"Windsock Grid Field," composed of a field of International Orange commercial airport windsocks, is a site-specific installation underscoring the power of nature.

The inspiration for "Windsock Grid Field" comes from one of the most powerful forms of alternative energy on the planet: wind. Placement of the socks in a mathematical grid symbolically underscores the marriage between technological control, and the random power of nature. The grid is a nod toward Minimalism with maximal effect.

During the summer and fall of 2003 "Windsock Grid Field" will be installed in three locations: one in Kingston, New York on the banks of the Hudson River, another under the Brooklyn Bridge at the gateway to the Atlantic and the third in Santa Barbara, California, where it will be sited on a 230 acre promontory overlooking the Pacific, with 360 degree views of ocean, mountains and city below.

As a conceptual artist, my primary interest is the environment. Much of my work theorizes about the use of sustainable energy as an artistic medium, much like a painter uses paint or a sculpture uses stone. The "Windsock Grid Field" provides a simple way of measuring both direction and velocity of wind. We often think of wind as flowing in one big blustery movement; "Windsock Grid Field" illustrates the complexity of its patterns.

A touch of cosmic humor is inherent in this piece because it is only through the intervention of the seductress, Mother Nature, that the socks can manifest her power. In Kingston and Brooklyn, the socks measure fifty-four inches in length with a mouth of thirteen inches in diameter. In Santa Barbara, to accommodate the power of the Santa Ana winds, the socks are larger, measuring 60" long with an 18" mouth. The steel poles rise seventeen feet in the air. When the winds blows, the poles sway gently with the movement of the socks: a dance choreographed by nature herself.

The color orange plays an important symbolic as well as artistic role in this piece. International Orange, the commercial name for the color, carries far reaching significance on a global, cross-cultural basis: for example, while Buddhists ascribe a spiritual meaning to the color, we in the United States have recently come to think of it as a warning against terror. In color theory, orange visually vibrates against its blue-sky compliment.

In the final analysis, "Windsock Grid Field" points in the direction of sustainable energy, a lifesaver for the planet. Inherent in this energy issue is an on-going source of global conflict as well as the creative possibility for solving it. 2003 honors the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first successful flight at Kitty Hawk. "Windsock Grid Field" looks back to that accomplishment, and at the same time, looks forward to an inevitable energy revolution, one that could have as powerful an impact on this new millennium.