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BIOGRAPHY

Janet Echelman sculpts at the calibration of buildings and city blocks. Echelman'southward work defies categorization, as it intersects Sculpture, Architecture, Urban Design, Material Science, Structural & Aeronautical Engineering, and Information science. Echelman'south art transforms with wind and low-cal, and shifts from being "an object you look at, into an feel you can get lost in."

Using unlikely materials from atomized water particles to engineered fiber fifteen times stronger than steel, Echelman combines ancient craft with computational pattern software to create artworks that accept get focal points for urban life on five continents, from Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, and Santiago, to Beijing, Boston, New York and London.  Permanent works in Porto (Portugal), Gwanggyo (Due south Korea), Vancouver, San Francisco, West Hollywood, Phoenix, Eugene, Greensboro, Philadelphia, Seattle, and St. Petersburg (FL) transform daily with colored light.

Curiosity defines Janet Echelman's nonlinear educational path. Later on graduating from Harvard College, she lived in a Balinese village for five years, and then completed split up graduate programs in Painting and in Psychology. A recipient of an honorary Doctorate from Tufts University, Echelman has taught at MIT, Harvard and Princeton Universities.

Her TED talk "Taking Imagination Seriously" has been translated into 35 languages with more than two 1000000 views. Recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, Harvard Loeb Fellowship, Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellowship, and Fulbright Sr. Lectureship, Echelman received the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Honor in Visual Arts, honoring "the greatest innovators in America today." In popular culture, Oprah ranked Echelman'due south piece of work #1 on her List of 50 Things That Make Y'all Say Wow! , and Echelman was named an Architectural Digest Innovator for "irresolute the very essence of urban spaces."

Creative person'S STORY

Wide Hips, 1997

Broad Hips, 1997

Echelman first set out to exist an artist after graduating from higher. She travelled to Hong Kong in 1987 to study Chinese calligraphy and brush-painting. Later she moved to Bali, Indonesia, where she collaborated with artisans to combine traditional textile methods with contemporary painting.

When she lost her bamboo house in Bali to a fire, Echelman returned to the U.s. and began teaching at Harvard. After seven years as an Creative person-in-Residence, she returned to Asia, embarking on a Fulbright lectureship in Bharat.

Promising to give painting exhibitions around the state on behalf of the United states Embassy, Echelman shipped her special paints and equipment to Mahabalipuram, a fishing village famous for sculpture. The deadline for the shows arrived - merely her paints did not. Echelman, inspired by the local materials and culture, began working with bronze casters in the hamlet only soon establish the material too heavy and expensive.

Echelman walked along the beach daily, watching the fishermen bundling their nets into mounds on the sand. She'd seen it every solar day, but this time saw it differently - a new approach to sculpture, a fashion to make volumetric form without heavy, solid materials.

Her first satisfying sculptures were hand-crafted in collaboration with those fishermen. Hoisting them onto poles, she discovered that their delicate surfaces revealed every ripple of wind in constantly irresolute patterns and she was mesmerized.

VIEW Artist'S C.V.

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STUDIO Argument

Studio Echelman explores the cutting border of sculpture, public art, and urban transformation. Assembled and led by internationally recognized sculptor Janet Echelman, the pattern team focuses on the evolution and creation of large-scale artworks. The design team spans the globe and includes architects, aeronautical and mechanical engineers, lighting designers, figurer scientists, mural architects, and fabricators.

The permanent and temporary projects draw inspiration from aboriginal craft and combine engineering to create living, breathing pieces that answer to the forces of nature. These sculpture environments embody local identity and invite people to form a personal and dynamic relationship with art and place.

Embracing change is central to the pregnant and physical manifestation of the art. Viewers experience artwork that is always changing, as the soft surfaces of fiber or mist sculptures are constantly billowing and adapting their shape in response to the always-changing patterns of air current and sunlight. At night, the perceived color slowly changes through the add-on of programmed projections of colored LED lighting. In daylight, viewers see the embedded concrete color of the cobweb cloth, which as well changes gradually through time. Projects are designed according to the climate and intended lifespan for each site and context.

