Continuing from the Physical Creations and the Indoor Games exhibits comes Dan Zen creations for the great outdoors. Dedicated to the Steadmans remembering fun times throwing snowballs.
Snowball Game (2013) ▲ A New Year's Day snowball throwing competition with the neighbors. Target 1 is the climbing castle which Zen made in about 2003 or so also shown below in the snow ramps. To the right of the castle is the rocking horse Zen made for his sister in about 1987. It found its way back to Zen where it was the mascot of Zen's creation area. The tape decorated containers store mementos beneath the ping pong table.
Snow Ramps ▲ Dan Zen usually makes ramps for tobogganing out on the hills. The ramps shown here are in the backyard and had to go up over a railing. The Zen family rebuilt the deck with no railing for easier sledding! Note some of the Spooky Shadow Puppet show characters in the window.
Eggloo (~2004) and Carving in Snow ▲ Zen wants to lay a sap based resin covered cloth on these to bring the shapes inside as little environments - some with patterns, etc. for hiding out in!
Snow Towers (2014) ▲ Pizza Pies are always fun when the top of the snow gets crispy! This is in Sanctuary Park where Zen plays football all year around every Sunday from 10-12. He has also crazy carpeted from one end to the other when the top of the snow gets hard an icy - and played some wonderful games whooshing around with sticks in each hand stabbed into the snow for propulsion!
Early Creations (70s, 80s) ▲ We can see that Zen was creating at an early age. The go-cart made from a broken (or now broken) tricycle is a particularly ambitious effort as is the fort with a lookout tower.
Car with Fins (1984) ▲ Zen added fiberglass fins to his Mazda 808. The shot with the driving helmet was Zen dressed up as a member of the Low Riders a mock band with one hit called "Mild Thing". The car is fairly famous as Zen's best-man-to-be peed on it.Rocking Horse (~1987) ▲ Created for sister Jennifer as a Christmas present, Zen hid the horse outside and led Jennifer on a clued hunt for it. The horse was made in Zen's new girlfriend's parent's house - a nice way to meet the parents of your future wife!
Crazy Carpet Mural (2015) ▲ Dave Hind, Darryl Gold and Dan Zen installed the Dan Zen Isomorphisms of Hierarchy mural on James St. N. at the center of the cultural revolution in Hamilton! The mural is made from used and new crazy carpets and the images come from Zen's creativity framework at https://creativityframework.com.
The World's Longest Eel ▲ The Eel is made from old hoses cut up into beads - hose beads. The top video shows the making of the Eel and the bottom video shows the launch of the exhibit during Art Crawl in HamiltonWhite Elephant ▲ The building next to the White Elephant was being renovated. Zen noticed the similarity between the plaster shapes and potential white elephants so he sketched a series. The intention was to come back with a Dremel but the building was finished soon there after. Zen has been fiddling with findings like this all his life - leaving little messages, rearranging things to make funny shadows, making figures out of branches and leaves, etc.
Around the House ▲ A pot sculpture made from old pots he collected from neighbors, seats in a derelict garden made from deck scraps and one of the neighborhood's favorites... the dragon! Zen's place is now known as the house of the Dragon after the painted wood dragon sculpture Zen puts out at Halloween each year.Ball Board 2 (~2005) ▲ First came the egg board which has a wooden half egg attached to the bottom of a board and used by Elliot, Zen's son, for early skateboard balance practice. Then came the ball board with a croquet ball for rotation and balance practice. Finally there was the inflated ball board that used small soccer balls for increased challenge.Newton's Cradle (2013) ▲ Hanging from under the top deck, Zen created a clacking set of old croquet balls. He recently swiped off he last two of the set while working on the Crazy Carpet mural - oops - well, that is two less balls to head bonk.
