Dream Tree at The Urban Chalkboard

In February 2013 I had an exhibit at Gallery 924 in Indianapolis. My show was a series of five video-mapped pieces. (I will write about the details of that show, From Now On, in a future post.) Here I want to write about the installation of one of those pieces in a business in Carmel. Tomorrow, September 20, 2014, I will be installing a maple tree in a business called The Urban Chalkboard. (https://www.facebook.com/TheUrbanChalkboard). It is a combination cafe/play space. The tree will be featured very prominently in the space in the library area. I am super excited about this and am so happy it found a home after my show.

So the challenge that awaits tomorrow is to wrap and load the tree, which is in several pieces; transport it to the location; move it through a window space where they have removed an enormous plate glass window; get the central trunk up onto a 2′ pedestal; secure it to the ceiling and then bolt on several branches. The plan is to have it installed before the drywalling of the space starts next week. Once in place the tree has to be wrapped again to protect it through the rest of the construction process. I plan to shoot some time-lapse of the process which I will post here.

The business plans to open around November 15th. I need to finish the video-mapping aspect of that before then. I am sure there will be many future posts about that aspect of the piece. In the meantime I am using the working title Dream Tree, until I come up with something better.