New Balance & Tension Sculptures by Elaine Luther

Messages of Hope Box by Elaine Luther, Part of the Show by Cabinet of Curiosities. Shown here as installed at the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center

Messages of Hope Box by Elaine Luther, Part of the Show by Cabinet of Curiosities.

I do love a good assignment, and this show, organized by Cabinet of Curiosities Chicago was right up my alley. A shrine form, about trying to find some hope in ahem, trying times.

They provided the boxes, already primed, and said, go for it!

I painted mine robin’s egg blue. Inside are 5 copper egg shapes, domed, that I patinated to a blue-green. On each side, a Balance & Tension mobile bursts out.

This box, and 80 or so more, are installed on trees out at the Little Red School House Nature Center, a Cook County Forest Preserve.

Balance & Tension with Orange Strips by Elaine Luther.

I’ve had a sketch of this in my sketchbook for a long time and I finally built it! It’s a stair baluster atop a very cool scrap of wood with the evidence of a branch off to one side. An Balance & Tension form is on top and the orange strips burst out from below that.

We had a derecho storm on Monday, with winds that were 60-100 miles per hour and the sculpture stayed upright! Most of my sculptures aren’t tested quite so throughly and so quickly after installation.

All artwork Copyright Elaine Luther 2020.