Art Installations

audio : meet the artist

Michael Grothusen: midway of another day

The idea to use sunlight and shadow to mark the passage of time is ancient and timeless. Garden sundials are still commonly used to indicate the hour of the day. Ancient monuments, including Stonehenge, function as calendars by marking the sunrise of the solstice. Today we don’t use these as devices to tell time, but they do serve to remind us of a more celestial, less mechanical, connection to time.

Located in the courtyard outside Cellblock 1, midway of another day addresses the slow, almost still, passing of time which was experienced by many inmates. With little else to do, Mr. Grothusen believes that the inmates became very aware of the details of their surroundings, including (consciously or unconsciously) watching the movement of sunlight and shadows.

The sculpture, midway of another day, functions as a combination clock and calendar. The primary element of the work is a large concave hemisphere. Throughout the day the rim of the hemisphere will cast a crescent shaped shadow on the interior of the bowl. At various times throughout the summer Mr. Grothusen will return to the penitentiary to mark the precise location of the shadow and label it with the date and time.

Michael Grothusen received a M.F.A. in sculpture from the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA, and a B.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. He has also studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME, and Brighton Polytechnic, Brighton, England. He is the recipient of three Pennsylvania State Council on the Arts grants and a 1998 Pew Charitable Trust Fellowship. Last year Mr. Grothusen completed his first public commission for the Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia, which is also a variation on a sundial. It is located at Ottens Flavors in the Southwark section of the city.

This installation is funded in part by project completion grants from the Pennsylvania State Council on the Arts and the Pew Fellowships in the Arts.

His work is represented by Gallery Joe in Philadelphia. More information is available at GalleryJoe.com or 215-592-7752