Michael Bowman (Formstone Castle)

Work samples

Baltimore Fancy (Light City 2019)

Formstone Castle's primary focus is large collaborative art pieces that combine old and new as well as different communities. I worked with Baltimore's Arabber stable to restore a light up fruit cart, Baltimore fancy harness, and stable.
ViewScaper

A large functional Viewmaster style toy created for Artscape 2019. The piece was interactive allowing the crowd to change discs, rotate them with a giant lever and turn & tilt the viewmaster to have the images line up with the scenery around the installation. A special night disc was used with blacklight images of UFOs and planets.
What Lies Beneath

A giant 120ft x 40ft L.E.D. video screen floating in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. This installation was hand built at by Formstone Castle collaborators using over 2km of LED light strips with over 60,000 individual lights protected by clear vinyl tubing and controlled by an elaborate power and software design. Animations were created by Michael Bowman, Andrew Dixon, Justin Duvall and Kate Haberer. What lies beneath the waves has always been mysterious. In the darkness of night, the mysteries intensify. Everyone who has swum in a lake, ocean or river in the dark knows this feeling—it is a feeling so ingrained it most definitely has followed life from prehistoric times. Clearly, there are creatures just below the surface, but what kind? Are they friendly? Are they big? Small? Are they trying to tell us something? Will you find answers or more questions? Will illuminating these mysteries help you to understand these feelings… to understand WHAT LIES BENEATH?
Lord of Light (2021)

Radical costuming has been part of my art practice since childhood. With the popularity of cosplay and festival costuming, I have again incorporated costuming into my art practice. I enjoy working with many different types of materials to find a balance of look, durability and sometimes even comfort.

About Michael

Baltimore City

Growing up in the rural area lost between the PA line and the Baltimore suburbs, Michael spent lots of time playing, building and creating. Over several decades, one fascination after another has led him through deep dives into fine arts, historical research, woodworking, travel, electronics, mechanical engineering, and metal fabrication. This background has allowed him to draw on diverse inspirations, forming a unique artistic vision that can merge together materials and concepts. His… more

View Michael's Resume

The Underline (2023)

The Underline is a lighting project on North Avenue under the I-83 overpass. The goal is to use eye-catching illuminated infrastructure to increase the visibility of pedestrian zones and encourage safe behavior by both drivers and pedestrians.

This section of North Avenue physically connects the neighborhoods of Central Baltimore (Station North, Bolton Hill, and Reservoir Hill) to one another, but is often described as scary, dangerous, and confusing for pedestrians and bicyclists due to the high traffic volume from cars driving on and off I-83, the lack of crosswalks, and poor lighting. With creative lighting, this area has the potential to become a vibrant space for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Our proposed and funded intervention is a pair of black light murals, one on each side of the underpass. The south wall will be a restoration of the bridge's current piece, Jerry Butler's 2010 mural "Social Justice". On the north wall, rapidly up and coming muralist Jaz Erenberg has been selected to paint a brand new mural.

In preparation, a test mural was created to test the lighting fixtures and pigments in the under bridge environment ensuring all the money and hard work packs a punch for years to come.

Funding has been awarded in 2022 and we are waiting on some bridge repairs to be completed, liability insurance, and our MOU to start painting the murals and hanging blacklights.

The Underline - Rendering w/ Jaz Erenberg & Jerry Butler

Proposed Rendering for a blacklight mural including work by Jaz Erenberg (Left) and Jerry Butler (Right)
The Underline Rendering of Jerry Butler's Social Justice

A rendering from the proposed Underline blacklight mural project. This piece is a restoration of the mural currently painted there, Jerry Butler's 2010 "Social Justice". Jerry will be brought back to Baltimore to repaint and enhance his mural.
The Underline - Test Pattern

A test of the lighting fixtures and pigments with many layering variables to verify the murals and lights will hold up in the under bridge environment.

Costuming (2021 & 2022)

Radical costuming has been part of my art practice since childhood. With the popularity of cosplay and festival costuming, I have again incorporated costuming into my art practice. I enjoy working with many different types of materials to find a balance of look, durability and sometimes even comfort.

Costumes are an excersise in materials science, fabrication and experimenation. I feel that these costumes, in addition to looking cool, keep my artistic mind moving in new directions.

Don't Mess with THIS Dress

I messed with the dress. For a friend's wedding, all attendees were asked to wear white wedding dresses. I took that as a challenge to turn this 90s style beaded wedding dress into the superhero outfit of my dreams; my secret identity: Matt Trimonaē. The beads and the headpiece catch the light and the cape catches the wind, even at a slow strut.
Lord of Light (2021)

Created for a Halloween performance by Dan Deacon at Santa Fe's Meow Wolf art space, this costume combines my love for blacklight art, comic book art, and espionage and the weird space where these things combine. I won the halloween costume contest :-D.

Cicada Parade-a (2021)

Cicada Parade-a

A large-scale collaborative art project organized by Formstone Castle Collective displayed around Maryland during summer of 2021. This project celebrates the re-emergence of Brood X, central Maryland’s 17-year cicada brood, which returned by the trillions to Maryland during spring and summer 2021 to re-emerge, sing, and meet others.

