Commissions
Rockne Krebs
b: Kansas City, MO, 1938 d: Washington, DC, 2011
|
1957 - 1961
1962 - 1965 |
BFA in sculpture; University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
U.S. Navy Reserve, Lieutenant jg |
Awards and Honors
|
1968-1974
1969 1969 1970 1972 1973-1974 1976 1980-1984 1986-1988 1987 1987 1989 1994-1997 1996-2012 1996-1997 1999-2000 2003-2011 |
Washington Gallery of Modern Art, and co-director of the gallery artist workshop program;
Artist Fellowship Granted patent for laser beam reflective system; pioneered laser art in the 1960s. Granted patent in seven countries for the first 3-D laser piece, first in the field. Created the first outdoor laser art, urban-scale laser art, and scanned laser art with a digital memory. Granted patent for laser [light] beam reflective system: U.S. Patent No. 3,622,228; Canada Patent No. 913037; France Patent No. 70,34627; Great Britain Patent No. 1,297,558; Italy Patent No. 911712; Japan Patent No. 629,284; Germany Patent No.__. Cassandra Foundation, New York, NY; Grant Award National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC; Visual Artist Fellowship Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, NY; Artist Fellowship Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Cambridge, MA, under György Kepes, founder of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at M.I.T.; Research Fellowship Selected for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who in America (1976 through 2012) Washington Project for the Arts, WPA, Washington, DC. Board of Directors Coalition of Washington Artists, Washington, DC. Steering Committee Member Florida Power & Light “Night Beautiful Award”; “The Illumination Engineering Society Award” for The Miami Line, public artwork, Miami, FL. DC Arts Center, DCAC, Washington, DC. Founding Board Member Distinguished Merit Award, Maryland College of Art & Design; “Leadership on Behalf of Artists’ Rights” Artist Equity, National Vice President Selected for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who in the World Member, International Laser Display Association – ILDA Member, International Laser Display Association – ILDA Member, Sons of the American Revolution, Harry S. Truman Chapter, MO. |
Patent for laser [light] beam reflective system: U.S. Patent No. 3,622,228
Granted patent for laser beam reflective system; pioneered laser art in the 1960’s. Granted patent in seven countries for the first 3-D laser piece, first in the field. Created the first out door laser art, urban-scale laser art, and scanned laser art with a digital memory. Granted patent for laser [light] beam reflective system: U.S. Patent No. 3,622,228; Canada Patent No. 913037; France Patent No. 70,34627; Great Britain Patent No. 1,297,558; Italy Patent No. 911712; Japan Patent No. 629,284; Germany Patent No.__.
Commissions
1970 Stern Line, first ever urban-scale laser environment, commissioned by Mr. and Mrs. Philip M. Stern, Washington, DC.
1971 Rite de Passage, urban-scale laser installation, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; honoring Mrs. Edith Stern.
1972 Light is the City at Night, Latter Center, New Orleans, LA.
1973 Sky Bridge Green, urban-scale laser installation, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA. Commissioned and curated by David Katzive.
1973-1976 Canis Major and Atlantis, laser and solar installations, Omni International Complex, Atlanta, GA. Developed natural light plan, which was designed into the architecture. Atlantis, used sunlight and an arrangement of prisms to throw rainbow-like color on the facade. On only two days a year, the spring and autumn equinoxes, the precise configuration of hundreds of prisms and sunlight created a portrait of his daughter’s eye, visible on the facade of the building.
1974 Spectral Drawings, AFL-CIO Labor Studies Center, Silver Spring, MD.
1974 St. Louis Blues and Greens, urban-scale laser installation, University of Maryland, The Art Gallery, College Park, MD.
1975 The Laser and Star Board, Home on the Range, Part VI, St. Petersburg Arts Commission,
St. Petersburg, FL. and the National Endowment for the Arts. Curated by St. Petersburg Arts Commission, Director Glenn Anderson.
1976 Sun Dog, solar and laser installations. National Endowment for the Arts, for the U.S. Bicentennial Expo Science and Technology, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL.
