Stephen Fairfield
I have been a visual artist for almost 50 years, for the past 17 years I have specialized in creating public art sculpture and installations and use interactivity in new media installations, contemporary abstraction and whimsy
in static sculptures to engage passersby with his creations. I live in the greater Tucson AZ area.
I have created and installed monumental interactive sculptures placed in a number of locations across the contiguous 48 states. I also have installed many static, non-electronic sculptures.
In 2004 I formed the New Media Public Art Collective, a team comprised of artists/professionals with training in electrical engineering, architecture, 3D modeling, and concrete sculpture. The Collective seeks to make a statement about the natural environment, the impact of humans on the world, or directions culture has taken or is moving towards. The collective emphasizes “green technologies”, and has an expertise in solar powered, new media, interactive creations that use motion sensors for commissioned new media pieces wherever possible.
Along with numerous commissions from state, governmental and private sources I have received a NEA grant for creation of “The Defender”, in Bozeman, MT (installed 06/19) and received a Professional Development Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts (08/18).
Since 2004 The New Media Public Art Collective has amassed significant experience accomplishing public art projects, completing 29 site specific permanent or temporary installations: 24 with municipalities, 4 with NGOs and 1 with the US Government. In Arizona -11; California-7; Colorado- 1; WI -2; VA-2; MD-1; PA-1; GA -1; MO -1; MI–1; L-1; Germany-1, and Italy-1.
Recent Relevant Awards, Public Art and Commissions
2022
- January 7; Arizona Commission on the Arts $5,000 Research and Development Grant to purchase new technology to produce “Art for the Public”.
- September 16; installed “Grateful Hearts”; monumental scale stainless steel new media sculpture honoring first responders, located at Fire Station #175, Avondale, AZ.
2021
- May 7; installed “Al Querido”; Permanent new media sculpture for the city of Avondale, AZ Avondale Loves You/Avondale Te Quiere brand campaign.
- March 26; Commissioned to create “Hello–Goodbye”; monumental scale railroad themed sculpture installation for Old Town Plaza, Elk Grove, CA
- March 1st: installed “Herb Garden”; permanent monumental new media (LEDs, electronics) stainless steel sculpture for Nicholls State University Culinary Institute, Thibodaux, LA;
2019
- March 25th: installed “Global Harmony”; Permanent new media monumental sculpture for the City of Roanoke, VA’s celebration of 10 years of public art; Susan Jennings, Arts and Culture Coordinator, susan.jennings@roanokeva.gov
- June 27th: installed “The Defender”; Permanent static monumental sculpture of Sandhill Crane for The Trust for Public Land, city of Bozeman, MT; Maddy Pope, Project Manager; maddy.pope@tpl.org
- July: installed “Bat Family Cruisin’” monumental steel sculpture; Outposts Sculpture Permanent Public Art Exhibition; Bernalillo County, Albuquerque, NM; Nan Masland, Public Art Project Coordinator; nanmasland@bernco.gov
2018
- September: received Professional Development Grant from Arizona Commission on the Arts
- December: Delivered and installed “Ask The Fish 2.0” purchased by Art Around Roswell; monumental fiberglass, steel and holographic film sculpture for Art Around Roswell, GA 2018–2019 Sculpture Tour; Rochelle Mucha, board@roswellartsfund.org;
2017
- April: installed “Extreme Batty Bikers”; Permanent monumental sculpture for Kory Laos Memorial BMX Bike Park, Tucson, AZ; Nancy Cole, Pima County Project Manager; Nancy.Cole@pima.gov
- September: installed “The Chase”; temporary (11 month) monumental steel and mixed media sculpture for the Blue Springs Public Art Commission, Blue Springs, MO; Carol Reed; creed@bluespringsgov.com.
- November: installed “Ask The Fish 2.0;” temporary (11 month) monumental steel sculpture for Art Around Roswell, GA 2018–2019 Sculpture Tour; Rochelle Mucha, board@roswellartsfund.org; purchased by Art Around Roswell December, 2018.
