Its name is a bit of a mouthful and its design is like something from outer space — “cosmic botany,” as its creator put it. The “Glorb Organ” will soon come to life — and you can help.
The Glorb Organ is an interactive LED sculpture installation designed by Rev. Marisa Egerstrom of Florence Congregational Church. Egerstrom has hosted build sessions in the Rainbow Room at Bombyx in Florence weekly on Wednesdays since June 3, where the public is able to take part in the creation process. The final product will be on display at Look Park in Florence from Sunday, July 5, through Sunday, July 12.
The Glorb Organ is made from seven “stems” of alien-esque modules created from paper mache clay, cardboard, spray foam, joint compound, cheesecloth and Titebond, as of this writing — they’re not yet complete. Each module looks somewhat like the skeleton of a hollow sphere and is covered with LED lights. When the project is complete, audiences will be able to interact with the Glorb Organ and control the lights, which will glow inside and outside the modules, via distributed handheld controllers.
“Part of the thing with that is no one person can control all of it, and so, to get the full effect, you actually have to work with other people,” Egerstrom said. “That’s really the heart of all of my installations — inspiring people to work with each other really as collaborators and friends.”
As Egerstrom sees it, this creative work is not too different from her ministerial work. Both of them promote community and connectedness and respond to questions like, “How do we prompt people? How do we set up the conditions of possibility so that we actually see each other as collaborators in joy, collaborators in making community, and not competitors, not threats, not the different ways that we position ourselves as against each other before we’ve even learned each other’s names?” she said.
Egerstrom got the idea for the name “Glorb Organ” when she was working on another installation last year, which she called the “Flowers of Invention.”
“As I kept coming up with different designs, I realized that there was sort of a botanical vernacular, and I kept [picturing] these glowing orbs — ‘glorbs’ — centered on stems,” she said.
One of the inspirations was kelp, which has bladders, and she wanted to make them glow. “There’s an underlying cosmic botany to this,” she said.
Before the sculpture could convey the cosmos, volunteers had to build its framework. Fittingly, a project designed to foster community had to be born from collaboration, too.
At a recent build session earlier this month, a handful of volunteers worked alongside Egerstrom, smearing joint compound onto the modules and smoothing it flat with spatulas and bare fingers.
“Don’t be afraid to smoosh it in there!” Egerstrom told the volunteers.
Volunteer Julie Zuckman, who has experience in puppet-making, said she signed up because she wanted “to realize the project and see [the modules] live and functioning. I make things, but they’re very small-scale. I don’t usually get to do anything like this.”
Volunteer Jennifer McCarthy said she liked the idea of doing a big hands-on community project and was “very impressed by the scale of the undertaking and the need for people to make the little parts of it work.”
Egerstrom detailed the remainder of the creative process after the group finished adding joint compound: adding a layer of epoxy to make the modules waterproof and durable; washing the epoxy to remove residual amines; checking for pinholes; adding artist masking fluid; painting the modules; adding the internal light core; adding the caps; touching up the paint; removing the masking; and programming the lights.
At the time, the sculptures were set to debut publicly in three and a half weeks.
“This is how I work,” Egerstrom said.
“Yeah, some people need a deadline,” Zuckman replied.
While some artists might stall a project out of perfectionism — fussing over details to make it better — Egerstrom’s philosophy is far more practical.
“Enough fuss,” she said. “And get it done!”
The final build session for the Glorb Organ takes place Wednesday, July 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and is open to all community members. To participate, email Pastor Marisa Egerstrom at pastor@fccnorthampton.org. For more information, visit bombyx.live/events/glorb-organ-build-days-4.
