ABOUT

For over 30 years, artist/musician team, Bill and Mary Buchen, have designed public art installations and interactive sound sculptures for parks, schools, science centers, transit stations, children’s museums and playgrounds around the world. Their artworks invite active play and group participation; whether tapping rhythms on percussion instruments inspired by global music cultures or investigating environmental phenomena.

Designed to engage all ages and skill levels in communal music making and sonic explorations, their innovative sound sculptures are available either individually or as an integrated ensemble for any outdoor recreational or educational setting.  All are precision fabricated in the USA of powder–coated or stainless steel and designed for ultimate durability, low maintenance and easy bolt-down installation.

 

RECENT PROJECTS

 

Riverwalk Park, Bradenton, FL  (2012)

• Cleveland Square Park, El Paso, TX (2011)

•  Pompano Beach, FL, Neighborhood Transit Center Commission (2012)

• Designs for Orlando, FL Parks Department (2012)

• Designs for Craig Ranch, Las Vegas Parks Department (2012

• Designs for Vancouver, BC, City of Richmond Parks Department

• Green Valley Ranch Park, Denver, CO (2008)

• ‘Prairie Bells’, Preston Road, Frisco, TX (2009)

• Seal Point Park, San Mateo, CA (2008)

•  Design Commission for MUNI Third Street Light Rail Stations, San Francisco Art Commission (2007)

•  Design Commission for Ohio State University Recreation and Fitness Facility, Columbus, OH (2007)

•  ‘Wind Torchere’ for Maryland Place, St. Louis, MO (2006-7)

•  Design Team for Manhattan Square Park renovation, Rochester, NY (2003-7)

•  Design Team for Long Island City, NYC Transit Links project with Abel, Bainnson & Butz, LA (2006)

•  NY Hall of Science Children’s Playground design with BKS/K Architects, Corona, NY 2007)

•  Enhancements for North Point Park, Boston, MA with Carr Lynch & Sandell LA (2006)

•  Commission for Meijer Garden Children’s Sculpture Garden, Grand Rapids, MI (2004)

•  Sound Pavilion for Atlanta City Parks Recreation Center (2003)

•  Schematic Design for Delmar Streetscape Development, St. Louis Arts in Transit (2001-3)

•  Flight Wind Reeds at North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC (2003)

•  Bell Garden / A Learning Environment  for the Connecticut Juvenile Training School, Middletown, CT. Commissioned by the Art in Public Spaces Program of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the Department of Public Works  (2002)

•  Wind Reeds installation for ‘Sound in the Landscape’ exhibition, Art Omi International Art Center, Omi, NY (2002)

•  Sculpture installations for 4 city parks in Eugene, OR (2002)

•  Design team for Triangle Park, St. Louis Arts in Transit Program (2000-01)

•  Aeolian Garden for University of Connecticut Avery Point Campus. Art in Public Spaces Program of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts (2000)

•  Interactive designs for Heron City in Barcelona and Valencia, Spain (2001-2)

•  Clover Park playground design, Santa Monica, CA with Rios Associates. Commissioned by City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division  (2000)

•  Liberty Science Center/ New Jersey Transit Commission: Environmental sculptures for walkway with ETC Architects (2000)

•  Westside Station / New Jersey Transit Commission: Environmental Sculptures and Plaza Design with ETC Architects (2000)

•  Interactive artworks for entry plaza of the new Children’s Museum of Richmond, VA  (2000)

 

SELECTED COMMISSIONS/INSTALLATIONS            

 

1999:   Wind Reed Circle, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

1999:   NY Gamelan, New York Hall of Science Kid Power Exhibition, Corona, NY

1997:   SunCatchers, Arizona Science Center, Phoenix Art Commission

1997:   The Big Wave, 6th St. & Avenue B Community Garden, New York, NY

1996:   PS 244: Sound Carnival, Brooklyn, NY, NYC Percent for Art Program

1995:   Wind Pavilion, The WILDS wildlife park, Muskingum, Ohio

1993:   Big Eyes/Big Ears: Science Playground, Airway Heights, WA. Washington St. Arts Commission

1992:   PS 23: Sound Playground, Bronx, NY, NYC Percent for Art Commission

1992:   Antennas, University of Akron, OH

1990:   Wind Gamelan, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY

1989:   Sound Observatory, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY

1988:   Sound Orchestra, Candlestick State Recreation Area, San Francisco, CA

1984:   Adirondack Sound Park, Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Lake Placid, NY

 

SELECTED  EXHIBITIONS

 

2006:   The Good Life: New Public Spaces for Recreation, Van Alen Institute, New York, NY

1999:   Wind Reeds, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 

1999:   Biennial Exhibition of Public Art, Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY

1996:   Making Sense: 5 Installations on Sensations, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY

1994:   Sonarium, Sounding Things, Gallery Schloss Ottenstein, Austria

1994:    Sounds Fun, Children’s Museum of Manhattan and Citicorp Center, NYC

1992:   Wave Magnet, The Interactive Show, Thread Waxing Space, NYC

1992:   Sound Engine,  Herbert Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and Art-in-General, New York City

1991:   Sound Engine,  SUNY (State University of NY), Otswego, NY

1990:   Pulse 2, University Art Museum, Santa Barbara, CA

1990:   Sound/Vision,  Center of Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA

1989:   Sound Engine,  Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH

1988:   Clockworks, Staten Island Children’s Museum, NY

 

FELLOWSHIPS 

 

1998:   New York Foundation for the Arts: Architecture fellowship

1994:   New York Foundation for the Arts: Architecture fellowship  

1991:   Indo-American Fellowship:  India travel fellowship

1989:   New York Foundation for the Arts:  Emergent Forms

1985:   NEA:  Visual Arts Fellowship:  New Genres

1985:   New York Foundation for the Arts:  New Genres

1982:   CAPS (Creative Artists’ Public Service): Music Composition 

 

AWARDS AND GRANTS

 

1998:   Athena Foundation

1995:   Arts International Travel Grant: ‘Sound Vessel’, Varanasi, India

1994:   Graham Foundation: Sonic Architecture

1993-91:   NEA Design Arts Program  (3 project grants: PS 23, Urban Sound Parks and the Wilds)

1989:   NYSCA  (New York State Council on the Arts):  Media Production

1989:   NYSCA: Visual Arts Program

1989:   David Bermant Foundation for Color, Light and Motion 

1988:   Art Matters, Inc.

1984-88:   NEA:  Inter-arts Program  (5 project grants)

1986:   NEA:  Media Program, NYSCA:  Music Performance, PASS: Artist-in-Residency

 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

2007    Licht, Alan, Sound Art: beyond Music Between Categories, Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.

2006    Socrates Sculpture Park, Published by Socrates Sculpture Park, distributed by Yale University Press, 2006
Ryan, Zoe, The Good Life: New Public Spaces for Recreation, Van Alen Institute
Intersection: Art at the New York Hall of Science

2005    Solomon, Susan G., American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space,
University Press of New England
City Art, New York’s Percent for Art Program, Merrell Publishers, London, New York