BIRDS AND WILDLIFE Data

We get asked questions frequently about the condom of birds and wildlife with respect to our sculptures. No bird or brute has e'er been harmed from ane of our artworks. Our piece of work goes through a careful review in club to receive legal permits earlier structure begins. We consulted a bio-engineering science firm that explained how the physical qualities of the artwork do not come across the criteria that would endanger birds. Our nets are made of thicker rope with wider net openings than those used to entrap flying birds or other creatures. Our structures are not unlike naturally occurring vines and thickets oftentimes found in local forests, and birds are well adapted to avoid these.

JANET ECHELMAN CHRONOLOGY

Janet performing with Florida Orchestra, 1980

Janet performing with Florida Orchestra, 1980

1980 Piano soloist for eight concerts of Grieg'due south Piano Concerto in A small with the Florida Orchestra.

1987 Moves to Bali, Indonesia afterwards graduating from Harvard.

1989 Robert Rauschenberg discovers Echelman'due south art in Asia and curates solo exhibition in the US. Rauschenberg purchases three canvases for personal drove.

1992 After living in Bali for five years, a house burn down destroys studio. Echelman is invited to teach at Harvard and moves to Cambridge.

Janet with Robert Rauschenberg, 1989

Janet with Robert Rauschenberg, 1989

1997 Echelman travels to India on a Fulbright Lectureship to teach painting and exhibit work. Painting supplies never arrive. Looks towards local surround and begins outset sculptures using ethnic line-fishing nets.

1999 Establishes studio in New York Metropolis.

2004 Collaborates with engineer to create custom software to design porous, dynamically moving sculptures. Studio is able to pattern sculpture for hurricane winds and harsh weather conditions. Adapts industrial material previously used for astronaut's spacesuits to make long-lasting, ultra lightweight twine.

2005 Premieres start monumental permanent outdoor sculpture in Porto, Portugal to suspend to a higher place highway roundabout.She Changes is inspired by traditional local lace-making, fishing traps, and striped smokestacks.

2009 CreatesHer Cloak-and-dagger is Patience, sculpture icon for downtown Phoenix, AZ. Works with roller-coaster manufacturer to bend metal armature. Incorporates programmable lighting that changes gradually through seasons. Credited with creating sense of place that fosters urban identity and revitalization.

Janet in Bali, 1989

Janet in Bali, 1989

2009 InstallsWater Heaven Garden for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games speed-skating venue – Richmond Olympic Oval. Works with team to shape visitors' path through space. Designs ii netted sculptures and "water drawing" fountains that utilize run-off water.

2010 Explores utilize of highly technical, ultra potent fibers to create tensioned structural layer that volition agree sculptural grade, allowing complete removal of steel armature. Result is first completely soft urban sculpture light enough to attach to existing buildings and lace into city fabric. Premiere of starting time sculpture in Earthtime serial:one.26 installed in Denver'southward Borough Middle Park to commemorate commencement Biennial of the Americas. Draws inspiration from interconnectedness of Earth's systems. Studio uses laboratory data from NASA and NOAA on effects of 2010 Chile earthquake, and resulting i.26-microsecond shortening of Earth's twenty-four hours.

2011 Echelman presents main stage TED talk in Long Embankment, CA. "Taking Imagination Seriously" talk has been translated into 35 languages and is estimated to take been viewed by more 2 million people worldwide.

2011 Every Chirapsia Second, commissioned by San Francisco Arts Commission, premieres in newly renovated Terminal two at SFO International Airport. Echelman creates a "Zone of Recomposure" to provide travelers a contemplative environment. Cuts 3 circular skylights into ceiling to append translucent, colored netting.

2011 Echelman is named a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for demonstrating "exceptional chapters for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts."

