Sanctuary in action

When the wind blows, the bells ring. In designing “Sanctuary,” I used salvaged industrial gas cylinders. Now turned into bells, the cylinders make resonant sounds when struck with the inner clapper. The length of the cylinder plus the width and thickness of the steel creates the exact tone of the bell.

I wanted the bells to have a beautiful and clear pitch, and I wanted the two bells to sound good together. In each attempt to tune the bells, I removed ¼” of steel from the bottom of the cylinder to finely adjust the sound. It took many, many cuts to tune the bells together.