View from Entry

Capping the Wing Bench

Metal strips were wrapped around wood blocks and mounted over the top ridge of the bench to "thicken" the top, just as a wing is thicker at the top where there is more bone and muscle.

Pictures from the Dedication

Children's Nest Egg Dedication Tuesday September 23, 2008

You are invited to a dedication and opening for the Children's Nest Egg project at Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park On Tuesday, September 23, 5:30 pm -6:30 pm, followed by a Bronze Award Ceremony of the Girlscout Troop who volunteered at the prior Nest-Raising Event.Where: Westwood Hills Nature Center8300 West Franklin Avenue / St. Louis Park, MN 55426(952) 924-2544 (Westwood Hills Main Phone) The Westwood Nature Center is located in the northwest corner of St. Louis Park, just south of I-394 and east of Highway 169. Parking and admission are free. Go to the Westwood Hills Nature Center web page for directions.The Children’s Nest Egg is a public environmental art project, designed by Full Spring Studio, LLC’s with Fabrication by Swainhart Construction Services, LLC and with many contributions and volunteer hours from others including staff of the City of St.Louis Park, Westwood Hills Nature Center staff, Girl Scout Troop 10297, Author: Daniel J. Philippon, U of MN Raptor Center’s Gail Buhl, STS Crew, and many others. Generous funding for this project is by the Arts & Culture Grant Program, a collaborative program between the City of St. Louis Park, the Friends of the Arts, and the St. Louis Park Community Foundation. For more information: You can ask questions or comment and see pictures and watch for updates at http://childrensnestegg.blogspot.com/. Or Email: jonee@fullspringstudio.com or call 651-895-7834. Click here to download the flyer for the event.

Feathering the Wing Bench

--------- Inner Feathers ---------

At the Nest-Raising, participants could view community writings engraved on the the metal plates that line the inner side of the Wing Bench. The engraving in the chrome-plated brass, made the writings show as gold-colored lettering on a silver-colored, reflective background.

After the Nest-Raising, the remaining chrome plates to fill in between the writings were added. Each reflective surface can catch the light, reflecting the surroundings and reflecting light patterns back onto the sculpture.

--------- Outer Feathers ---------

The outer cladding of the Wing Bench is galvanized steel, mounted and folded in a pattern inspired by the arrangement of feathers on a bird's wing.

Video Now Available from Nest Raising

Here's a link to the 45 minute video from the Nest-Raising event and the noon time program. The video debuted Friday, September 5th, 2008 on Civic TV 17 and was produced by Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator. It features Girl Scout Troop 12279 weaving the nest wall, comments by the artist, a raptor demonstration, and readings of some of the community writings engraved in the bench.

Special Raptor and Readings program at the Nest-Raising!

Community Nest-Raising!
The Nest-Raising Event at Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park will be Saturday August 23, 10 am -7pm with a special program from 12-1:30pm.Come to the Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park to help or watch as the project team builds the nest wall of woven branches on the Children’s Nest Egg project, around the giant “egg.” Take a turn at sewing the nest with a giant needle. Read the community writings engraved in the bench. Drawings and photographs of the whole planning and construction process will be on display. The Nature Center trails will be open, the playground available, and nature treasure hunt materials available also.Bring a picnic lunch for the special program from 12-1:30 featuring a project history from the designer, a live Raptor demonstration from the University of Minnesota Raptor Center’s Gail Buhl, and a reading of community writings, engraved in the bench.Where: Westwood Hills Nature Center8300 West Franklin Avenue / St. Louis Park, MN 55426(952) 924-2544 (Westwood Hills Main Phone) The Westwood Nature Center is located in the northwest corner of St. Louis Park, just south of I-394 and east of Highway 169. Parking and admission are free. Go to the Westwood Hills Nature Center web page for directions.The Children’s Nest Egg is a public environmental art project, designed by Full Spring Studio, LLC’s with Fabrication by Swainhart Construction Services, LLC and with many contributions and volunteer hours from others including staff of the City of St.Louis Park, Westwood Hills Nature Center staff, Girl Scout Troop 10297, Author: Daniel J. Philippon, U of MN Raptor Center’s Gail Buhl, STS Crew, and many others. Generous funding for this project is by the Arts & Culture Grant Program, a collaborative program between the City of St. Louis Park, the Friends of the Arts, and the St. Louis Park Community Foundation.Download Flyer with Directions and Map on second page here.For more information: You can ask questions or comment and see pictures and watch for updates at http://childrensnestegg.blogspot.com/. Or Email: jonee@fullspringstudio.com or call 651-895-7834Thanks for your participation!

