By Nika Megino
DAILY REPUBLIC - July 28, 2008
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Drought Flowers: Process
The idea of solar flowers came from "Ringworld", a science fiction novel by Larry Nivens. Nivens' flowers are called "Slaver Sunflowers", silver disks that use the sun to "zap" enemies or anything edible.
The idea of having the CD flowers face the sun pleased me. I imagined them on some sort of flexible rod that would allow them to sway in the wind. I allowed the idea to percolate until I took a 3-D class this spring (2008). Then I faced questions about where I would present them, how would I assemble them, how would I get them to stay in the ground in 35 mph winds?
I glued ten CD's back-to-back then glued a group of three "petals" on one CD. Next, I glued another CD on top of them, making a sort of CD sandwich. I fiddled around with an old bamboo garden stake and some hardware to see if I could get an idea how to make it work. It turned out that by screwing nuts on the joints on the bamboo stakes, I could make them stable.
I used a long screwdriver to make holes in the hard ground and hammered the “flowers” in. It was the only way I could figure out how to do it so that the things wouldn’t fly away in high winds. I made a few at a time then planted them. I chose an area between the art department and the music department that was un-tended. Students had made their own path through there, so that’s where I decided to plant them.
I didn’t alter the space where I put the flowers; it was pretty trashy and it added to the air of desolation. Two weeks after the installation was finished, the area was free of trash and has stayed that way for three months.
I arrived one day to discover that the music department had transplanted a few to their side of the sidewalk. The music students seemed to think the installation should have been theirs.
People stop by the office in the art department to ask if they can have one when the installation is over. I’m not quite sure what I will do with them. They have faded a lot in the sun and seem to be becoming brittle.
I have left them alone and they’ve accumulated a lot of dirt. Next week I will clean them so they will be ready for the beginning of Fall semester. The local
44 flowers sound like a lot, but they don’t come across as a huge field of them. It is a small, intimate installation. When someone approaches the installation, they don’t see it until that are in the flowers midst. People are surprised by them and delighted. They really “get” the message about the lack of water, but one of the things that surprised me has been all of the comments that it is too bad we can’t use them to collect solar energy. Another thing that has surprised me is the acknowledgment that all of the CD’s have been used, and there is a point to be made about the way we de-value information.