Special thanks to Valerie Vadala Homer, Director of Scottsdale Public Art, for bringing the project to her town, being a pleasure to work with, and allowing me the occasional corrupting influence at the bar.

Warm thanks to Janie for her hospitality and desert stories; and all the folks at CattleTrack for making us welcome. Brent Bond at Segura Press for a great set of prints, and for taking me to a bar where his first thought was to look for the back door.

Bill Clinton’s surprise visit to Scottsdale had us scrambling to get to the next site within a tightly enforced timeframe. As we headed back to the Trolley Bridge the Secret Service were closing down the location, so in a quick and dirty rush we threw ball and all into the van to get past the barricades onto the bridge in the nick of time. Or so it seemed, until Bill was a bit late getting to dinner. He eventually drove right by, but strangely was one of the few people in Scottsdale not to take his picture with the RedBall. Must have been hungry.

RedBall at Bell Tower

Due to an early morning interview, we decided that it would be best to install the ball late in the afternoon the day before. No need to kill someone the morning of……

If you have not been to the Arabian Library and are into modern minimal structures this will be a real treat for you…. if you are not then go to one of the other 3 branches (I cannot tell you how many times I heard how much people hated this building). The outer shell is made-up of steel panels that have been (Im guessing) chemically rusted to every orange hue you can think of. When you first walk up you may notice that nothing is level on the building, it looks much like a structure that was created and then dropped in a sandbox. Natural light enters the building through the space use of windows in certain areas of the building. Again, its quite magnificent. The inside is sparse which gives way to what is important; the books, the CD’s and the DVD’s.

The ball was placed at the entrance to the building. We had to take the ball up in a lift because of its size. Easy right? What we didn’t realize was that once you where level with the roof, you where about two and a half feet away from the side of the building. Two and a half feet no problem, but then add the twenty four feet we where up in the air. Now thats a problem.

After all was said and done we put the ball in place and inflated it. It was a beautiful evening that as the sun went down on one side of us, the full moon came up on the other. It had a nice reflection off the side of the ball on this crystal clear evening.

The next morning I arrived as the library was opening. You could see the excitement in the faces of the libraries staff. Many came out to snap images with their cell phones. At one point during the morning there must have been a children’s reading time. The parking lot filled up with cars and families rushing to try and not be late. Some parents where as surprised as the kids to see this big object sitting above them while some parents grasped their children’s hands and rushed them by (liked nothing was there) and not letting them investigate this curious object even though their feet where dragging and their free hand was pointing upward. Its interesting to see parents not let kids be kids.

Later in the day it became apparent that more people had heard about the ball and stopped by to take a look and take pictures of them with the ball. Its funny that Im now beginning to recognize faces of people that have been to other sites and feel like there is some sort of a community following. Cool. With this I ended up starting a photo group on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/groups/601201@N25/) and I am hoping that Im not the only one that will be adding images to it.

When school was let out many kids stopped by to much surprise. Many phones where pulled out of pockets and backpacks to record what they where seeing. Soon after we took the ball down, wiped away the rust dust that had rubbed off the library walls and packed it up. What will friday bring?

Arabian Library with RedBall

RedBall in the park

We start our morning in darkness once again. Its colder than I thought it would be here in Scottsdale, but the people make up for it.

We drive up to our location and are greeted by a very spunky morning news lady and her camera man. I think they where there to get shots of the RedBall as it was being installed. The only problem is that the outlet we needed to use was on a timer that turned itself off sometime in the middle of the night… good for the city, bad for us. I’m not sure how many outlets we checked out but all seemed to be turned off. There where four of us looking at each other with some concern. Luckily, we spotted an outlet on a adjacent building in its outdoor dining area that was not open for business yet. We now had power but no way of reaching it. We can thank the Channel 3 camera guy (sorry, but I did not get your name) for helping us out with a very long extension cord and after a short delay we raced to have the ball inflated by the first television spot of the morning.

The ball (for those of you that don’t know) takes a good 45 minutes to inflate. By the time the news crew was ready to broadcast the ball was inflated. The interview looked dramatic as the sun was coming up behind it; a clear deep blue sky waking up to the morning sun was made more intense by an orange reflection that was coming off the water in the canal which slowly makes its way under the Trolley Bridge.

As the sun came up I begin to see the true beauty of this location. The ball is off to one side of the bridge which is made up of concrete, metal and some sort of stainless steel panels that acts like a mirror during certain times of the day. On one end of the bridge there is Old Town Scottsdale and its winding streets and quaint chachkeys shops. On the other, a new super structure which includes apartments, eateries and fancy shops and in the center of both areas a walking bridge with a big red ball.

As the sun moves from low in the horizon to a mid-day placement the shadows become more apparent. The ball and the bridge seem to be helping each other out; they both give an area for which to block or reflect the light. Add the sky and the lack of clouds and we have a photographers dream. Shadows become dark minimal objects that change shape and size every couple of minutes. As the day progressed there was one thing that I noticed; people where ether in too much of a hurry or would stop for a quick second and walk off. I think some where afraid to approach the ball and look from a far in much the same way you might look at a piece of work in a gallery or museum setting.This environment has seemed to have lost that playful innocence that I thought existed everywhere. Luckily, at around the time school is let out, teens, children and parents where stopping by to checkout the big red ball that they had ether seen on television or read in local publications. The kids curiosity gives me hope that the ball is creating a conversation, between who I’m not sure of.

As the afternoon began to unwind the mayor stopped by to give the ball an opening dedication. Many gathered for cookies and Arnold Palmer’s as the sun began to go down on the opposite side of where it started twelve hours ago.