Sam - Site Specific

 

4/20/26

cave measurements

- cave entrance width (front): 8ft

- Cave width (back): 28 in

- how deep cave goes on horizontal plane from entrance to back : 6ft

- Hight in the front: 47 in

- Hight in the back (not including hole): 42 in

- Hight in the front 47 in

- there's a hole in the floor in the back of the cave

   - 16 in deep

   - 14 in wide (side to side)

   - 32 in length (front to back)

- caves general shape is almost cone-like or if you took a pyramid, chopped off the top and turned it horizontal where the base is facing you.

- inspiration from bear art all over Wyoming has led me to Johnathan the Bearman (Johnathan Andrew LaBenne) that has subliminally ingrained itself in my mind from my time living in Wyoming, A love for wildlife and the outdoors that I would love to show inside the cave. (like a bear cave) I think it would be interesting to add something of greater detail tucked in and hidden within the cave to reward the viewers curiosity after exploring. 

    My thoughts go to these wooden bears because they just feel like a staple of Wyoming and something that has always brought me joy when I spot them out while traveling within the state. of course leaving loose wooden bears in a cave can lead to people taking them especially if there's only a few, it would also look unintentional.  so to counter that I think it would be a better Idea to create bronze bears since bronze is especially weather proof and have a stand or a stake that can penetrate the floor and keep it from moving, making it harder for people to take, and making it look more intentional. 

 

so to counter that I think it would be a better Idea to create bronze bears since bronze is especially weather proof and have a stand or a stake that can penetrate the floor and keep it from moving, making

it harder for people to take, and making it look more intentional. 

More inspiration from meso-American art: I thought this piece encapsulates the essence of community, interaction, personality and its a little bit of what I want to be able to show through these bears situated in the cave. 

3/31/26

For this Idea I was heavily inspired by Andy Goldsworthy. I want the location to be at Pilot Hill, there is a specific cave slightly off trail that I would pass by and check out every time I would explore around that area. This cave always enthralled me since I came to laramie, something about seeing it in the distance that made me so curious, almost hoping I'd find something intersting when I explored it, like a reward for my efforts, going slightly off trail to look at thing that cought my eye in the distance. I want to replicate something similar for other passerby's make something fascinating inside the cave to reward their curiosity. audience would be any hikers, bikers, any passerby's.

I was thinking I could potentially fill it full of pinecones so when people come by to check it out they might say "thats weird"  but it would spark conversation. "have you seen the cave full of pinecones out at pilot hill?" so very similar to andy goldsworthy I would love to be able to use the materials around the area to create a fascinating pattern. theres a million chipped off rocks I could use around the area. I could fill the inside with dirt and grass with a spiraling rock pattern. I think it would also be extremely interesting to feel andy goldsworthys process, it seems very meditative I would love to enter that headspace just out of curiosity. bottom line is I want it to be a potential way to form community. something interesting you could tell your friends or strangers about.