1977 The One Night Stand, urban-scale laser installation, first ever laser with fireworks, Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD.
1978 Green Air – an environmental collage, urban-scale lasers, Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX.
1979 Still Green, urban-scale laser insta llation, Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, CA.
1979 Crystal Rain, Prism solar installation, 200’ x 10’, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA.
1979 The White Tornado, Atrium, Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, Topeka, KS. Commissioned by the U.S. General Services Administration Art-in-Architecture Program. An environmental sculpture 60 feet high with a tornado-like element on which white neon “lightning bolts” are placed to form a five-pointed star when viewed from below - sunlight, prisms, white neon, white painted aluminum, mirrors and scrim fabric. *Restoration completed by McKay Lodge Laboratory Fine Art Conservation in 2017.
1980 The Source, urban-scale laser installation, The National Mall, Washington, DC. The 11th International Sculpture Conference Exhibition.
1980 Rainbow Green - My Dream of Rousseau , U.S. Botanic Gardens, Washington, DC. Commissioned by Washington Projects for the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts. Prism solar installation.
1982 The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH. Urban-scale laser sculpture. Curated by Director Dr. Louis A. Zona.
1982 The Green Verb, urban-scale laser installation, the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s annual Arts Festival, The Ohio Foundation on the Arts/Columbus. “The ‘verb’ of the title is the laser; the subjects are space, light and color, and the predicate is the architecture of space. The title also is a compliment to the Ohio State Library personnel who work on Front Street. I like to find a place that gives me two good, clean moves – like a chess game – then work from there.” - Rockne Krebs, The Green Verb, 1982
1983 The Green Hypotenuse, 7-mile-long laser beam from Mt. Wilson to Caltech, Pasadena, CA. In conjunction with the exhibition, Rockne Krebs, A Retrospective of Drawings, 1965-1982, and the installation sculpture piece, Crystal Oasis of the Winter Solstice, Baxter Art Gallery of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. Curated by Jay Belloli.
1983 Transparent Paper Airplanes, Miami International Airport, Concourse E, Miami, FL. Commissioned by Metro-Dade Art in Public Places. Plexiglas airplanes hung from the ceiling, neon, and prisms; the work is spread over three spaces, its color effects changing throughout the year.
1984 The Green Lady, urban-scale laser installation, Fountain Square, Cincinnati, OH. Commissioned by the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center. Exhibition organized by Director Dennis Barrie. Included traveling exhibition, Rockne Krebs, A Retrospective of Drawings, 1965-1982 and the installation sculpture piece, Crystal Oasis of the Winter Solstice.
1985 The Vine Covered Passarelle, Reisterstown Plaza Metro Station, Baltimore Metro Subway Station, Baltimore, MD. Neon sculpture, exterior piece, fifty-three leaves with vines covering entrance.
1985 Crystal Willow, glass and metal sculpture with prism-refracting leaves, marks the southern
entrance to the business district, downtown Bethesda, MD.
1985 Laser Dance, interactive laser stage sets for the dancers and audience environment,George Washington University, Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC. Collaboration piece with Krebs, choreographer Maida Withers and composer Bob Boilen.
1986 Sun Flowers (Kite Flight), Veterans Administration Medical Center, Spinal Cord Injury Unit, Memphis, TN. A prismatic environmental sculpture that is by design responsive to daily and annual solar change.
1986 Madison Art Center, Madison, WI. Urban-scale laser piece, art festival, Madison Festival of the Lakes.
1987 The Miami Line, urban-scale neon sculpture, one-quarter mile long neon on both sides of the bridge over the Miami River in downtown Miami, FL.
1987 Neo-Green, urban-scale laser installation, Memorial Art Gallery, and The University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.
1989 Inclined Planes, urban-scale laser installation, Johnstown, PA. Honoring the Johnstown’s 1889 Flood Centennial Commemoration.
