Shawn T. Brennan, Junior holds his sketch and 7 Questions before leaving the NYC Flock house.

Shawn thought of “engagement,” when he saw the Flock Houses. He would like to spend time in in one.  He would “attach wheels.” The material he suggests for a Flock House is “twine,” which he has worked with and enjoyed in the past.

Future Bemis projects that invite community participation interest him. To receive information about future projects, he added his name and email address to the sign in sheet at the reception desk in the Bemis Center, Old Market.

In his drawing, Sean is sitting on a chair and working at a desk much like the furnishings of the Flock House Omaha. He represents triangles and angled walls of the structure.

Sean reading a book in the Flock House Omaha at Bemis Center in the Old Market.

Heather and Jeff visited Bemis Center as part of a day trip from Lincoln. Heather recently graduated from the University of Nebraska in Art and has a new job as a designer with a web company in Lincoln.

They talked over answers to the 7 Questions. The NYC Flock house brought stained glass to mind, “made me think of a church.” They suggested Grow with the Flow Aquaponics in Nebraska at www.gwtfaquaphonics.com as a plant growing resource. Recycled materials they would use in a Flock House: milk jugs, deck wood, flowers, vines. On a design team, they offer “aesthetics.” They might consider a Flock gathering, but it “depends on who lives in the other houses.” As a last message, they added, “This is a good drawing location — there should be more of these!”

Heather draws while Jeff enjoys resting in the NYC Flock House.

Heather’s Flock House flower, Jeff’s stick figure.

Matthew Dumich is an architect. He sat in the NYC Flock House with his wife Christine where they answered 7 Questions and built Flock House models.

In the 7 Questions he described the NYC Flock House as “experimental – provocative.”  Would he like to spend time in a Flock House? “Yes, as a calm place of contemplation, but probably not overnight (if outside.)” To be self-sufficient he suggests “water collection from roof with cisterns. Incorporate thin firm photovoltaic cells on roof membrane to generate energy.  Hang vertical gardens on walls.” Recycled materials he suggests are: “recycled parachutes, street signs or tractor-trailer walls, and car windshield.” He could give “creative ideas and technical understanding of building” to a design and building team. He would want to come to a Flock migration, as “catalyzing communities, idea exchange – a new form of meeting place.” He sees Flock Houses as having “potential for high density housing of refugees and disaster victims.”

His Flock House model uses solar panels on the roof flaps, valleys on the roof to collect rainwater, and openings at either end to allow natural ventilation.

Roof flaps for solar panels

Roof valleys to collect water, runs off to water storage container.

Openings to allow natural ventilation

Christine Dumich is an architect. In the photo below she is working in the NYC Flock House with her husband Matthew.

Answering 7 Questions in NYC Flock House

When asked to speculate about the role of Flock House as an idea that might address population displacement and suffering, she responded. “I see these as a chance to create a sense of community – help citizens establish a sense of participation in the environment, thus gaining a stronger commitment to it’s vitality.”

When asked if she would like to contribute to a design and building team, she wrote, “I would want to share in the experience – watch them come together.”

Her sense of the NYC Flock House is of a “stage-coach.” She “imagines it would glow at night.”

When building her model in the NYC Flock House, she described, “You come in and feel the shelter.”

She made her model of Bristol paper with scissors, marked with a pen. Its design is a “Shade structure.”

The photos below show it from two perspectives.

Shade structure – view one

Shade structure – view 2

Connie Heiden thought the NYC Flock House looked “almost like a covered wagon.”

Her vision is of a Flock House built with adobe bricks.  Natural materials and light.

Connie would like to spend time in a Flock House, and to take part in a Flock migration.

She visited Bemis Center with her daughter and son-in-law, Christine and Matthew Dumich.

My conversation starts with an artist from Portland, visiting family in Nebraska.

“In Portland, everything is about repurposing, not starting with anything new. The biggest difference between Nebraska and Portland is the absence of bicycles. In Portland they are pervasive in all-weather conditions. Matt is transitioning to self propulsion. “Once you accommodate, it seems natural to commute locally by bike.”

Matt shows me several of his paintings on his cell phone. Many are mappings, with intricate drawings of structures fit into organic environments.

