This is the Story

Two thousand years ago the Ancient Chinese unearthed the secret potential of oil and gas and harnessed its energy, changing their world and ours forever.  

TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK will illustrate this story in an epic-sized 30-foot long hand-embroidered tapestry. It will be mounted in an installation that uses proximity sensors to activate light and audio combinations for gallery visitors enhancing their experience of the work while walking through the installation.

A crack team has been gathered to program the software for the sensors, create the ambient music tracks and stage the lighting. My role will be to oversee the project, embroider the tapestry and build the installation.

The drawing for the tapestry was done with a ACDI grant. The Nickle Arts Museum in Calgary has provided a letter of support to exhibit the work on its completion in its new media gallery space.

The Impact 

Two Steps Forward One Step Back will be the only work of art that provides such a grand entry point into the little known history of oil. The approach and the subject will attract a mix of people: people who might not consider examining a 30-foot long labour intensive hand-sewn embroidery but who do seek new ways to interact with technology; people who love hand made things; people with all sorts of opinions about oil; and people who seek an aesthetic, kinetic and spectacular experience.

What We Need 

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back will take a full year to complete and is technology loaded and therefore expensive to produce. I need your support. Funding will pay for 30 feet of linen fabric, enough skeins of wool embroidery yarn to embroider it, a floor model embroidery frame and a very good light to illuminate the stitching.  The installation requires bamboo building materials, sensors, a computer, speakers, LED lights and MIDI controller for lights. Your funding will also pay 12 months subsistence for me, and allow me to pay my programmer,  composer/sound designer, lighting technician, carpentry assistant their going rate, and hire a mandarin translator and mandarin voice actors for the audio soundscape and finally rent studio space to stage and troubleshoot the work. 

Forward this request to people you know who feel the itch to join the exalted realm of 21st century patrons of the arts.