1989 Mapplethorpe Projections on the facade of The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, cover of Artforum magazine. Part of the demonstration protesting the museum's cancellation of the Mapplethorpe retrospective, and against censorship in the arts in general.
1989 St. Patrick’s Solar Piece, St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, Washington, DC.
1992 The Majic Wand, urban-scale laser installation, Long Beach, CA. Commissioned by the Arts Council for Long Beach, duration December 1992 through the fall of 1997.
1993 The Red River Bridge, laser, searchlights, fiber optics and neon, bridge over the Red River between Shreveport and Bossier City, LA. Commissioned by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.
1971 Rite de Passage, urban-scale laser installation, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; honoring Mrs. Edith Stern.
1972 Light is the City at Night, Latter Center, New Orleans, LA.
1973 Sky Bridge Green, urban-scale laser installation, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA. Commissioned and curated by David Katzive.
1973-1976 Canis Major and Atlantis, laser and solar installations, Omni International Complex, Atlanta, GA. Developed natural light plan, which was designed into the architecture. Atlantis, used sunlight and an arrangement of prisms to throw rainbow-like color on the facade. On only two days a year, the spring and autumn equinoxes, the precise configuration of hundreds of prisms and sunlight created a portrait of his daughter’s eye, visible on the facade of the building.
1974 Spectral Drawings, AFL-CIO Labor Studies Center, Silver Spring, MD.
1974 St. Louis Blues and Greens, urban-scale laser installation, University of Maryland, The Art Gallery, College Park, MD.
1975 The Laser and Star Board, Home on the Range, Part VI, St. Petersburg Arts Commission,
St. Petersburg, FL. and the National Endowment for the Arts. Curated by St. Petersburg Arts Commission, Director Glenn Anderson.
1976 Sun Dog, solar and laser installations. National Endowment for the Arts, for the U.S. Bicentennial Expo Science and Technology, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL.
1977 The One Night Stand, urban-scale laser installation, first ever laser with fireworks, Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD.
1978 Green Air – an environmental collage, urban-scale lasers, Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX.
1979 Still Green, urban-scale laser insta llation, Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, CA.
1979 Crystal Rain, Prism solar installation, 200’ x 10’, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA.
1979 The White Tornado, Atrium, Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, Topeka, KS. Commissioned by the U.S. General Services Administration Art-in-Architecture Program. An environmental sculpture 60 feet high with a tornado-like element on which white neon “lightning bolts” are placed to form a five-pointed star when viewed from below - sunlight, prisms, white neon, white painted aluminum, mirrors and scrim fabric. *Restoration completed by McKay Lodge Laboratory Fine Art Conservation in 2017.
1980 The Source, urban-scale laser installation, The National Mall, Washington, DC. The 11th International Sculpture Conference Exhibition.
1980 Rainbow Green - My Dream of Rousseau , U.S. Botanic Gardens, Washington, DC. Commissioned by Washington Projects for the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts. Prism solar installation.
1982 The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH. Urban-scale laser sculpture. Curated by Director Dr. Louis A. Zona.
1982 The Green Verb, urban-scale laser installation, the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s annual Arts Festival, The Ohio Foundation on the Arts/Columbus. “The ‘verb’ of the title is the laser; the subjects are space, light and color, and the predicate is the architecture of space. The title also is a compliment to the Ohio State Library personnel who work on Front Street. I like to find a place that gives me two good, clean moves – like a chess game – then work from there.” - Rockne Krebs, The Green Verb, 1982
1983 The Green Hypotenuse, 7-mile-long laser beam from Mt. Wilson to Caltech, Pasadena, CA. In conjunction with the exhibition, Rockne Krebs, A Retrospective of Drawings, 1965-1982, and the installation sculpture piece, Crystal Oasis of the Winter Solstice, Baxter Art Gallery of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. Curated by Jay Belloli.
1983 Transparent Paper Airplanes, Miami International Airport, Concourse E, Miami, FL. Commissioned by Metro-Dade Art in Public Places. Plexiglas airplanes hung from the ceiling, neon, and prisms; the work is spread over three spaces, its color effects changing throughout the year.