Kids' Bikes (~2005) ▲ Madeline was given a beautiful jewel for the front of her bike which was quite a donation as this was one of Zen's sun dial wrist bands where the Sun would appear in different facets of the jewel depending on the time of day. Elliot had a propeller that whizzed around in the wind of the ride! Boy was it cute.Work Bucket ▲ Zen uses buckets as work benches. The offcuts go in the bucket and it is ideal for drilling and sawing on. Tape over the usually lame detergent labels, etc. give the bucket a more friendly feel.Movember Moustaches (~2007) ▲ Zen found a bunch of big curly seed pods on the street and created dozens of moustaches all along the road to represent the November drive for men's health issues including testicular cancer, mental health and inactivity.Scraps ▲ Zen noticed some scraps lying around and slightly adjusted them to make a cute little person.
Mad Science Maker Showcase (2014) ▲ Zen constructed an unusual advertisement for the event which was around the corner of a busy street. It created quite an interactive happening! The show also features various mechanical creations set in the fabulous Spice Factory building in Hamilton.Steampunk Creativity Test (2014) ▲ People pulled down their favourite two characters and the indicator showed what type of field they are most likely interested in pursuing.Hockey Stick Broom (~2000) ▲ Broom bristles fastened to a hockey stick makes sweeping fun in this popular Dan Zen invention. Behind you can see the rocking horse.
Forces of Groovity (2007) ▲ Making cutouts ala Matisse at an art party at Meadowlark in a Guru robe beneath a tree in a wild field.Pots ▲ A few strung up pots and Dan Zen with Devo envy - out at Zen's biological father's place in the states.Lavender Monster! (2010) ▲ Large hairy rodent insect thing - but at least it smells good when you pet it!Spooky Shadow Puppet Show (2000's) ▲ For a few alternating years, Dan Zen held a puppet show on Halloween with his friends for the kids in the neighborhood. He hung a sheet across the garage door and projected a light from inside the garage. The audience sat in the driveway. In this story, there was a cute little teddy bear and the monsters would come along, each one to try and scare it - sounds would be played on the Moog, Theremin, flutes, etc. Eventually, all the monsters would come out and AHHHH! The cute little "bear" sprouted jagged legs and scared them all away - and of course, all the kids!
Rock Towers ▲ What is more fun than stacking stones?! Of course, it was more fun before Inukshuks became popular and everyone thinks you are making one - sigh.Beached Submarine (2012) ▲ Zen usually makes a sculpture of some sort at the beach. Sometimes he does sand drawings or makes functional waterways, etc. He has made lots of castles, hands, maple leaves, octopuses, etc. This one is in North Carolina on family vacation.
Treasure Hunt (1992) ▲ Zen has made dozens of treasure hunts such as this one played with a bunch of mods in Gage Park, Hamilton. Each finger revealed a letter when pulled on along with stars that represented how many letters away from the actual letter we are. The message spelled Thanks Giving as it was Thanks Giving weekend.
Car Rally 2 (1996) ▲ Fantastic fun - and welcome Professor Y star of Zen's first Moustache Mystery! All these beads went radioactive and fell out of Larry Lovebead's car at his favorite parking spots along the Hamilton mountain brow. A bunch of spies has come because one of the beads holds a secret microchip! At the end, the two dozen spies met up at the Jerseyville School (now home of Circus Orange) and passed their collected beads through the decontamination device (later used as Zen's Alien Translator at a space disco party of the Polyester Explosion and beyond) - finally, the microchip was located. It was a very hot day and water guns were everywhere. A sound-track was provided and spies reported backing down long single lane dirt roads with bongos driving them crazy! The Jerseyville Jigsaw Car Rally ▲ Well, you can read all about it. Most memorable was giving the participants only the first part of the instructions and then giving points for different types of begging as they pleaded for the rest. Of course, reports of cars going across lawns are always fun too!
This concludes the Dan Zen Outdoor Creations Exhibit. There are many undocumented and lost projects as to be expected when things are sent into the wild but these will certainly give an indication of the spirit of it all. Also see the Biography Tour in the Museum for a chronological reference of creations.
Outdoor Creations
