Kate Raudenbush :: Guardian of Eden

Artist Kate Raudenbush’s large-scale, outdoor sculpture, Guardian of Eden, is an intricately designed twelve-petal lotus flower made from plasma-cut steel. It stands over nineteen feet in diameter, and nearly eighteen feet high, and is inspired by Hindu creation myths and Egyptian and Buddhist symbolism. It contains twelve white l.e.d. lights inside of glass globes on the tips of each petal, as well as a blue-green light that emanates from beneath the sculpture, casting watery, organic shadows across the ground. You’ll find more information about the sculpture at the artist’s Web site and the Guardian of Eden Web site, and information about the background of the Egyptian and Hindu myths informing its creation at these Web sites about the Flower of Life and Vishnu’s sacred lotus, Padma.

Guardian of Eden was designed to express the Burning Man theme for 2007, The Green Man. As Raudenbush explains, “Guardian of Eden frames our current ecological crisis within the petals of the sacred lotus flower—the mythological seat of creation and the symbol of enlightenment. In Hindu creation mythology, a new era of time is created after a lotus flower blooms. As a meditation on our own era of time, this steel lotus flower blooms before us as a physical reflection of the fierceness and beauty of our planet under threat. She is the guardian of the Eden that once was. At night, the ancient Egyptian Flower of Life symbol radiates from the heart of the lotus reminding us of the interconnectedness of all life. Guardian of Eden is a gathering space for us to consider our role in this turbulent age and to recognize that [Earth’s] survival is intimately connected to our own. It is up to us to define what this new era of time will be. It is we who are the Guardians of Eden.”

Raudenbush is an interactive installation sculptor, green-furniture designer, and photographer living in New York. In her eleven-year career as a photographer, she has collaborated with musicians, theaters, and a range of corporate clients. A graduate of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Raudenbush also studied at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington D.C., The International Center of Photography in New York, and The School of Visual Arts in New York. Guardian of Eden is the artist’s fourth sculpture to receive a grant from the Burning Man organization.

Guardian of Eden was commissioned by the Burning Man organization; the NMA thanks Burning Man for their support of this exhibition.

Celeste Roberge :: Cairn, 1998

Anodized steel, hand-selected river rock from the Truckee River
Dimensions: 54” x 58” x 40”
Location: Front Entrance to the NMA
Acquisition: Courtesy of the Artist and Funded by the City of Reno and the Nevada Museum of Art Volunteers In Art

Cairn, the most enduring of all the NMA sculptures, is popular with all age groups. It has greeted visitors to both the old and the new museum for many years. It is unique in that it is a “site specific” sculpture, created just for the NMA in 1998 by artist Celeste Roberge. The word cairn means “mound of stones erected to mark a site.” Roberge creates welded steel figures and fills them with various geologic materials gathered from the site local to where the sculpture is installed. Cairn represents a continuation of a series of rock figures that Roberge has been creating since the 1980s. Some are standing, some rising, and some walking. Her other cairns are rock-filled steel frameworks in the shape of globes and columns, and quarried rocks arranged as benches and outdoor “living room furniture.”

In 1999, the NMA presented an exhibit titled “From Exploration to Conservation: Picturing the Sierra Nevada” in which Roberge created a video installation commissioned by the museum that featured a tent and rocks in a stream of endlessly flowing water. Titled “Mountains and Rivers Without End,” it was a rocky streambed with a simulated “flow” of gurgling water.

Celeste Roberge (b. 1951) is an Associate Professor of Art and Sculpture Area Coordinator at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Her works are in numerous public and private collections across the U. S., mostly on the East coast. She lives and works in Gainesville, Florida, and South Portland, Maine.

At Runnymede Sculpture Farm in Woodside, CA, there are two Roberge Cairns: “Rising Cairn” and “Walking Cairn.” The following is a statement from the curator there: “These are our two most commented-upon pieces. People respond to these works viscerally and immediately. There is a dignity to these two pieces which draws the viewer into a contemplative space. Both pieces are female forms and modeled after Roberge herself. They are filled with river rocks and play upon the idea of ‘”figurative.'” We usually think of figurative sculpture as being carved out of rock: these are composed of rock. It’s as if you’re looking inside the people themselves; you see their viscera, their muscles. And the sculptures draw attention to the paradox of living: we live both inside ourselves, with emotions and thoughts, and we live outside in the world through actions and communication.”

About Cairns:
A basic cairn is a single stack of rocks essentially made to mark a path, territory, or site, or meant to be a tomb marker. The intent is utility and meaning rather than art. Those who place them are thinking of those who will come after. Those who find and follow them are trusting the travelers who went before.

Cairns of various types are found throughout the Neolithic world and recall early representations of women. Stacked or balanced, these offer places and moments for reflection, or meditation. Balanced stones are designed to stand for a long time without falling. Modern day hikers often refer to them as “trail ducks” when the top rock is larger and points the way at a turn. Some National Parks have rules of “rock etiquette” about cairns and the making of rock sculptures or the disruption of rock formations. Death Valley National Monument in California is one such place. Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine, also has an extensive system of cairns and rules about their construction. However, at Peace Cairn in Ireland (established in 1993) people are encouraged to bring a small rock or stone to add as a personal statement to symbolize the laying down of primitive weapons---turning them into building blocks of a better future.

Note prepared by Kathleen Durham and Lois Smalley.

Nancy Dwyer :: Inhale / Exhale, 2002

Red Granite
Location: Wilbur May Sculpture Plaza

Nancy Dwyer (b. 1954) is a New York-based painter, sculptor and digital artist who works with words. Her ‘word bench’ invites visitors to sit down, breathe, and relax in the presence of the Nevada Museum of Art. “Inhale/Exhale” was commissioned by the museum especially for the sculpture plaza.
Art Critic JoAnn Isaak wrote that Nancy Dwyer “gives words a physical presence appropriate to their meaning.” Thus the red granite letters of the NMA sculptures seem to increase or decrease in size as they embody the act of inhaling and exhaling. Dwyer works in stone, wood, paper, cardboard and vinyl. Her 1990 sculpture “Big Ego” is made up of three immense yellow air-filled balloons. The ‘E,’ ‘G,’ and ‘O’ deflate regularly and must be pumped up constantly. In contrast to the huge “Big Ego,” Dwyer has done small sculptures with letters cut out of entire encyclopedia volumes, spelling out “Blah, Blah, Blah.”
She has created a set of enameled aluminum benches entitled “Multiple Choice.” The benches read ‘Always,’ ‘Often,’ ‘Sometimes,’ ‘Seldom,’ and ‘Never.’ Many of her sculptures are site-specific. At the 911 Emergency Communications Facility in Chicago, Dwyer formed ‘911’ out of a series of benches. On closer examination the benches also spell out John Donne’s words, “No man is an island entire of itself.” At the gates of the Cleveland Indians’ baseball stadium are benches which say, “Who’s On First,” and Clevelanders gather at the entrance to their basketball arena where the benches say, “Meet me here.”
Dwyer said in 1997, “I believe that there’s something enriching to taking that extra moment to ponder, to reflect, maybe even to question. It is my hope that my art work has encouraged this activity.”

Note prepared by Kathleen Durham and Lois Smalley.