Rise Overrun 1999
wood, hardware, billboards, plastic sheeting, 
plastic twine, grommets, road signs
Plan B Evolving Arts, Santa Fe, NM


The staircase in Santa Fe's famous Lorreto Chapel inspired this exhibition involving a jumble of materials fashioned into an armature to elevate viewers. Built in 1897, the "miraculous staircase" was constructed by a mysterious wandering carpenter, answering the nun's prayers for a way to get up to the choir without greatly intruding upon the floor space of the small chapel.

Rising from the expansive exhibition floor, Rise Overrun ascended through the trussed roof of the WWII armory building turned gallery space. Visitors were invited to make the journey upwards and poke their heads through a large ventilation hood on the roof, where they could place an offering in a burro-shaped earthenware vessel. The installation combines stairways, a suspension bridge, and a ladder using a melange of new and salvaged materials to create a constructivist pathway. Bright orange polypropylene bailing twine and recycled billboards thread the work together. A towering avalanche of 2" X 4" lumber stabilized the suspended walkway. To demystify the process; receipts for materials, preparatory drawings and photocopies collected during the controlled chaos of the six-day construction period were displayed on adjacent walls of the gallery.

Rise Overrun touched upon material metaphors for a potentially perilous journey made in order to pay homage or ultimately, to "see the light".