My four weeks in Omaha have seemed long, but nonetheless, active and busy. Time has been spent both rural and urban - which is quite enjoyable as I always think it builds muscles to see both sides of situations, people, and places. Yesterday was a departure from farming, with a looming application due for a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. I thought for a long time before I composed the application - do I want to do this in NYC or Omaha? Where will it make the greatest impact? Where are the resources most available and least encumbered by silly things that I do not want to deal with. Omaha won with it's unequivocal support, resources, and perceived impact. Never has an application meant more.
I would like to spend 2-3 months next fall making giant 8x10'abstractions of endangered world river deltas on cor-ten steel, utilizing various methods of self-galvanization and annealing. I have compiled an inspiring list of non-profit organizations that concern themselves with humanitarian and environmental causes in each delta region. My hope for the finished pieces is their auction/sale to benefit these organizations. It's both a return to my past life sculpting with metal and a recent rendezvous with weathering steel in New York City.
Tonight I took Kim - an amazing new volunteer at Emerging Terrain - to daOMA's first speaker in it's third season, Chris Dykers of the firm Snohetta. In my opinion, this was our best speaker to date. His presentation was significantly more about landscape than Walter Hood's back in May. He spent 1/2 of his presentation discussing the firms philosophy and overarching vision of ultimate teamwork. This was enthralling - the public negotiation of salaries through a series of elected representatives, in house chef to promote eating together and time efficiency, office espresso machine, multidisciplinary structure on each and every project, and the entire firm's annual climbing of Mount Snohetta in Norway. He then showed several breathtaking projects that displayed a grasp of landscape I'm not sure I've seen before. Like, ever.
[Image Credit: Oslo Opera House by Snohetta, photo by e-architect.co.uk]
In a pre-presentation interview with the city newspaper, Dykers said this:
What advice would you offer young architects who are looking to create their breakout works?
Never place architecture ahead of life and experiencing life. Architecture is best when it is informed by the experience of life. Also, do not enter the profession with the feeling that finding a job is the primary role of the graduate of architecture. It should not overshadow the larger goal of improving the built environment. Find as many related tasks as possible, whether it is donating time to nonprofit agencies that affect the built environment or actually building things such as furniture. Write poetry and explore places. Find alternative routes to success. Otherwise, you may find yourself successful but still lacking purpose.
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