Yesterday, I talked and talked to Peter Baumann, reporter with the Laramie Boomerang, about Interstitial.

The newspaper been giving voice to this sturdy western town since 1881.Those were the boom days, when the TransContinental Railroad passed through on its way to South Pass.  It followed the Oregon Trail, popular because it didn’t require a laborious mountain crossing. A little bit of history for you.

Alas, there’s no link to the story online, except for this scanned image posted on the University of Wyoming Art Museum’s blog.  These newspaper people are sticking to their guns when they use the word ‘newspaper.’

So here’s are a few bits and pieces that I pulled out as a summary to remind me what came up during the interview.

Ever present in the Wyoming skies, clouds began to take shape in Sayler’s mind as an installation concept … Clouds, for me, represent a tie to the nature of time.  That is, they’re constantly in flux, and I like to think of them as symbolizing the moments of our lives — the moments that come into existence and disappear simultaneously.

The concept for Interstitial began during an artist residency at Jentel near Sheridan last February.  I was asking questions like: Where is the line between water and ice? When does water become ice? When does ice become water? At the time, I was watching and videotaping the spring thaw along Piney Creek.  It’s magical.

Clouds are taking on a physical, tactile form in her site-specific installation, Interstitial … We have touch sensors that helped us survive as a species, which is why fibers instantly resonate with people.

Our body is filled with fibers, millions of fibers that connect our tissues, our bones, our DNA.  Even if we don’t touch the hot glue fibers, even if the museum sign says ‘do not touch,’ there is still a tactile connection. I like to create environments that allow our body intelligence to come into that experience.

The results are a sculptural installation that changes throughout the day, just as clouds do … The afternoon light tends to be quieter, more contemplative.  Sometimes you could miss it because it loses the light and seems to dissolve into opacity.  It’s crystalline and translucent in the morning.  Different experiences all day long.

My pen rests.