To see the structure of the mobile: first find the drop-pole descending from the ceiling; next see the trans-pole suspended from the drop pole; at the far side of the trans-pole hangs the grouping of yellow, white, and blue salt block (hollow and illuminated from within at night), directly above is the 4 layered drop of Himalayan sand-stone disks (with inlayed led for night illumination). All forms hang in counterbalance to eachother.
Salt In Suspension
2010 commission of Salt Lake County
Arts Council
Herriman Library, Herriman, UT


Salt In Suspension- Synopsis:
A monumental mobile in the Herriman library atrium: Weight in Salt; created from steel, salt block, and salt stone with inlaid LED programmable lights (35’x15’x25’), and a triptych series of three wall hanging forms: What Is The Meaning Of Words Without Meaning?; created from salt, with inscribed text, and internal LED lighting (3.5’x 4’ x4” ea).


What Is The Meaning Of Words Without Meaning?
Media: Himalayan Salt Stone (Pakistan) & Salt Block(Utah)

A library is the center for words and linguistic communication, but what is a letter and what is a word if no communication occurs? The selected text is named Lorem Ipsum, it is formed with recognizable letters and appears grammatical, yet has no meaning. In taking the text from its intended use as a placeholder for copy in graphic design, the phrases come alive forming their own paradigm and reference the imprecise character of language and the malleability of meaning. The paradoxical language combines with the media of salts formed over immense time-spans to engender curiosity about the changing nature of cultural ideas and meanings.

Weight In Salt
Media: Himalayan Salt Stone (Pakistan) & Salt Block(Utah), brushed steel.

Salt is a defining element through out human history. Salt is essential to the biochemical function of the human body, the key ingredient for preservation of unrefrigerated food, and was often used as a unit of trade. Salt has played a great role in the economies, wars, and religions of all people.
Two salt types extracted from the dry beds of ancient bodies of water are utilized as media within the sculptural forms: natural salt stone quarried from the Himalyan mountains in Pakistan, and salt mined from the Salt Flats of Utah that is formed into salt blocks and infused with minerals such as Cobalt (blue- Co), Sulfur (yellow-S), or SodiumChloride (white- NaCl) by modern industrial processes for animal feed.
Floating the salt aloft as a mobile displaces it from a singular place in time, allowing contemplation of vast geological processes in relation to individual human lives within the span of human endeavor. The title, Weight In Salt, refers to an idiom regarding a measure of value for a skilled individual, i.e. “Worth your weight in salt.”

The entire work was created in-studio by myself alone. It went up with the help of one friend. The entire process is blogged at http://dangerhart.wordpress.com/category/public-art-2/herriman-library-mobile/ , just skim past the quail images as I was taking my mom on a tour of my recent work.
What Is The Meaning Of Words Without Meaning?
The scale is massive, with the group spanning 12' at 4' in height. Each element is 3.5' long, 4' tall', and 4 inches deep. They are hung seamlessly to the wall and the internal lighting runs on a program fading them in and out in a seemingly random sequence. If you look carefully you can make out the Lorem Ipsum nonsense words cut into the salt stone.
Detail of Lorem Ipsum lettering.
A mobile is a study in relativity and balance. This image and the image below provide a nice view of the colored salt blocks suspend from the linear trans-pole that reaches nearly to the ceiling. The big yellow box acts as a balance to all other salt block forms, dropping down in three layers. These three layers are; three white rectangular boxes; six cubes alternating in blue/white and yellow/white; in turn balanced to a long dropping blue column. This entire side counterbalances the opposite side made of mutliple layers of salt stone.
This image was taken 25' to 30' in the air, among the salt blocks that lift up near the ceiling.
This image shows how natural morning sunlight effects the stones, with installation sitll in-progress high up on the lift platform 15' in the air. The bundle of electrical ends hangs from within the drop-pole.
The commission was granted to me based on a drawing and explanation. I made this little model for a meeting with the library architect and construction team. It was important that I convey the dynamic nature of a true mobile, where all is relational balance. The architects/contractors were great to work with, and were as excited as I was with the concept. 
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