Sowing seed for 20-foot art installation — “Helio Terra” art installation to mimic solar rhythm, connect to harvest

Philip Vukelich | Argonaut Robert Horner, artist of “Helio Terra,” works on the construction of his artwork at the Wren Welcome Garden at the intersection of Highway 8 and 95.

Preparation and staging for a 20-foot, seed-like art piece began April 13 as part of a public art installation at the Wren Welcome Garden.

Cornered at highways 8 and 95, the “Helio Terra” will be a mass of locally extracted and compacted dirt that is meant to depict the solar rhythm of Moscow.

“Helio Terra” was proposed by artist Robert Horner and picked for the Wren Welcome Garden site by a selection committee of eight Moscow volunteers. University of Idaho Sponsored Programs Specialist Ann-Marie Bilderback was one of the committee members.

“We felt that it was the most appropriate for this location and it was designed specifically for Moscow,” Bilderback said.

She said the seed-like structure ties in to the agricultural history of Moscow.

“One of the features for the sculpture is it will show some of the seasonal changes,” Bilderbeck said.

While the steel and concrete is locally sourced, the rammed earth forms for the installation will be milled in Port Townsend, Wash., Horner’s residence.

“It’s mixed with a little bit of concrete,” Bilderback said. “And it’s made from local soils that will be compacted.”

From there, she said some of the layers can be compacted from 8 inches down to 5 inches.

“And that amount of compacting makes it even stronger than concrete,” Bilderback said.

The piece is proposed to have divots and cavities throughout and its brown, taupe and tan colors are meant to reflect those of the Palouse hills.

While the piece acts as a sundial, a traffic light control box sits mere feet away from the project site, and may conflict with the shadows from the sun.

Moscow City Arts Director Kathleen Burns said there may be art displayed on the control box, but for now nothing has been determined.

Burns said preparation for the $35,000 project will continue until May 11, while Bilderback said the piece will be ready to reveal during Moscow Artwalk 2012 in June.

“Honestly, the location is just perfect for this,” Burns said. “It fits.”

Lindsey Treffry can be reached at [email protected]

More info

For more information visit robertmhorner.com or moscow.id.us/art/

About the Author

Lindsey Treffry Campus life beat reporter for news Junior in journalism Can be reached at [email protected]

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