I have been house sitting for the past few weeks and the property I am watching is filled with amazing art. In talking to the owner Jill Drllevich I asked her about a particular piece and here is her story.

“I was born on January 8th, 1950 in Brooklyn, N.Y. My parents moved shortly after my birth to Long Island. I was raised in a home that encouraged inquisitiveness and experimentation. We were taught that with determination and hard work anything is possible. The worst thing we could possibly say to our dad was;” I can’t”. At the age of 36, with 4 children at her side, my mother went back to college to earn her Master’s in Education. My father, with just a high school diploma, was asked to travel the U.S. teaching Quantum Physics.  

Growing up in New York at that time was an amazing experience. With WWII behind us the American dream was a possibility. We were taught in college about utopias and the endless possibilities of the Utopian world. The TV shows we watched depicted the “perfect family”, FATHER KNOWS BEST, Leave It To Beaver, and The Andy Griffith Show.

Unfortunately world events were not cooperating with these utopian dreams.  President Kennedy was assassinated, the civil rights movement was being met with strong opposition, the fear of a Russian invasion was ever present, the Vietnam War was heavy on all our minds and Nuclear Power was introduced to a world still fearful from the devastation caused by the atomic bomb.

I, like many of my contemporaries, put myself in the middle of it all. I marched for peace, I participated in “sit-ins”, and I protested the building of a nuclear power plant in our own small community. Rallies were being held on what seems like a weekly basis to protest the building of a local nuclear power plant in Shoreham, N.Y.  Some protestors even burned their electric bills. I was always taught to follow my heart so, I didn’t just burn my bill, I shut my electricity off, For four years , while raising two small children.. In the end the protestors won due to the fact that there was no viable evacuation route in case of a meltdown or some other nuclear disaster.

With a true pioneering spirit I moved my family to Washington State in the mid-eighties.  

It seems that at the same time I was protesting the proposed construction of the Shoreham Nuclear power Plant, Washington State residents were duking it out over the construction of two new power plants to be an addition to the existing Hanford Nuclear reactor. As with Shoreham, these plants were never completed. As a result there was an enormous amount of structural waste. All of the fan blades that were to be used in the cooling towers of the Satsop Nuclear plant were scrapped and sent to a recycler in Tacoma.

The rest of the story begins here. I bought all the fan blades and their wooden carriers with the dream of turning them into life changing; interactive moving sculptures powered by the many forms of natural energy. My vision and hope is to invite artists and sages from diverse cultures to come together with words and imagination that will promote reflection and introspection, to then turn these blades into sculptures that inspire and empower. I envision them traveling to the many people and places on Earth that have been scarred by the misuse of this mighty power. I see the project almost like “turning weapons into ploughshares”.

These blades stand about 5 feet tall and are hollow inside which allows the artist to carve away pieces of the blade so that they can turn and spin and move as one. My mind is filled to the brim with ideas. Now I need artists to create, thinkers to paint words of wisdom, promoters, managers, writers, investors and anyone else that can see the need to heal and encourage stewardship and sustainability of this precious planet.

This is an evolving ongoing multi-faceted project that was highlighted at the 2018 Seattle Design Fair under the name, POWER OF TRUST  ”

As I sit in the porch swing in Jill’s front the yard and I look at the beautiful blade she has here I am trying to think of a way to help make her dream come true. I have included some photos of how these blades would look in different settings.

If you know of anyone who would like to be a part of the Blades of Change project please send me an email to evergirlart@gmail.com