Ascent
Blank Performing Arts, Indianola, IA - 2021
In 1973, renowned critic Mary Ann Feldman gave Des Moines Metro Opera its first review. In it, she couldn’t resist a clever reference to the Company’s first opera, Puccini’s La Rondine (“The Swallow”). She likened the experience of attending the first season to a witnessing a ‘fledgling company taking to the air for the first time”. No one involved that first season could have predicted with what precipitous rise that fledgling company would soar. Ascent serves as tribute to the late Robert L. Larsen, Founder and Artistic Director of Des Moines Metro Opera and Simpson College Faculty Member. The installation celebrates the 50th anniversary season and looks forward to the next 50 years of music and theatre making!
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Ascent is made possible by a gift form the Robert L. Larsen Estate and from Bravo Greater Des Moines in honor of Tom and Linda Koehn as the recipients of the Bravo Award in February 2022.​
When Artistic Director Michael Egel approached me to design a piece for the theatre atrium to celebrate DMMO’s 50th Anniversary, I was thrilled to oblige I have so many fond memories of working as their Art Director over 20 years ago that to be asked to be part of celebrating such an incredible organization was my honor.
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Michael told me the story about the first opera ‘La Rondine’ and showed me a photo of a mobile made from hundreds of paper origami birds as inspiration. I often use paper in my art so I got to work folding and molding, but nothing was speaking to me. Then I remembered when I was in NYC this past spring, I saw a window filled with the most luminous and brilliantly colored crinkled paper. It reminded me of the vivid transparency of their logo. That was it! The dichroic film is laminated onto a clear, rigid sub-straight from which over 350 swallows were cut, hand molded and gingerly hung. Bravo DMMO! Here’s to 50 more!
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Molly Spain