1984 The Green Lady, urban-scale laser installation, Fountain Square, Cincinnati, OH. Commissioned by the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center. Exhibition organized by Director Dennis Barrie. Included traveling exhibition, Rockne Krebs, A Retrospective of Drawings, 1965-1982 and the installation sculpture piece, Crystal Oasis of the Winter Solstice.
1985 The Vine Covered Passarelle, Reisterstown Plaza Metro Station, Baltimore Metro Subway Station, Baltimore, MD. Neon sculpture, exterior piece, fifty-three leaves with vines covering entrance.
1985 Crystal Willow, glass and metal sculpture with prism-refracting leaves, marks the southern
entrance to the business district, downtown Bethesda, MD.
1985 Laser Dance, interactive laser stage sets for the dancers and audience environment,George Washington University, Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC. Collaboration piece with Krebs, choreographer Maida Withers and composer Bob Boilen.
1986 Sun Flowers (Kite Flight), Veterans Administration Medical Center, Spinal Cord Injury Unit, Memphis, TN. A prismatic environmental sculpture that is by design responsive to daily and annual solar change.
1986 Madison Art Center, Madison, WI. Urban-scale laser piece, art festival, Madison Festival of the Lakes.
1987 The Miami Line, urban-scale neon sculpture, one-quarter mile long neon on both sides of the bridge over the Miami River in downtown Miami, FL.
1987 Neo-Green, urban-scale laser installation, Memorial Art Gallery, and The University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.
1989 Inclined Planes, urban-scale laser installation, Johnstown, PA. Honoring the Johnstown’s 1889 Flood Centennial Commemoration.
1989 Mapplethorpe Projections on the facade of The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, cover of Artforum magazine. Part of the demonstration protesting the museum's cancellation of the Mapplethorpe retrospective, and against censorship in the arts in general.
1989 St. Patrick’s Solar Piece, St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, Washington, DC.
1992 The Majic Wand, urban-scale laser installation, Long Beach, CA. Commissioned by the Arts Council for Long Beach, duration December 1992 through the fall of 1997.
1993 The Red River Bridge, laser, searchlights, fiber optics and neon, bridge over the Red River between Shreveport and Bossier City, LA. Commissioned by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.
1994 Pegasus Cloud Projection, urban-scale lasers, and computer animated laser cloud projection, Sacramento, CA.
1996 CNN Center, Atlanta, GA. Recreated the 1976 laser sculpture, Canis Major, in what was originally the Omni International Complex and added Good Luck World for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA. Good Luck World, computer animated laser projection on the CNN Center atrium ceiling, 100’ x 150’.
1996 Good Luck World, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN. Urban-scale, four laser piece and Good Luck World, computer animated laser projection piece.
2001 Mr. Belloli’s Universe, assemblage of laser light and night, urban-scale laser installation for The Universe: Contemporary Art and the Cosmos exhibition, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA.
2005 Day Star, The Children’s Inn at the National Institute of Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD. A sun piece with 180 prisms, neon, large Plexiglas mobile with lily pads, clouds and four-leaf clovers, and a wall painting.
1996 CNN Center, Atlanta, GA. Recreated the 1976 laser sculpture, Canis Major, in what was originally the Omni International Complex and added Good Luck World for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA. Good Luck World, computer animated laser projection on the CNN Center atrium ceiling, 100’ x 150’.
1996 Good Luck World, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN. Urban-scale, four laser piece and Good Luck World, computer animated laser projection piece.
2001 Mr. Belloli’s Universe, assemblage of laser light and night, urban-scale laser installation for The Universe: Contemporary Art and the Cosmos exhibition, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA.
2005 Day Star, The Children’s Inn at the National Institute of Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD. A sun piece with 180 prisms, neon, large Plexiglas mobile with lily pads, clouds and four-leaf clovers, and a wall painting.
The Source, 1980. The National Mall, Washington, DC. The 11th International Sculpture Conference Exhibition.