2016
- November: installed “Fluttering Rainbow and Spider Clan Totem” (2 sculptures); Monumental Sculptures for El Paseo Invitational Exhibition, Palm Desert, CA; Deborah Glickman, Public Art Manager; dglickman@cityofpalmdesert.org
- August: installed “Dragonfly”; Greeley, CO; monumental dragonfly on a cattail; Kim Snyder, Public Art Coordinator, Kim.Snyder@Greeleygov.com
- April: installed “Tandem Batty Biker Family”, Tucson, AZ; Nancy Cole, Project Manager, Pima County; 520–724–6312 Nancy.Cole@pima.go
2015
- April 14: installed “Batty Biker”: monumental sculpture of a bat riding a recumbent bicycle; commissioned by Pima County, AZ; Nancy Cole, Project Manager, Pima County; 520–724–6312l Nancy.Cole@pima.gov
- May 25: installed “Ask The Fish”; Roanoke, VA. 05.15; Susan Jennings; Arts and Culture Coordinator, City of Roanoke;Susan.jennings@roanokeva.gov ; 540.853–5652; 18 months temporary installation.
2014
- February 3: Awarded $5,000 grant from Arizona Commission on the Arts to develop digital projection prototype for Tucson, AZ
- July 21: commissioned to create “The Hangout”: contemporary seating installation areas/ steel louvered shade awnings; Goodyear, AZ Library; City of Goodyear
- Dec. 07: installed “The Afternoon Knows”: monumental literary–themed sculpture of an open book, pen and inkwell; La Posada Life Care Community, Green Valley, AZ. Mark Dugan, VP – Posada Life Foundation; 520–648–7910; Mark@LaPosadaGV.com
2013
- July 23: Finalist, Lifeguard Headquarters Art in Public Places opportunity; Laguna Beach, CA
- July 01: Frankenmuth, MI; selected to exhibit in the Fall In…Art and Sol Solar Sculpture Exhibition; 09.28–10.31.13
- June 14: Champaign–Urbana, IL Public Art League 24 month Sculpture Exhibition; selected to exhibit new media sculpture
- May 30: Finalist, City of Barrington, RI, Police Cove Park; newly renovated harborside park seeking new media sculpture with marine theme.
- May 17: Commission, Town of Silverthorne, CO to create Blue River Rainbow, a monumental, 18’ high, solar powered, new media, stainless steel sculpture of a Rainbow Trout leaping out of the water; sculpture to be located adjacent to the intersection of I–70 and Routes 6 and 9.
- May 1: Finalist, Cherry Creek Arts Festival’s Call for Innovation – Arrow Five Years Out Art Challenge; explore the role of electronics in art five years from the present; sponsor: Arrow Electronics, Englewood, CO
- April 19: Finalist: new media sculpture commission for La Posada Retirement Community, Green Valley, Arizona
- March 25: Finalist: Central Oregon Community College Science Building Bend, OR new media installation.
- February 17: Finalist: Tucson Botanical Gardens Entryway, Tucson, Arizona.
2012
- August 13: Commission: City of Lancaster, PA to create a monumental solar New Media Public Art sculptural installation in Brandon Park. Installation: 02.19.13
- May 7: Finalist for Cedar Rapids City Convention Center: Focal 3D Installation, Cedar Rapids, IA
- April 16: Accepted into the 2013/2014 El Paseo Invitational Exhibition, Palm Desert, CA; installation 11.06.12
- March 5: Commission: HSL Properties, Tucson, AZ to create a public art sculpture for their next housing development at Oracle Road and N. 1st Avenue, Oro Valley, AZ.
2011
- November 30: Commission: Tucson International Airport to create a Solar New Media Public Art Sculpture commemorating Arizona’s 100th year of Statehood. Dedication 04.25.12
- September 5: Finalist for 2 public art sculptures in Dunbar Spring Neighborhood, Tucson, AZ
- May 13: Finalist for public art sculpture, King’s Community Church, Southampton, U.K.. June 20: Onsite presentation and interview in Southampton, U.K.
- February 3: Commission, City of Green Bay, WI to create Interactive Immersion, an interactive new media sculptural installation in a 112′ long pedestrian tunnel downtown; dedicated 07/04/11
- January 11: Commission, City of Glendale, AZ, to create a new media interactive sculptural environment – The Colorful Cubic Calliope – for their 28th Annual Jazz and Blues Festival (04/8–10/2011) Commission, private ranch owner to design and build welded steel, solar powered entryway gate with sculptural, contemporary, pigmented cast concrete and steel columns for exclusive SE AZ ranch
2010
- May 21: Commission, Port of San Diego Public Art Department, San Diego, CA Urban Trees 7 Sculpture Competition; for Ask The Fish sculpture, 14’ T x 6’W x 5’ D; installed December, 2010 – November, 2011 on the San Diego Embarcadero, San Diego, CA.
