Power Drills and Banjo Necks

Joy Nunez (left) and Kristen Manchette found some time to goof off while working with Bland Hoke and his scultpure

Joy Nunez (left) and Kristen Manchette (right) found some time to goof off while working with Bland Hoke and his scultpure

My experience helping an urban designer install sculpture for the World of Bluegrass Festival

Bland Hoke is an exciting young designer who brings a unique background in public art and a love for the outdoors to his cutting-edge urban design. He relies on his signature resourcefulness, utilizing industrial waste as his medium to construct sculptures in efforts to execute a true understanding of contemporary design.

In the fall of 2014, Hoke traveled from Jackson, Wyoming to North Carolina to install Banjostand, a public art installation to celebrate the 2014 World of Bluegrass Festival featuring 50 bands, four music stages, a high-energy dance tent, art and food vendors, youth performances and activities.

Hoke invited Arts Village residents to help him with the project. Along with ten other Arts Village residents, I volunteered to help because I thought building an artist’s sculpture would be a unique opportunity.

Because of Hoke’s liveliness and boundless energy, working under his instruction was not as stressful as I had anticipated, surprisingly enough — I was expecting to to be under a lot of stress when working for an artist. But with his endless visual capacity, he made it easy for his volunteering participants to grasp a visualized idea of what he wanted his sculpture to look like.

From power-drilling disposed banjo necks into a structure, to measuring and cutting off stage templates, the Arts Village residents got to experience what it is like to be a part of a sculptor’s creative playground.

Wide-Open Bluegrass Festival Promo Poster

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