After a two year stint, the must-see art installation is ending its run at The Collaboratory, 33 N Main St.
Collaboratory founder Peter Benkendorf said the search is on for a home where artist Robert Blackstone, Crystal City's creator, can continue his work.
A farewell reception will be held at The Collaboratory for the exhibition starting at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26.
Last chance to take in the inspiration that is Crystal City.
Posted by Peter Benkendorf on Saturday, January 6, 2018
Crystal City ending downtown runTake 2: Crystal City is closing in Downtown Dayton. Catch it while you can. Details and photos: http://on.dayton.com/2FtPriv
Posted by Dayton.com on Friday, January 12, 2018
>> EARLIER REPORTING (Sept. 15, 2017):
After more than 25 years, it is still hard for Robert Blackstone to explain the project he began on his grandma's dining room table at age 20 or so.
But there Crystal City is, in a space adjacent to The Collaboratory at 33 N Main St. in downtown Dayton.
“You have to come see it,” Blackstone said. “There are not enough words.”
>> PHOTOS: A trip inside of Crystal City in downtown Dayton
Passersby can see it through the window of the space long ago occupied by an Elder-Beerman department store just off Courthouse Square.
Like any other city, Blackstone’s Crystal City is a work in progress.
“There is always construction,” he said.
The street artist’s animated, mixed-media installation started off as a hobby. Packed with whimsical found objects, it combines a list of hobbies that include music, games, trains, race tracks and video games.
>> PHOTOS: The Collaboratory welcomes 'dreamers and doers' at the to Idea Exchange
“When I first started having kids, I wanted to show them something beautiful,” the father of four said. “It started out on one table and now it is on two tables and the whole floor.”
A painter, Blackstone credits his time at the Dayton Visual Arts Center with turning him into an artist. He found the arts organization by word of month.
From a 1994 Dayton Daily News article on a street art exhibit Blackstone participated in:
He had no portfolio, no slides, no resume. His formal education had ended after a year at Colonel White High School. He didn't know anything about traditional art making, but he felt compelled to create things.
Using discarded items he found on the street in his neighborhood or that he bought at nearby thrift stores, he re-formed used objects to reflect his vision of life around him. Sometimes the new pieces he created stood alone, sometimes they became part of elaborately structured miniature worlds.
DVAC not only accepted Blackstone in, but also encouraged his efforts.
Blackstone said DVAC Executive Director Eva Buttacavoli and Peter Benkendorf of The Dayton Collaboratory helped him find space for the latest version of Crystal City.
Benkendorf said the details found in Crystal City are even more intriguing when Blackstone takes you on a tour of the piece.
“You can spend an hour in there and come back the next day and see something completely different,” he said.
Want to see it?
Those who want to see it in person can contact The Collaboratory at 937-476-1535 or collab@daytoncollaboratory.org to set up an appointment.
The piece includes grafitti by artist Simeon Oyeyemi.
The Playground Theater Company donated the platforms that Blackstone has built Crystal City on for the past 18 months.
>> MORE: You won’t believe what this artist is doing all over Oregon District sidewalks
Sometimes the artist worked such long hours that he only paused for naps in a cubby -- a move inspired by a story famed Dayton artist Bing Davis once told him about family members sleeping under a table due to cramped quarters.
Crystal City is thunders, whirls and flashes.
There are screens, a turntable, crabs, stuffed animals and bowling trophies that Blackstone transformed with paint and the heat of a welder’s torch.
An earlier version of Crystal City was part of an exhibit at the University of Dayton in 1994, said Blackstone, who is an independent construction contractor.
Crystal City is partly a reminder of war and a memorial to Blackstone's late father, Robert Goodson, and grandmother, Aredia Goodson, as well as those who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
It includes monuments representing the Twin Towers, complete with a beacon inside of the Pentagon building.
Blackstone says Crystal City is also about love. Images of love can be found throughout the project.
He says he wants Crystal City’s vistors to use their imaginations, and called on the advice he gives to his youngest daughter.
“Hold onto your imagination for as long as you can,” he said.
>> MORE: See photos of Crystal City in downtown Dayton
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