We talk about Mary Mattingly’s work. Her focus on the need for creativity to survive. Realizing people do not know about life support systems they depend on.  Mattingly says that in the future we will be creating them and adapting them as earth changes engulf our unsustainable way of life. Developing creative approaches is as important as technical solutions to problems. We need more flexible, movable, constantly adaptable life support systems. Many developed and applied at the personal level.

Matt and a friend each did a drawing and contributed to Thinking about the idea of Flock House in the 7 Questions.

1. Their response to NYC Flock House they are drawing in – “Beautiful in its simplicity, purity – white and natural wood tones. calm, open, airy.”

2. Spending time in the Flock House – “Yes, clears the mind, go back to basics of life.”

3. How to make Flock House self-sustaining – “Collect rain water in barrel, wind power, compost. Gardens.”

4. Recycled materials you would you use for a Flock House – “Aluminum, tin, glass jars. I love the white and wood, though, because aesthetics are important. It must be beautiful.”

Drawing has tear-out inserted with offset of markings.

Image of back view of drawing tear out and insert

Drawing by Friend of Matt from Portland – treehouse view – See the orientation of flowers and candles, musical notes.

Friend of Matt from Portland – subterranean view – 2

Cassidy and I spent time studying the Flock House documentation and reference books integrated into the exhibit at Bemis Center – Old Market. Here are some quotes I copied from three sources describing the work of Mary Mattingly.

Ecotopia, (2007) by Brian Wallis, Edward Earle, Christopher Phillips, Carol Squiers. Edited by Joanna Lehan. International Center of Photography: Steidl: Gottingen,  Germany

Focuses on posthuman navigators, “characters whose boundless creativity is their only true survival mechanism”

“Mattingly presents us with a future in which civilization as we know it has been dismantled, and a generation of nomadic post-consumers roam the irretrievably altered landscape. These “navigators,” as she refers to them, busy themselves creating and utilizing adaptive technology. Natural beauty remains, and human communion with technology has become organic and to some degree sustaining.” p 166

Nature, Documents of Contemporary Art (2012) Mary Mattingly In Conversation with Shane Danaher/2010 Edited by Jeffrey Kastner. Whitechapel Gallery: London, The MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Danaher describes Mattingly’s work as “blurring the line between ‘art’ and ‘experimental engineering’.

MM – “the in-between spaces are one of the most interesting areas of art today, and they are clear ways for art to intervene in society.” p. 177

MM -“I witness people’s resourcefulness more and more, and I see people in the city wanting to connect with nature. p 180

Eleanor Heartney, “Art for the Anthropocene Era.” Four artists take on the challenges of our environmental crisis. Art in America, February 2014. pp 76 – 81

Mary Mattingly’s work is featured with three other artists. “These artists’ work centers on the recognition that we have entered into the ‘Anthropocene’ – a new geologic era marked by the impact of human activity on the earth.” p. 76

Mary Mattingly looks “…toward what she refers to as the posthuman future, reflecting her conviction that humanity will survive only if we reduce our footprint on Earth.” Her projects “explore the possibility of self-sustaining environments.” p. 80

Flock Houses as “geodesic domes covered with tarps, are made from reclaimed materials and equipped with systems for rainwater capture, inner-city agriculture and solar and human-powered energy. These modular units are designed to hitch to vehicles for easy transport around the city.”

“Mattingly has also taken her own critique of materialism to heart with a 2013 performance in which she fashioned all of her possessions into a twine-wrapped ball and dragged it across the Bayonne Bridge, which stretched between Bayonne, N.J., and Staten Island.”

When I arrived at Bemis Center, Laura Carlson gave me these drawings. She said that a family went into the NYC Flock House and stayed for a long time. As you will see, here is a treasure trove of sustained work, envisioning and compositional detail.

“Basically, a new concept for a conventional tent” – Engineer, from 7 Questions

Angelina – 1

Angelina – 2

Angelina – 3

Bowden, Age 19 months – 1

Bowden, age 19 months – 2

Bowden, Age 19 months – 3

Bowden, Age 18 months – 4

Janice Samuel came to the Flock House Omaha exhibit to meet her art class from Metropolitan Community College.  Walking through the gallery, she carefully studies the photos.

Walking around the NYC Flock House, she peers inside. “It looks peaceful,” The smile she gives me is peaceful, too.

She sits down at the large table to draw a Flock House

Her drawing like a beehive, hexagons.

“Here is the door.” (Lower left side)

“There will be plants along the base.”

“She will go inside and stay in it’s peace for a long time.”