Flux
Flux created by Amy Baur and Brian Boldon is a dynamic relief sculpture made of porcelain triangles containing a collage of pictures of landscapes of Earth that showagricultural, urban, and distressed areas that relate to the areas of study of Shideler Hall.Located above the main staircase the artwork is comprised of 165 units 28 inches wide by 10 inches tall in 13 rows. Shideler is the the home of the geology, geography, earth science, and environment and sustainability programs. Baur and Bolden where both college professors of the arts (he being the head of ceramics at Michigan State University for 14 years and she being a photography professor at the same school. Putting their two skills together they create many intillations that include the use of photography and digital glazing on porcelain for other colleges and public spaces similar to Flux, which all contain similar themes of location specificity by using pictures of the landscape relevant to the location or other types of creative images that all relate to the location of the piece making each artwork one of a kind and purly unique. Flux was commissioned for Miami University’s renovation of Shideler Hall by Ohio’s Percent for Art program. The budget for Shideler renovation being a large $25 million and because of the Percent for Art Program that was created in 1990 policy that whenever Ohio legislature approves over $4 million to a project, 1% of that budget must go to art of some kind. When the renovation began the Ohio art council had to approve a piece of art for the building the pick was between Flux and a metal globe statue similar to that of the digitalglobe featured in the geography museum on the first floor of Shideler. In the end Flux won due to the unique qualities that it holds and the representation of the programs that are located in Shideler, with a budget of $192,000 Baur and Brian created a interesting and personalized piece of public art for Miami. Next time you are in Shideler look up and experience Earth in a way you’ve never seen it before.