2011 1.26 sculpture travels to Sydney, Australia and is suspended from Sydney Town Hall over busiest traffic intersection on the continent. Composed of fibers more xv times stronger than steel by weight, its low-impact, ultra-lightweight design allows information technology to temporarily attach to existing architecture.

2012 Selected past Architectural Assimilate as a 2012 Innovator. Describes sculpture every bit "irresolute the very essence of urban spaces." One of eight artists, architects, landscape architects, and designers from around the globe chosen to receive honor.

2012 Begins collaboration with Autodesk to develop custom software tool to design netted sculptures. Studio pushes boundaries of their designs past more easily exploring cyberspace densities, shape, and calibration, and simulating the furnishings of gravity and wind.

2012 ane.26 makes European debut – its third continent afterwards Denver and Sydney. 230-foot aeriform sculpture is signature projection of countdown Amsterdam Low-cal Festival, suspended over Amstel River in front end of City Hall and Muziektheater.

2013 Oprah Magazine ranks Echelman's work #1 on her "List of l Things that Make You lot Say Wow!" that showcases 50 people, places, or things, for their power to "inspire and captivate" viewers.

2013 The Infinite Between Us premieres at GLOW, an all-night art consequence on Santa Monica Embankment, CA. Echelman incorporates audio component synced with custom lighting. 150,000 people attend and participate in sculpting earthwork below aeriform sculpture. NY Times credits Echelman'southward work for "giving crafts a coolly conceptual edge."

2014 1.26 sculpture premieres in Singapore, its fourth continent, for the iLight Marina Bay Festival.

Janet during installation of Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks in Vancouver, 2014

Janet during installation of Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks in Vancouver, 2014

2014 Installation of largest, almost technologically challenging project to date at TED Conference's 30th anniversary in Vancouver.Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks spans 745 feet from roof of skyscraper over street, water, and pedestrian traffic. Echelman delivers second TED mainstage talk.

2014 Echelman receives 2014 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Visual Arts, "to celebrate the greatest innovators in America today." Architect Daniel Libeskind introduces Echelman and presents award.

2015 Installs permanent iconic sculpture at Pecker & Melinda Gates Foundation campus headquarters in Seattle.Impatient Optimist gives visual grade to the foundation's spirit and mission.

2015 Premieres monumental, aerial sculpture over Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, MA.As If It Were Already Hither knits together urban fabric and attaches to 3 buildings, soaring 600 feet through air to a higher place street traffic and pedestrian park.

2015 Smithsonian American Art Museum commissions Echelman to create artwork to transform their iconic Renwick Gallery after a major renovation.1.8 Renwick is then acquired for their permanent collection.

2016 Premiere of1.8 London – lightweight sculpture that surged 180 feet through the air between buildings above Oxford Circus, busiest pedestrian expanse in all of London. Permanent sculpture inspired by textile history and railroad mapping - Where We Met - is installed in Greensboro, North Carolina.

2017 Installation of permanent artworkDream Catcher on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, CA. Debut of sculptural work in China with the premiere ofone.26 Shanghai and1.8 Beijing.

2018 New sculpture1.78 premieres in Madrid'southward Plaza Mayor for 400th Anniversary, and 1.78 makes its U.A.E. debut confronting iconic properties of Burj Khalifa and Dubai Fountain.

2018 Opening of Pulse, new permanent sculpture deputed past Philadelphia'southward Center City District to transform Dilworth Park. Artwork uses curtains of mist and colored calorie-free to trace paths of the subway and trolley lines that converge beneath park.

2019 Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong launches a multi-year global campaign titled 'Art in Resonance' and commissions Earthtime ane.26, which spanned 160 feet and laced directly into the hotel's historic architecture. i.78 travels to Beverly Hills, installed between the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and Beverly Gardens Park.

2020 Installation of Bending Arc, largest permanent sculpture to date, in Saint petersburg, FL. Sculptural geometry is composed of multiple arcs, which gently breaker in the current of air. Championship references MLK's words: "The arc of the moral universe is long, just it bends toward justice."