Before buying a “Stairway to Heaven,” you’ll want to be sure that the structure is safe, stable, fire-resistant and completely up to code, right? We assume that Lady We All Know, who sounds like an informed and confident shopper, did so before making her own stairway purchase.
Good thing Jim Muir, the chief building official for Clark County, has drawn up a basic blueprint for the legendary Led Zeppelin flight of fancy. You can peruse Muir’s stairway schematic while it’s on display for the next couple of months, up in the Rebecca Anstine Sixth Floor Gallery of the county’s Public Service Center, as part of an exhibit of artworks by county employees.
You’ll find “a deep well of creativity and skill” in their paintings, carvings, sketches, photographs and fiber creations, curator Erin Dengerink said. In all, she said, there are 28 artworks by 18 artists whose day jobs are everything from office assistant to weed-control technician to prosecuting attorney.
The “Workforce/Artforce” exhibit opens with an artists’ reception at 11:30 a.m. today, in the sixth floor gallery at 1300 Franklin St. The event is free and open to the public, with live music provided by the Pete DuBois Song Circle. “Workforce/Artforce” will remain on display in the gallery, which is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, through Feb. 23.
If You Go
What: “Workforce/Artforce,” an art exhibit featuring the works of Clark County employees
When: Opens with artists’ reception at 11:30 a.m. today. Exhibit continues: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, through Feb. 23
Where: Sixth floor, Clark County Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver
Cost:Free
Art about songs
When the call went out for employee artworks, Muir immediately brainstormed a way to combine his day job with his love of rock ‘n’ roll: blueprints for buildings and structures mentioned in songs. And what better song to start with than the one often hailed as the greatest rock song of all?
“I sat down with pencil and paper and listened to the song a few times and picked up some things I could put down in a blueprint,” he said. (But even after several listens to those mythical, magical lyrics, Muir confessed, “I’m still not sure I know what it’s about.”)
Muir’s final stairway plan includes dimensions for the risers and runners as well as pointers about construction materials. The stairs must be “May Queen marble” with an ADA-compliant railing finished in glittering gold. Bordering the stairs is that enigmatic hedgerow — you know, the one with a bustle in it — and up ahead is a “closed” sign for the store and a cloudy “when you get there you’ll know” indicator for your ultimate destination. The vicinity map features whispering winds, forest echoing with laughter and, of course, two paths you can go by.
Muir said he grew up loving the British Invasion rock ‘n’ roll of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He saw Led Zeppelin live, back in that day, but the concert that made the biggest impression on him was a Rolling Stones show — because it almost rendered him deaf, he said.
When this call for artworks went out, he said, he had no shortage of song-blueprint ideas. Picture his possible designs for sites like “Hotel California,” “Love Shack,” “Brick House” and even “The House of the Rising Sun.” He hoped to have the natural companion to “Stairway to Heaven” done in time to hang alongside it in this exhibit, he said, but just didn’t find time for “Highway to Hell.”
Truth be told, could a builder create an actual stairway based on this blueprint? “Probably not,” Muir laughed.
Even though it’s signed and stamped APPROVED by the chief building official himself?
“Well, you could build a set of stairs,” he said. “But certainly not to heaven.”
