dean proctor studio
My designed and built installations. Come visit and experience them. Ask me about creating these and other ideas. Learn, ground yourself, reconcile, enjoy the ideas.
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I am a thinker, teacher, and builder...
Rooted in, and drawing on, my spiritual practice, curiosity, knowledge of nature and human nature, I make connections between all this, envision concepts and tangible projects, and build some of them...
Touchstones
Three stones and writings, placed within reach of passersby, representing and sharing spiritual wisdoms that ground and guide us in our daily lives.
As humans, we all suffer and can benefit from spiritual wisdom to help us through loss, pain, and difficult mind states. While people seek this wisdom and comfort in places of worship and private places, what if the wisdom of the ages, that we share as humans, was more accessible in our daily lives? What if we could be reminded of and touch this wisdom? Might it help, day-to-day, to calm our minds and hearts and bodies?
The intention of Touchstones is to provide that accessible wisdom and support in our daily lives. With a touch, a reading, and a quiet moment we might find some empathy, relief, and peace of mind.
Place Post
A simple post, marking a place on earth, that tells the stories of its place and reveals the layers of its natural and human history.
As we live our busy lives, experience more and more virtual input and less and less connection to reality, and perhaps frequently move our place of residence, we are less and less connected to the physical place of our day-to-day lives. The richness of our place. Its character, stories, and soul are not apparent to us. What if we could connect to that meaningful richness? Might we feel more connected to place and time and feel rooted where we are?
The Place Post marks a spot on earth and reveals the layers of time and meaning of this place. It tickles people with knowledge, touches them with wonder, and shares an appreciation of the natural and human stories that this place holds.
Planet Finder
A colorful, changing, and interactive sculpture that represents planets and their location in our sky and informs us how to find them.
It might be said that we live our lives, our mornings and evenings, unaware of the grace, wonder, and universe around us. What if a bit of information and visualization opened your awareness and connected you to the universe? What if one of these wonders was revealed, showing us something we can actually see and experience if we know where to look?
The Planet Finder explains geometry and dynamics of the solar system and where and when we might look for the visible planets. It also explains the current location of the visible planets, which changes all the time!
Around the box are mock-ups of visible planets, mounted on aluminum rods and placed in the orientation of the actual planets in the sky.
Reconciliation
A pattern and guided pathway on the ground plane on which two people (or groups of people) vulnerably share, gradually step toward each other, and reconcile.
Today, there is misunderstanding, wounding, and separation in our personal relationships and in our larger societal dynamics. How can we better understand each other, heal, and reconnect? How could an environment, a physical place, help and be part of the solution?
The purpose of Reconciliation is to provide a tool, a physical framework at a bodily human scale, that assists and supports people (and groups of people) in reconciliation. Similar in character and size to the labyrinth, Reconciliation includes a walkway and a spiral that connects with the path closer and closer to a center. The spiral represents the energy of truthful and honest statements of participants, creating space for the other to take a step forward and speak their truth.
Participants come to Reconciliation with the intention of healing, letting go of the past, forgiving, and figuratively and literally stepping toward another person or group. This courageous speaking and stepping closer continues until the parties meet in the middle, closer than before with their hearts open.