Carousel Cosmos by Chris Miller (2023)

Materials: Polychromed wood.

Carousel Cosmos by Chris Miller
Photo by Corey Templeton @coreytempleton
Photo by Corey Templeton @coreytempleton
Photo by Corey Templeton @coreytempleton

About the project

This carousel is inspired by kindness, adventure, outer space, bed-time stories, dinosaurs, and ice cream. It’s inspired by the Western Promenade’s endless views, spectacular sunsets, and contemplative atmosphere. It spins the way that the earth spins when the sun sets, in a place where trolleys used to stop, in a small picturesque city with a school community that speaks more than sixty languages. It will travel once or twice around the sun without leaving the ground, then vanish.1 In the meanwhile, it is a place for conversation, contemplation, imagination, and snacks,2 with animals that once roamed here as your guides. They’re not mythological, just misunderstood, and they invite you on a journey to greater understanding.3

1. This is a year-long temporary art installation supported by TEMPOart.

2. Please don’t feed the animals, they have very special diets.

3. Look for clues in the star-flowers!

For more information about the project visit Chris’s website: http://npdworkshop.com/carousel-cosmos

Protocetid in process.

Image 3 of 10

Photos by artist Chris Miller.

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller is the founder of New Paradigm Design Workshop, a practice informed by his research, conscience, and persistent need to design and build lots of different things all at once. His work includes residences, furniture, public art and interactive exhibits, as well as technical illustration, graphics and web design for businesses that also build stuff. He holds a Master of Arts in Architecture from MIT, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago and an Associate’s degree from Central Lakes Community College. He and his wife live in an old house in Maine with two kids and a dog. They grow a big garden every summer, have a lot of books and enjoy cooking for friends. They travel as much as they possibly can, though not nearly as much as they’d like…  http://npdworkshop.com

Location

This installation is located on the Western Promenade in Portland, Maine inside the elliptical walkway at the terminus of West Street. Street parking is available along the Promenade.

CAROUSEL COSMOS is supported in part by

TEMPOart is funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.