One of the most memorable moments in my art journey was winning third place in the Red Bull Art of Can Contest in 2009. The ironic aspect of the story is that when I saw the ad about the contest, I was not even planning to enter. Instead I hoped to encourage one of my sculpture students to build something and enter it. When he refused, I took a second look at the advertisement to see what the prizes were. I thought maybe if he knew what the prizes were he would be motivated to enter the contest. When I read that first place was a trip to an art event inSwitzerland I became interested myself.
I started thinking about Red Bull being energy in a can. My next thought was to build a kinetic sculpture in a can to represent the energy. I brought sketches to friends of mine that were engineers, electricians and physics majors. They asked how soon I had to have it finished. The Red Bull ad was old and the contest was now only three weeks away. They laughed and walked away saying it was impossible.
I kept sketching and started building what I could on my own. I constructed a there foot can with a round wooden base and wooden struts to support the top. I drew the graphics on the can in Rhino, including the bar code, and ounces. Then I gave a thumb drive with the graphics to a company that printed them on a silver vinyl sheet. This sheet wrapped around the base to form the can. I cut a jagged edge of the vinyl to make the can appear as if it had exploded and torn threw the aluminum to the viewer could see the “energy” inside the can. This was where I begged for assistance from an electrician, physics guru and engineer. They helped me plan out a track that ran from the top of the can to the bottom and used gravity to moved a ball bearing thru a series of bells, wheels and funnels. The track had a copper lining in it so when the ball bearing hit the copper, all the lights lit up. I finished the project at 2am the morning it was due in Houston. I called it “Kinetics in a Can” .I delivered the project to a warehouse where all the entries were. It was fun to see what others had created. There were entries from all over the world!
Several weeks later I received a call from the Red Bull director. I had won third place!
Red Bull flew me to Houston where they had reserved a suite for me at the hotel Galleria. There were chocolate covered strawberries and champagne n my room on arrival and the hotel manager stopped by to personally ask me if I needed anything. I unpacked my evening dress for the party that night. I felt like the queen.
The winning entries were on display where the Galleria had defrosted the ice rink. When the mall closed that night, Red Bull brought in a band and food and drinks and threw a wonderful party. I strolled around and met the other winning artists and discussed their work. Finally the top three winners were announced. The press took our photos and I was in the newspaper and several magazines The band played and I danced the rest of the night with friends. It was a truly magical evening.
Third Place allowed me to design my own art travel package within Texas, so I requested to go to an artseminar in San Antonio. Red Bull flew me there with my childrenand paid for our hotel and food all week, as well as a week of workshops which was several hundred dollars. They also provided me with a cash prize.
Every time I walk thru my studio and see the trophy from that year, I think about how difficult it was to meet the deadline for the contest and how I almost quit. I wondered how many other artists made something but didn't enter it due to time constraints. I also wondered how many artists didn't even try. The trophy reminds me that I should never discount possibilities without at least trying.