Avalanche! Conveyors as Art

Conveyors as Art: it’s not our usual application, but maybe we shouldn’t be surprised to find our Mini-Movers on gallery display. Our customers constantly intrigue us with the creative ways they put our mini-conveyors to use. When Los Angeles artist and sculptor Andrew Dominick first contacted us in fall 2009 about his plans for building an avalanche simulator, we knew we were in for a fun project.

“Providence Nature,” Dominick’s spring 2010 exhibition at California State University, Bakersfield’s Todd Madigan Gallery, featured large-scale sculptures depicting nature’s events. Dominick’s sculpture, “Avalanche” is powered by two Lite Series Mini-Mover conveyors, configured to circulate artificial snow up to and around the “mountaintop” at speeds of up to 60 feet per minute.

Considering that Mr. Dominick’s sculpture has included diverse media such as air blowers, aircraft cable and live snakes, we can’t be sure our Mini-Movers will star in another creation. But we’ve had our moment in the sun.

Drew Dominick’s artwork has exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at Sandroni Rey in Los Angeles. For the past 10 years, he has taught sculpture and new genre at University of California Los Angeles, CSUB and CSU Long Beach.