The environment is both visible and invisible to the human eye.  What the world can see, it is all very beautiful.  However, is the non-seeable just as beautiful and breathtaking?  Ned Kahn, an artist in Northern California took this issue into account.  He decided to take his artistic ability and his academic background in environmental studies and morph these two into sculptures.  An artificial creation having movements influenced or caused by the environment around it.  On the University of Oregon campus, one his works stands.  The Wind Fence (above) was a sculpture made in 2003 as a part of Kahn’s wind series.  This sculpture portrays the use of a simple art sculpture design and how it helps the wind manifest into a more physical form.

This sculpture is a curved form of seven huge metal faces upon stands.  It is quite large and extends from one side of the walkway to the other, hovering over the sidewalk so people may walk under it.  The faces are made up of tiny squares that are all hanging side-by-side on metal lines all in multiple rows.  When the wind blows, the squares flap, causing them to reflect light off and on their shiny surfaces.  This piece was placed in a wide spacious area that was not completely confined by buildings or trees.  This allows the sun to shine right on the sculpture and leaves room for the wind to blow easily through the area to animate it.

Kahn’s intention of the piece in the first place was to capture the movement of the air currents, thus, requiring the piece to be all visual.  Going back to the placement of the piece, the area must have been a huge factor.  Certain wind currents must be passing through that clearing that no one really notices.  Students, teachers, and visitors just of think of wind as nothing more but wind.  Kahn wanted to change that.  He wanted to make the invisible visible in a “flashy” manner.

I personally find his way of art and science quite fascinating.  Above is a personal sketch I did of Kahn’s piece.  It catches my interest of how the environment plays a role almost invisible to the human, yet a simple idea of making a sculpture that is influenced by the wind could capture how it works.  I have seen this sculpture in action.  It looks amazing as the squares move according to not only one big gust of wind, but the constant small breezes that pass through.  They do not move all at once, switching in and out of reflecting and not reflecting, glimmering nicely on a sunny day.  The squares themselves look like waves on the ocean.  I also find it amazing how he was able to pull this whole project off.  Since I am not strong in sculpting or 3D design and prefer drawing and painting, it would be quite a difficult project for myself to even think up.  I could only paint what I see in front of me or what I imagine the wind to look like.  Kahn was able to capture the wind in its true visible form.

Kahn is not the first to use the wind as the main influence in an art piece.  Theo Jansen had also the same idea of movement caused by wind.  Jansen had built moving sculptures that was only powered by the wind.  Jansen made these moving sculptures out of PVC pipes and had them walk along the beach.  This was a project meant to help push sand onto the dunes in order to preserve them from the rising sea levels.  Both Kahn and Jansen knew that the wind could be used in order to create or show a physical performance, whether it just be glimmering small squares on platforms or an actual moving creature.

The wind sculpture by Ned Kahn gives a new perspective of a simple element in the environment that is taken for granted in everyday life.  No one can see it, so no one notices it.  However, when Khan had created that sculpture, anyone could now see how the wind truly works.  It is an amazing approach to both the art and science fields that cannot be easily done by every artist.  Kahn’s knowledge and interest in both fields of art and science have helped him achieve not only this project, but many, many more, sharing the environment’s true face to the world.