Vail, Colorado’s Wind Powered Environmental Sculpture

Vail, Colorado is the home of the new “Windmill Project” environmental sculptures by Patrick Marold. The exhibit is on display until May 6, 2007. What’s it like? The Windmill Project is the world’s largest wind powered environmental sculpture and presently enjoying its North American debut. It consists of approximately 2,700 windmills were placed on a hillside adjacent to the Vail golf course. The city of Vail and the Vail Recreation District recently made a three-year commitment to offset 100 percent of their electricity use through the purchase of wind power. This exhibition shows the city’s work toward that goal.

Patrick Marold, the artist, has been creating environmental sculptures for more than 10 years. His work includes large outdoor projects that collaborate with the elements, to smaller sculptures that bring the environment into a more intimate scale. Patrick’s work has been featured in museums, galleries and public spaces throughout the United States and abroad. Mr. Marold received a B.F.A. in 1997 from Rhode Island School of Design. He is the recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship Award and other prestigious honors.

“Because the exhibit is powered by the wind, the brightness of the lights is subject to the whims of nature,” said Leslie Fordham, Vail’s Art in Public Places coordinator. “Whether the wind is soft or brisk affects how the sculpture translates it into light. In its first four weeks, it has been described by visitors in various ways from ‘romantic’ to ‘it was dark at first, then a gust came and it was like someone took a dimmer switch and turned it up all the way.’”

The public may check the wind velocity and other details about The Windmill Project at www.artinvail.com/windmill.