MAPLE ST. CONSTRUCT
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    • SEASON 1 (2017-2018) >
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THE BLUES
Mike Nesbit, 2018
Concrete
Black Contemporary, Ames, IA


THE BLUES is a community-involved architectural and art installation situated amongst the ruins of structures of a defunct 1979 seed-drying facility in Ames, Iowa. The installation initiates a dialogue between art, the landscape, and the post-industrial environment.
 
THE BLUES is a literal approach to representing the transcendental high skies of the Midwest by pushing artistic techniques with precast concrete through the introduction of color as a means to produce abstract work that contextually captures the sublime scale of the region’s skies while situated within an underutilized site.
 
In total, there are four (10’-0” W x 12’-0” H) architectural precast panels in this installation. Each panel is a unique combination of a custom blue concrete pigment and white concrete.  The precast panels for THE BLUES were produced in Omaha, Nebraska and transported to the site in Ames, Iowa. With the help of a local farmer and his equipment, the panels were hoisted from the truck and strategically placed on steel A-frames amongst the ruins of structures of the defunct seed-drying facility. The placement of the panels allows visitors to the site the opportunity to wander through the agrarian facility of industrial and machine-like structures and confront these mysterious blue and white concrete objects.
​

Photos Courtesy of Mike Nesbit Studio: © Taiyo Watanabe & Dan Schwalm

​About the Artist:
Mike Nesbit is a fine artist based in Los Angeles.  With a background in architecture, his multidisciplinary trajectory greatly informs his artwork, allowing Nesbit to explore areas between art and architecture with a focus on technique, repetition, and representation. Nesbit has participated in solo and group shows throughout the United States.  He received a Bachelor of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles and played four years of professional baseball with the Seattle Mariners.
www.mikenesbit.com
© 2017-2025 Maple St. Construct
Website Design by Ross Miller
  • ABOUT
    • BOARD OF DIRECTORS
    • THE SPACE
  • EXHIBITIONS
    • SEASON 8 (2025) >
      • PICTURES OF NOTHING
    • SEASON 7 (2024) >
      • THE SILENCE OF LIGHT
      • SEASONS
      • HOME ON THE RANGE
      • DE STIJL TRANS AM
      • SITE WORK
      • FOR RICHER, FOR POORER
      • MATTER SHIFTING SHAPE
    • SEASON 6 (2023) >
      • OPEN STUDIO V
      • NEBRASKAFLAT
      • WORDS HAVE GONE TO SLEEP INSIDE...
      • EN SILENCIO
      • SHOW AND GO
      • OPEN STUDIO IV
      • POST FACADE
      • GANDZASAR AT HIGHLAND
    • SEASON 5 (2022) >
      • WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPEN
      • VENTURING MIDWEST
      • OPEN STUDIO III
      • BROKE EVEN WHEN I BET THE FIELD
      • HARMONY AND DISSONANCE
      • OPEN STUDIO II
      • THE FADE
      • SPIRALING SOLITUDE
      • IMPROVISE
      • OPEN STUDIO
    • SEASON 4 (2021) >
      • Automatic Composition
      • This Will Get Us Somewhere
      • CRUISE CONTROL
      • Off Alondra and Hickory
      • DIG
      • Unfamiliar Appearing
      • Floral Rodeo
      • Shiny Side Up
      • Expecting Snow
      • FORWARD
    • SEASON 3 (2020) >
      • EMPTY SPACES
      • Winter Saturdays are for Spring
      • A High Disregard
      • Between the Void
      • 12:38
      • Precarious as Obtained by Entreaty or Prayer
      • A Morning in Little Italy
      • Past Grounded in Nature
      • Silence and Intimacy
      • Highway Hypnosis
      • Between Nonchalant and Relaxed
      • The Fickle Crowd
      • High Peak Monocacy
      • 251,000 Trees
      • Textured Sound
      • The Room and The Landscape
      • VERNACULAR
      • MOVEMENTS
    • SEASON 2 (2019) >
      • FOUNDATION DRAWINGS
      • DANIEL IN OMAHA
      • SHED
      • Little Italy Abstracts
      • CHARRETTE
      • The Hand and The Arm
      • A Surfer's Time
      • Los Angeles Sunsets and Quiet Landscapes
      • Perspective BLUE
      • No Road Most Traveled
      • POST-NOVIS
      • Pairings
    • SEASON 1 (2017-2018) >
      • KATHY
      • Above The Silos
      • THE BLUES
      • To Be Pigeon Holed
      • The Fool's Journey
      • Wall Assembly
      • The Map and its Porcelain Goat
      • Loose Landing
      • Long Ago, Far Away
      • Victories Over The Sun & Campus Stories
      • Perspective Flood
      • Falling Vertical
      • Textured Blue
      • FLOOD
  • LECTURES
    • 2025
    • 2024
    • 2023
  • SUPPORT
  • PRESS
  • SHOP
    • MERCHANDISE
    • PUBLICATIONS
    • PICTURES OF NOTHING ARTWORKS
    • THE SILENCE OF LIGHT ARTWORKS
    • 2025 MSC Design Lecture Series Sponsorship
  • CONTACT