Jentel in the Jentel in the News: July 5, 2005
White Line at Jentel
Snap! Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! CATCH! Clunka. Clunka. Clunka. CLUNK!
First the winch broke, sending the two ton test aircraft cable whirring out of control and finally catching on itself before the lights came crashing down. Then the gas fired generator stopped and totally shut down. A broken winch and a two hundred fifty pound dead generator signaled the closing of the short lived venue for White Line.
White Line is an artwork that Adam Frelin of Grove City, PA created on the ranch behind the Jentel Artist Residency Program during the month that he has been an artist-in-residence here. The piece consists of 56 four-foot, single-bulb fluorescent light fixtures that are strung along a steel cable spanning the two hundred thirty foot gap between two of the hills in the thousand acre pasture behind Jentel.
Adam shared that before coming to Wyoming he had an idea for an artwork similar to White Line that he wanted to realize, but he never found the proper location for it. For this artwork to succeed, he needed to find a place where it could easily fit, not only technically, but also physically. The scale and location of the place would need to feel as if it were willing to accept this addition. While hiking on the property during his first week at Jentel, he discovered two hills that were not only very close in size, but they created an equally proportional valley between them. The equal proportion of these two hills to each other, and the size of the hills to the valley made him believe that this place might work well for his project. As well, from this location the artwork could easily be viewed along Lower Piney Creek Road to anyone who happened to be driving by. Therefore he decided to devote his time here solely to this project.
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Though White Line is a sculpture, it is different than one you might see at a museum or gallery. It is not only an artwork to be looked at, but also one that helps to transform the night landscape by casting an otherworldly glow onto all that is around it. In this way the artwork is both the piece itself and the effect it has on the place it is created for.
Adam remarked, “I enjoy creating artworks that are made in and for a particular place. The landscape in North-Central Wyoming is stunningly beautiful and very large, so to create something for here it had to be of a certain scale not to get lost. Therefore White Line demands a particular amount of attention to itself, but I believe that it also draws an equal amount of attention to the landscape around it. This balance is something that I sought out to achieve with this artwork.”
In the end, White Line came to an untimely end. After existing for only a few nights for a small audience of neighbors and supporters of Jentel, it now is gone forever. Though it will live on in photographs, those who saw it firsthand will be the only people who truly witnessed it as it was meant to be: a temporary phenomenon that comes and goes like a storm.
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