- April: Commission: City of Roanoke, VA to create a site–specific new media art sculpture, Glory Pipes, for AIR: Art in Roanoke 2: in a newly constructed commercial plaza in downtown Roanoke.
- March: Commission: Sonoma Community Center, Sonoma, CA to create Water Is Essential To Life Requires Water…a site–specific outdoor public art sculpture for a water garden with water as the theme. Installed 06/10.
- January: Commission, City of Glendale, AZ Public Art program to create a temporary site –specific artwork during Glendale’s 27th Annual Jazz & Blues Festival, April 17–18.The work is a dazzlingly colorful, impressionistic, 5’W x 8’H x 3’D 3 dimensional wall–hung sculpture portrait of Thelonious Monk.
2009
- July 4: installed commission, City of Green Bay, WI sculpture entitled Frog for Dinner for the Life of the River Competition; 14’ H x 11’ L x 6’ W monumental scale welded steel/perforated steel sheet sculpture of a Sandhill Crane catching a frog; permanently installed along the Fox River RiverWalk downtown.
2008
- Awarded: The Open Wall Itovation Competition 2nd Prize – $2000 – for new media art Light Canvas concept, by Norwegian University of Science & Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Port of San Diego’s Urban Trees 5 Competition awarded for Tailwalking Suncatcher sculpture, 14’ T x17’ Lx5’ W; installed through July 2009,
- San Diego Embarcadero; extended through July, 2010 and relocated to the Embarcadero Park North adjacent to Seaport Village.
2007
- Sale of welded steel sculpture The Fisherman to the Port of San Diego; Chula Vista Bayside Park, CA.
2006
- Port of San Diego’s Urban Trees 3 competition award for “The Fisherman”, a 13′ high X 16′ long X 5′ wide welded steel Giant Egret exhibited on the Port of San Diego Embarcadero. Temporary Art.
2005
- Sale of Skyburst luminaria sculpture to TransWest Properties for Plaza Colonial, a new high–end mall, Tucson, AZ.
2004
- Commission, Westward Look Resort, Tucson, AZ to create new media art solar powered luminaria sculpture for Tucson–Pima Arts
- Council (TPAC) Luminarias Del Pueblo Exhibition. Created 14′ high X 10′ wide X 10′ deep Skyburst sculpture
David Olsen
David is a skilled graphic artist that handles the initial concept artwork that will be presented to the client for consideration. This involves creating 3D rendered images of the proposed artwork based on Stephen’s vision, and they collaborate until it is ready for presenting. David even creates animated videos of the site to get a full appreciation for how it would look in real life.
Upon getting the commission, the next steps are creating blueprints to use in fabrication. There are various avenues that may be required to get the intended result, so the software he primarily uses are:
- Blender – 3D modeling/animation (concept art & blueprints)
- Inkscape – SVG graphics for vector art (laser-cutting, instruction aids & general fabrication)
3D modeling is powerfully useful to give a vision of what can be made, but SVG design is what is required to make that happen. Whether it is making full scale paper templates, giving measurements for footer creation, or sending an order to a plasma cutter to cut very specific shapes, David is able to provide the plans to get the job done.
Designed artwork/plans for these winning commissions :
- Global Harmony
- The Defender
- Al Querido
- Hello, Goodbye
- Grateful Hearts
Experience
- Bachelor’s Degree: Interdisciplinary Studies in Graphic Arts and Web Design – graduated Spring 2021 from BYU-Idaho
- Winning Recipient of the AEON Laser USA 2022 Giveaway, for content creation and promotion. (not affliated)
Kempton Hall
Kempton is the Owner of ToxicClay, LLC, and provides a number of services to this team:
- 3D Design
- Animation
- Engineering Design
- Audio Engineering
- Photography
- Software Development
ToxicClay, LLC
Owner, Aug 2016 – Present
Marcus Engineering, LLC
Sr Technician, March 2017 – May 2021
Apex Microtechnology
Operations Technician, May 2016 – Feb 2017
Desert Currents Consulting
Technician, Sept 2013 – May 2016
ARBICO Organics
Head of Research and Development, Oct 2010 – Sept 2013
Floor Staff, Oct 2005 – Oct 2010