difference between and art installation and a scientific one: we collectively had an idea of what we were doing, but the overall assemblage could not even be described. Nor could we provide photos, because we hadn't developed our pieces yet.

I find it refreshing that artists and their supporters can have such faith in the inspiration for the piece, while scientists need to be shown the beef (so to speak).


Personally, I got a lot of exercise climbing up and down a ladder.

Installation - Bits and Pieces and Camo Cloth

It is Wednesday, a week before the show starts. The installation is in full swing.

I never used to think about the installation aspect of an art show, but now that I've become involved in this project I realize that installation is a big deal. It's almost like a composition in itself -- pieces need to be complementary to the space they are in, and create a sense of interest across the entire show.


But installation for WaltArt is bigger than big. From a technical and problem-solving standpoint, it's almost like building one of the pyramids. Or Stonehenge. In fact, those are two good analogies -- as we are limited in space and budget (as any typical art project is) and are therefore solving problems creatively. Right and left. Up and down. Inside and out. I'm sure you get the picture.

We only have one week....

What else have we done? We've picked up our T-shirts and started advertising them for sale. ($14! A steal!) They were printed by Jeff Coleson of Ideaworks NW. They show the particle tracing in white, with red and yellow text on a black fabric.


We have posters in hand, and I printed up a vinyl banner. To talk up the show, some of us are distributing posters, others are wearing their WaltArt T-shirts to class; we're also sending out an email to the Bellevue College campus and to the UW campus. I found a list of the email addresses for some of the physics professors at the UW and will be sending a note to each of them.

Speaking of which (apropos of advertising), if you have happened upon the Lake Hills Library in Bellevue, you'll see one of our posters in its proud place on display there.

Back to the installation.

The exhibit will take place in the back half of the Bellevue College Gallery Space, which is notable for its wonderful lighting for art pieces. The gallery has a rusted steel wall which bisects the space and can be swung into different positions. Because the wall floats, it blocks the least amount of light.

For our installation, we'll need to cancel the ambient light, as our displays depend on strategic lighting effects. So first up for the installation is hanging literally miles of blackout theater curtains. These are called "camo cloth."


And because the middle wall floats in its space, we're also adding temporary walls next to this wall, and covering all open spaces with theater curtain as well.

We're treating the camo cloth like a toxic substance. It only took a few minutes with the stuff to realize it releases thick black fibers into the air, and it is heavy and dusty. We'll be glad when we're done cutting and hanging it.


Some of the curtain (aka "Camo cloth") has been donated by the Bellevue College Theater Department, and some of it we purchased with our grant from the Science and Math Division at Bellevue College.

Every inch of white wall space needs to be covered. We've used magnets to adhere the cloth to the steel wall, and then a staple gun is in order for the perimeter of the space -- up at the ceiling, down by the floor, and literally everywhere in between.

We removed the chains that were sewn into the hem of the curtain cloth.


Since this project is about recycling as much as it is about WaltArt, we'll find a new use for the chain. It is a lightweight, polished aluminum; several of us had our eyes on it.

The Installation

This is installation week, and the countdown begins.

WaltArt opens in the Bellevue College Gallery Space on Wednesday, June 2, with a reception from 5 - 8 p.m.
Make a note on your calendar to join us!

Here's the poster I put together using the image of particle tracks Alex came up with.

It's easy to get to the Gallery Space. Enter Bellevue College at the main entrance on 148th SE, follow Landerholm Circle around to the left and continue down the parkway about 50 feet. You'll see a sign marked "Visitor Parking". Turn right, go up the incline and down into the parking area. Drive all the way down and park close to the building area.

Walk west from the parking area through the first building section, onto the open plaza. Spot Carlson Theater on your left (and if the doors are open, you can use their stair case to reach the second floor). We are directly to the west of Carlson Theater, on the second floor.

For parking maps of Bellevue College, click here.

See you June 2!

Hit Detection

Imagine the energy of a baseball thrown by a Major-League pitcher.

Imagine getting hit by one.

Now imagine that energy concentrated in a particle that is 10 trillion times smaller than a baseball, moving at nearly the speed of light. Imagine getting hit by one.
Imagine detecting one.

No one knows what creates these ultra-high energy cosmic rays; no one knows where they come from. But, there are some possibilities:

1. An ultra-massive star, thousands of times bigger than our sun.

Such a star can destroy itself in seconds, ripping itself to shreds in a frenzy of superheated annihilation. In the fury of this solar suicide, there may be enough power to create ultra-high energy cosmic rays.



2. A black hole.

At the center of our galaxy--at the center of most galaxies--lies a supermassive black hole: once a star, its gravity was so powerful that the body of the star collapsed in on itself, folding space into an infinitely small point, and so the star vanishes to nothing--but its gravity well remains. When anything falls into the black hole, the infalling object is ripped apart by the incalculable tidal forces. Energy, energy, and more energy pours out of the place where the particles are destroyed; some of this energy may become cosmic rays.



3. Space is vast. The distances between galaxies is vast. And yet, galaxies can, and do collide. And when they do… Galaxies contain a hundred billion stars; they are a hundred thousand light-years side-to-side. When they collide…

When an ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) is created, it can go in an direction. Any at all. Somehow, occasionally, one heads our direction. More correctly, it heads for the place we will be, eight billion years later.

- Kevin Wheelock

Particle Tracks and Fundraising

As with most Art-related projects, we need funds to keep going!

We've decided to print T-shirts to raise money for WaltArt.

Alex sent along this image of particle tracks to use for the T-shirt design. When we have a free moment, I'll ask her to blog about what they mean.

In the meantime, here's a snapshot of the design we created, based on the particle tracks image.

Interested in a T-shirt? Stay tuned; I'll let you know when and how you can get one. They're a good price!

Spawning Daughter Particles ...

Two new students have joined WaltArt, and we don't waste much time putting them to work! Susan has started in on a lucite panel and Yuri is building a sculpture.

Meanwhile, Edgar (using his cell phone) documents Alex's completed lucite panel, looking much better now that all the carpenter's tape has been removed. Note: Photo credit of Alex's panel goes to Edgar Escobar.

We are about to insert the panel into one of the boxes.

The panels, with the scintillation material applied to their surfaces, display interesting color changes when exposed to different kinds of light.