2008/09 Lift Ticket Project

by Jim Hodges

 

Accepting an invitation to interact with a space, any space, engages me at the core. Each invitation and opportunity raises questions: “What’s here? Where am I in relationship to this space? How do I honestly articulate a response to the specific needs, audience, and context of the space?” Each brings its limitations and edges, and invites me to reach deep inside myself to respond with an articulate sculpted form infused with the essence of what’s driving me in that particular moment. Each opportunity also comes with the potential for realizing, at best, something new, or, at worst, re-engaging with longstanding commitments of ideas and practices. The invitation to fill a space is an exciting privilege and one I never take for granted.

The lift ticket opportunity challenged me to rise to a very unique occasion, one that extended the terrain of my practice into the wild blue, and one where the work would be experienced in the most casual way—almost invisible as a background for the lift ticket text. Also, where the “viewer” could be anyone from a full spectrum of people of all ages and backgrounds out to enjoy the beauty and excitement of skiing through some of the most breathtaking terrain on the planet... Not a bad context for sure!

For me, the problem is/was: What do I bring to this experience through my work that can touch each of these viewers? How deep can I go? I’ve skied those slopes, and I’ve contemplated the vastness of it all, the smallness of me, and the incredible privilege and luxury I live in! A great sense of gratitude always framed these reflective moments while riding up the chair to the next exhilarating run! These reflections gave me pause and it is in that “space” created in such moments that I wanted to “install” my work.

Having spent the summer researching sustainable energies and lifestyles and reading many books on related subjects—from works by radical environmentalists to Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee—I was primed to ask a question in the form of a statement:

“give more than you take”

The simplicity of that phrase, multi-faceted like a crystal, can be applied to many of life’s issues, ranging in subject from economic principles to simple manners of behavior. That range is as rich and varied as the people who enjoy the sublime context of the mountains. In relationship to the mountain and the context of skiing, I think the words have the potential to elicit a variety of responses. A spectrum of responses is a beautiful thing. Not everyone will read it, and many who do won’t give it a thought.

Art is life. It isn’t a single thing. There are no guarantees. It challenges and rewards. We get what we choose from it. It is an invitation to experience. I wanted to give the lift ticket something powerful and something beautiful. Beauty is the motivating energy that powers my life and the work I make. Beauty is ultimately what I wish my work to give—beauty of experience.