At Rbhu Engineering, we take immense pride in our commitment to community service. This year, we are providing $12,000 worth of pro-bono engineering services with Rbhu Gives Back. Our Rbhu Gives Back grant program was started five years ago, and it has helped many artists in need realize their vision. Rbhu is celebrating a decade in business this year and to date, we are proud to say that we have successfully engineered over 350 sculptures worldwide in various materials and sizes. Follow the link below to complete the application (you can also find a .pdf of the applications here fore review before applying).
Applications for Rbhu Gives Back 2024 are now open until October 28th, 2024.
2023 Selected Projects
We feel such warmth being able to give back to our community. We continued our annual Rbhu Gives Back grants, gifting $12,000 of pro-bono engineering services this year to three new sculptures.
HABA by Peyton Scott Russell
Haba is the Paiute word for shade or shadow. HABA is a structure of face stencils representative of Pyramid Lake & Paiute Tribe. The intent is to honor and highlight this Indigenous community and provide Burning Man participants with educational insight about the land, its people, and the historical significance of Black Rock City. The HABA installation is about honoring, celebrating, and giving thanks to the Paiute Nation, a people typically excluded. Through relationships and workshops, the Paiute members engaged in art-making processes that created personal art. This guided the images used in HABA, fostering participation for a shared experience by the Paiute community and for Burning Man 2024. Post Burn, the installation will be donated to Pyramid Lake Museum. This ensures the work has an impact beyond Burning Man. HABA is a sculptural installation that offers a provocation to do the shadow work—a bridge to honoring a people not to be forgotten.
Constellations: A Timeline of Language by Taraneh Hemami
Letters of 100 most spoken languages in the world create a canopy of playful colors and patterns in multiple mirrored and translucent calligraphy filled spheres. The installation reflects a timeline of relationships that extend centuries to the roots of each language, making visible the kinship of diverse languages across geographies as well as their transformation through history. Interacting with its surrounding, refracting color and patterns, Constellations invites curiosity and wonder, creating a place for gathering and conversations. Part of the collection of the New York City Department of Education, Public Art for Public Schools (PAPS) X496, Commissioned by NYC School Construction Authority. Fabrications: Versteeg Art Fabricators LLC
Sólace Star by Nicole Beck
This piece has been commissioned by the Capital Development Board of Illinois' Art-in-Architecture Program to design and install a 15' stainless steel sculpture for the South Courtyard of the Quincy IL Veterans Home Long-Term Care Facility for those with Dementia and Alzheimer's. Sólace Star is a site-specific work that incorporates custom-laminated dichroic glass, LEDs, and integrated seating areas with custom seat backs that will feature colorful and textural mosaics providing comforting and healing imagery. The center of the sculptural spiral is anchored by a ring laser cut with calls to HONOR, DUTY, SERVICE & DIGNITY, concepts integral to the Veteran's lives of service. Rendering credits: Rob Magiera
2022 Selected Projects
We feel such warmth being able to give back to our community. We continued our annual Rbhu Gives Back grants, gifting $12,000 of pro-bono engineering services this year to three new sculptures.
A Feast of Flowers by Jenni Ward
A Feast of Flowers by Jenni Ward will be an abstract, bright and colorful installation of oversized flowers that create a sense of whimsy and wonder. The proposed project will be a corridor of ceramic umbel flowers on steel stems that patrons can wander beneath. The inspiration comes from her exploration of the natural world and curiosity about identifying plants. This project talks about the disconnect we have with nature and the global issue of food insecurity. It is Jenni's goal to create a sculpture that will be a notable feature of the rail trail section, a place where users of the rail trail might take a moment to stop and smell the flowers.
Shroomin Bloomin by Dan Shaughnessy IV
is a larger-than-life interactive experience coming to a city near you. These psychedelic organisms are part of a flourishing and harmonious colony of energy. “Shroomin Bloomin” is designed to interact with patrons on multiple levels, using sound, light, and sensors to ignite unique experiences. The viewer is invited to explore, play, and discover the space that these majestic beings inhabit.
No. 1225 Chainlink by Rana Begum
is inspired by the colors and geometry of the mountains, using the ubiquitous material of a chain link fence to engage with its symbolism and materiality. Viewers will enter the piece and travel through it as they would a maze, as the participant advances, the fences will begin to elevate off the ground, allowing for an unexpected invitation to journey beneath the fences and experience them overhead.
2021 Selected Projects
Engineering large-scale art sculptures is our mission, and we are fortunate to play a part in bringing life transformative experiences to the world. We exist because of our community and their vision, so we feel the need to do our part to support them. We are honored to announce that the Rbhu Gives Back grants will be offering $15,000 worth of free engineering services to artists in need.
New Mexico Military Cadets by Austin Weishel
THis project commemorates our service men and women, particularly drawing attention to women and people of color, two subgroups who often don’t receive equal representation in the military.
