Western Horizon

I made Western Horizon with the idea that I would like to make roadside sculptures. I have driven through the southwest countless times and have been captivated by the expanse of the landscape. I have done a few projects about traveling through that region of the United States and documented the different highways and back roads. A few years ago I found a call for a RFQ for Rattlesnake Rest along New Mexico’s portion of the I-40. The location is about 1 hour east of Albuquerque in the Southwestern tablelands and the outer edge of the high planes in the east. This grass land is flat and dotted with sagebrush and juniper. I meditate freely driving through this expanse and often muse on the many lives that have passed on foot or horseback. This particular stretch of the NM I-40 was laid directly over route 66, so it seemed totally appropriate to think about a neon sign (or lighted sculpture) in this exact location. I did not get the nomination but I remained excited about the idea and commenced sketching and writing about two sculptures that I would soon begin to make. Western Horizon was the first to be built as a wall sculpture. Eastern Edge is the second wall sculpture and both would be mounted in opposing east-west directions. The imagery is born from the history of horses, shapes of the landscape, roadside attractions, tragic conflicts, open spaces, colors of the morning, desert mysticism, wild gramma grasses, googie design, looking out the window, and prairie rattlesnakes. Every part is drawn into the story of the land and told in the neon sculpture. Analog methods, contemporary materials and technology are blended together to build and illuminate this sculpture. Layers of acrylic were laser, prepped, painted and adhered together in to one solid piece. It was then threaded with LED filament, bulbs, and EL wire through hundreds of holes. The light animations were built with an old school timer circuit and cheap christmas LED string lights. I spent a good amount of time engineering the parts and figuring out the materials. I had a lot of fun doing little prototypes along the way which I hope to share in my blog in the near future. Be on the look out for Eastern Edge which should be finished with before late November 2026. I hope to get these seen in a gallery, and to build them in a larger scale independent of a wall. It is destined to become a larger work.