The Key's - The Circle

January 19, 2010

In 1994, while living in the western most part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the sculpture you see above this message was designed using various materials that have traveled with mme at that time for over twenty years.

From a Northern California home, 88 ivory piano keys were saved in pack rat fashion; carefully dismantled from an old upright piano I had owned and played until it finally fell apart. The keys were wrapped in plastic and stored in a heavy wooden box.

The backing and crucial center focus for this sculpture were acquired years later while rummaging through an abandoned 100-year-old building which at the time along with a group of other artists, we called home.

Home was formerly part of the long defunct Duquesne Brewery located on the south side of Pittsburgh, PA. MMy residence was on the sixth or top floor of the building known as ‘The Brewhouse’ which was directly across the street from the hospital.

The sculpture was also constructed with a 5 foot diameter - ½ inch thick piece of plywood, surrounded by a 1/8th inch thick, very old strip of rusted iron. In the center is a 22 inch circular mirror with a 2 inch convex plastic frame. All the colours in the work were professionally mixed matching the U. S. A.’s national flag; The Stars and Stripes.

The finished sculpture was not permanently completed until 1998; Four years after I had moved to and self-built a more permanent home on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. The home still exists; perhaps as this work.

During the annual Labor Day Pow Wow held that year, it was entered in the Lakota Art Contest and titled, The Key’s - The Circle. It won first place for original wood sculpture.

In August of 2000 the sculpture was wrapped with plastic, quilts, and foam; tied to the front of a 6 foot x 6 foot U-Haul trailer where it faced the severe winter elements head on. It was then transported to where I was commissioned to facilitate an originally designed mmusic mural project at an elementary school in the U.S. state of Michigan.

During the long arduous ride, much of it through snowy, cold and very bad weather, a majority of the keys fell off - one-by-one. Due to the tremendously rough ride and the pressure of the rigging against them, a few pieces of ivory and one key were lost.

Two keys were also broken and have since been repaired. All the rest of the keys stayed glued to the backing except for the seven that were later found lying comfortably inside the wrapping materials at the end of the trip.

Upon arriving in Michigan the sculpture was stored in pieces in two different garages owned by friends for close to a year. In August 2001, it was moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan; thanks to a local and her space which became mmy studio for over a year.

A month later, while in the process of contemplating reconstruction of the sculpture, it was decided that the time had arrived to finish the damaged work and get it back to as much of its original form as possible. It was quite a puzzle, none the less a success.

Needles to say this wasn’t the end of the sculpture’s journey. Perhaps there never will be an end. From Michigan it traveled back to Northern California where it was displayed in several shows, one of which was at Sacramento’s Native American Health Center and during one of their well attended Second Saturday gallery crawls.

Two years later it traveled on the way back to Michigan where it was delivered or dropped off and the last time I’ve seen it where it sat stored in a practice room of The People’s Music School located in Chicago, Illinois; on Rita Simo Way; the street named after the founder of that school.

It was donated to The People’s Music School specifically to help their $50,000 shortfall in fundraising efforts along with thirty two (32) other original works personally transported there from California for that purpose.

The Key’s – The Circle is best understood when one views the circle as a universal spiritual form; one which is said to be broken not only in the indigenous culture, but throughout the world.

This is true especially at this point of time with the continuing disharmony amongst cultures as we observe wars being fought both near and far. Therefore this piece seems very relevant and made even more so when before the trip to Chicago the 22" circular mirror was added to the center of the sculpture.

As the observer stands in front of this work; they will see themselves in the center of the circle. The Keys - The Circle asks many questions of each individual who stand before it. The most important are; who are you, and are you doing your part to heal the circle?

In this world we all call home, each one of us is a key. . . . The Key’s - The Circle.