Gather by Kristin Tollefson
is part of a traditional land restoration project belonging to the community of the Duwamish, Suquamish and Muckleshoot people. This project honors the life-giving waters of the Duwamish River and recreates access for the community. This project as a whole is committed to restoring the vibrant ecosystem that supports the locals and the future generations to come.
Bodega by Nicoletta de la Brown
is an interactive art installation. Bodega, or a small corner store, is a community space that showcases the importance of nourishment. Considering how access has changed during the past year, this piece represents the importance of feeding ourselves with kindness and nourishing our bodies, mind, and spirit.
Autumn Spire by Eric Coolidge
is a gothic-inspired steel tower, illuminated with the colors of autumn at night and meant to evoke the memories of changing seasons. This is an interactive piece and it is created for and by the Burning Man community, where it will be showcased at Black Rock City in 2022
2020 Selected Projects
We kick started the Rbhu Gives Back program during the COVID-19 crises, where we pledged to donate $30,000 worth of engineering services to help bring communities together and use art as a means for sharing the collective union of people and their surroundings.
NEIGHBORS by Matthew Mazotta for the city of Terre Haute, IN
The project is two "house-like" structures that are located next to each other as playful public spaces where the community can come together to talk, relax, swing, and enjoy the park. The structures hold a surprise though! They can transform into a variety of orientations, allowing for creative programming to address community-identified needs. The project was developed based on the contribution of the local residents, many of whom expressed a feeling of a lack of a “neighborhood center” due to the many businesses and amenities leaving the area, which was originally the backbone of the public experience and daily needs of the neighborhood.
Winklebeck Sculpture by Misha Naiman for the city of Redwood, CA
The inspiration came from the idea that they wanted to build a rearing Pegasus, with metal wings stretched out wide towards the heavens. Naiman loves incorporating the mythological into her art. The body of the Pegasus will be made of hand bent metal rods. It will be lit up at night using brightly colored LED lights.
Hybycozo projects - Various Locations
There are two main projects that they could use our help with, one which will be installed in Sacramento, and one that will be installed at the US Embassy in Turkey.
Earth from Space by Creative Machines for the NASA Goddard visitation center in Greenbelt, MD
This kinetic sculpture encourages visitors to look up at the moving stainless steel spheres and see a slowly moving fisheye reflection of one's self and the world below. The three orbs represent the view from above that a satellite see, and loosely correspond to the sun, earth and moon
The Tompkins Giant Project by Jarod Cherzewski for the city of Ithaca,NY
The project was inspired by events that took place in the 1950's. The townspeople in Ithaca, NY fabricated the remains of a giant as a publicity stunt. That’s why the design Jarod Charzewski came up with was inspired by a mixture of science fiction and pop culture. Creatures from fantasy animation writer/director Hayao Miyazaki as well as Groot from the Marvel Universe also made their way into the design.
Desert X consulting services for Coachella Valley
Desert X is an international contemporary art exhibition , taking inspiration from the desert landscape of Coachella Valley to create original site-specific art installations and performances by some of today's most engaging international contemporary artists and is working to inspire in the midst of the global health crisis.
Playing Together by James Moore for the city of Sunnyvale, CA
This project embodies the inclusivity of all beings, a sentiment that Rbhu stands behind completely. James Moore believes that "there are universal stories that we can all identify with. These shared stories built the communities we love. They’re how we connect with one another. They’re how we comfort and support one another. I create sculptures that make those common stories visible." The sculptures are intended to provide the public with shared visual experiences that are accessible, engaging, and fun. Sunnyvale's decision to include them demonstrates the city's commitment to inclusion and accessibility.
2019 Selected Projects
Transportapueblos: The Resilientes by Alfredo ‘LIBRE’ Gutierrez
This coyote will be a sculpture for all but directly relates to the local Los Angeles residents and recent arrivals crossing our southern border. The location of the installation at El Pueblo is directly across from Union Station, to address people both entering and exiting the train terminal. This coyote sculpture is not only an artwork that will collectively be created by members of this community but will display information for immigrants to find resources that directly relate to their needs. “If it just helps one person, one migrant, to not get mugged or to find a safe place to sleep one night, I'm satisfied. That means you can change the life of someone with a sculpture.”
-Libre Gutierrez
Solar Portals by Michael Brown and David Cole
Our project for Orchard Elementary School in Richmond, Washington explores light, shadow, and optics. The overall shape of the structure was derived from half of a Rhombicosidodecahedron. A Rhombicosidodecahedron is a globe made up of 20 triangles, 30 squares, and 20 pentagons. In each of the faces, we have cut portals that allow the visitors to explore light, shadows, and optical properties through a variety of colored filters, lenses, mirrors, and stencils.