August 8th-10th: Boardwalk

Swainhart Construction Services, LLC completed

fabrication of the boardwalk portion of the project.

August 6th. Egg Drop

The city brought their forklift to lower the 742-pound concrete "Earth Egg" onto its post. It came down centered on the second try so that the 2 inch wide sleeve inside the sphere slipped over the metal post. The post doesn't support the weight of the egg. It is just to keep it from rolling away...

Children's Nest Egg at Parktacular

Children's Nest Egg had a booth at the "Promote Yourself" section of Parktacular at Wolfe Park on June 14. The designer talked to many passers-by on the beautiful Saturday afternoon and almost 80 writing forms were handed out. A clay model of the bench was created during the event, and several kids took a turn at shaping and smoothing the model. Here are some images of what was on display:

Also on June 13, 5-10 p.m., the St. Louis Park Community Foundation included materials for the project at their table at the Parktacular Street Dance with Tim Mahoney Band at Excelsior and Grand Town Green.

New Videos of Legacy Leaving Event and Reading

Reg Dunlap of SLP Cable/ParkTV generously took and produced these videos to be available online. Technical note from Reg: The good news is that most computers can play thefile; the bad news is you must have "high speed" bandwidth to watch thevideo, not dial up. Select the URL below and then "high speed" from the title page.

1) Video tour of Children's Nest Egg location at Westwood Hills Nature Center and Invitation for writing collection. link to video

2) Jonee Kulman Brigham briefly describes the Children's Nest Egg, and Dan Philippon reads from selected works about the themes, "gifts" and "the wild." link to video

Legacy Leaving Event Update

For the Legacy Leaving event, we are fortunate to have a guest speaker: Daniel J. Philippon, Environmental Author of Conserving Words; How American Nature Writers Shaped the Environmental Movement. Also at the event you can hear about the project process, see drawings of the design and the location where it will be installed, and -- most importantly -- express your appreciation of nature in prose or poetry and become part of the art. Instructions and rules for submitting writing will be given at the event, and posted online afterwards. The due date for writing submissions will be June 30th, 2008. The Westwood Hills Nature Center is full of sources of inspiration both outdoors and from the interpretive materials available in the building. Community writings will be incorporated into the installation and unveiled at the “Nest Raising" event later this summer.

Download flyer for May 17 Legacy Leaving Event

The Poem

This is what I wrote last year about what inspired the design and the poem.

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“I am drawn to the arboretum’s small, enveloping clearings in the trees and feel nurtured by them. Many of the individual trees, themselves, seem delicate and vulnerable. These feelings recall my recent entry into motherhood, my work for global sustainability and my increasing awareness of global warming and I see parallels in my instinct to nurture at various scales. I appreciate the trees - how each fragile one, in its ‘breathing,’ continually works to maintain our atmosphere. I see the mutual nurturing as a circle - where we are both a ‘child of’ as well as a ‘parent of’ the earth.”

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I'd also been singing a lot of lullaby songs, which I think affected the rhythm of it. I sometimes sang this poem to my boys to try it out to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," or "All the Pretty Little Horses."

Background

This art installation was first designed and built as a winning entry in the juried exhibition for a seasonal show at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Art-To-Amaze Walk on display from June 16, 2007 to September 30, 2007.

(Image: Board submitted for the Arboretum Competition)

The idea to rebuild and adapt it for St. Louis Park came from a St. Louis Park resident that was visiting the sculpture and was sad to see that it was only going to be available until September. She suggested that it be rebuilt in St. Louis Park under the public art grant program there. The public art program’s focus on community engagement sparked new ideas for the adaptation, and the community environmental education and appreciation mission of the Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park made it the obvious choice for a new home.