Bird Song Chandelier . 2008

I was invited by the Nines Hotel to design a permanent installation for their spiral stairwell before the construction of the hotel within the old Meyer and Frank building even began. I created the concept and design for the 30 foot blown glass chandelier during an artist residency at Est-Nord-Est in Quebec in 2007. Part of the idea came from a dream in which I saw birdsong scratched into the sky.

It is modeled after the sound waveforms of endangered birds who live in or pass through Oregon. Each strand represents a different bird song. The overall visual design is inspired by Multnomah Falls. The waveforms and the bird’s voices were sourced from the Macaulay Library of Sound in Cornell. Bank Swallow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Horned Lark, Marbled Murrelet, Snowy Plover, Spotted Owl, Vesper Sparrow, Yellow-breasted Chat. Research of endangered birds via the IUCN Red List.

The piece was fabricated and installed by local glass artist, Ian Gilula and Elements glass in 2008 using the waveforms from the Macaulay Library as a model. It was not meant to be an exact translation but a poetic one. Audio-reactive lighting and sound from the original Cornell sources was added some years later by Nathaniel Jenkins and DotDotDash. You can view the chandelier by going up to the lobby of the hotel.