Starting as a small community project, the Cicada Parade-a touched a nerve with Marylanders and grew into a state wide project with over 600 sculptures created and over 170 of those decorated and displayed publicly by local artists. Formstone Castle had to move fast to capture this moment in time. Sponsors, artists, and locations were found and systems put in place to manage the thousands of moving pieces. As the excitement grew t-shirts, mead and beers were created and tied to the Cicada Parade-a. In the end we hosted a charity auction at the Carroll Mansion in Baltimore raising over $10,000 which was donated to local nature based organization Backyard Basecamp.

With over 170 sculptures decorated, it is impossible to display them all on this portfolio so please check out the official website to see them all on the map: www.cicada2021.com

Emerging from the Dark
The last time Brood X emerged was in 2004—what feels like a lifetime ago by now. The Cicada Parade-a represents an emergence from a long period of darkness to sing, make noise and fall in love with the world again. This theme of transformative change was explored in each piece, not just in the sculptures, but in a collection of stories about looking back and acknowledging the changes and transformations that occur in and around us over long cycles. as well as exploring deep cycles on different scales—cycles that repeat over and over in the rhythms of life, from the orbit of an electron around an atom, the cycle of blood around the body, the earth around the sun, the cycle of the tides in the Bay, election cycles, and even greater to cycles longer than a human lifetime.

Cicada Parade-a Signage

We needed an eye catching sign so the hundreds of people receiving their Cicada Parade-a Sculpture could find our tiny alley art studio.
Cicada Parade-a (Artist: Jessica Rolfe)

Site: www.instagram.com/jess_rolfe "Bronson borrows inspiration from Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights. Bronson’s thorax depicts a scene similar to The Garden of Earthly Delights' left panel, the Garden of Eden. Front and center is a fully mature cicada, representing what could only be Cicada God, standing on his hind legs, illuminated by a golden halo, and draped in a simple yet elegant robe. On each side of Cicada God lies a cicada nymph, freshly emerged from underground. While the nymphs are unsure of their new surroundings, Cicada God comforts the nymph to his left while raising his front-right leg in a blessing. Cicada God informs the nymphs that after 17 years underground, it is time for them to emerge and enjoy the bounty of the earth. The wings of Bronson reflect a scene similar to The Garden of Earthly Delights' center panel. Here, newly matured cicadas enjoy and explore a lush environment free from predators and threats. It's an environment perfect for reproducing, which we can only assume is right around the corner. Bronson's right wing shows cicadas indulging in engorged fruit and seed pods of nearby shrubs. One cicada sits on an oversized blueberry conversing with a duck. The duck enthusiastically displays the cicada some of the delicious delicacies available to savor, as depicted by the cherry he delicately holds in his bill (do not be alarmed, while the cherry may look like a cicada's eye, the duck is most certainly not attacking the cicada). Bronson's left wing shows cicadas making their way to the top of a beautiful stone tower to join together in the most massive cicada orgy of all time. The tower is surrounded by a shallow body of water, dotted with fruit, and overlooking a vast field of green grass and various wildflowers, the perfect place for future broods to emerge. Bronson's legs, head, and the veins of his wings are all laced with gold leaf, framing the scenes of pure cicada nirvana. Bronson's eyes are red and his underbelly is painted solid black as well as his head with only the suggestion of a mouth resembling a cicada of the Great Eastern Brood." Materials Used: acrylic paint with gold leaf
Cicada Parade-a (Artist: Leslie Miller)
Cicada Parade-a (Artist: Jade Nicholson)

Jada Thee Cicada is a Bollywood style big embellished with intricate henna designs painted in vibrant hues of pink, purple, green and blue, all finished off with gold piping and broken mosaic glass adorning her crown and outer edges. She wears the Shades of Jade green Evil eye on her third eye for protection, encouraging joy and happiness. Materials Used: Acrylic paint markers, acrylic paint, broken glass, flexbond
Cicada Parade-a Tshirt Design by artist Justin Duvall

Frequent Formstone Castle collaborator Justin Duvall created a fantastic T-shirt design with many hidden details and symbols. The shirts sold well raising over $3000 for the project.

Thank You For Helping Me Grow (2020)

Created as an entryway for Arlington Elementary’s INSPIRE garden park, this piece is an altar to the Sun which provides us with all we need to grow and learn.

Throughout this project FSC worked with community leaders to make a gate that would show the community that they too deserved something beautiful to enjoy.

A steel arch bends 15′ over head. In the center a child offers a flower as a thank you to The Sun.

Resembling stained glass, the light from the sun casts colorful shadows on the ground through acrylic flowers. The mesh panels feature hundreds of 5 sided plasma cut flowers. Originally cut to hold the ends of reclaimed 2L soda bottles, we adapted the design after speaking with community leaders to create something even more magical.

This was one of several major projects FSC took on in 2019. To pull off these projects we purchased a Sprinter van and brought on Thabo Letsebe to assist during the busy September-October crunch. In the end, I decided to title the piece Thank You For Helping Me Grow.

Garden Gate - Front View

Hexagonal "pixels" form a stained glass flowering vine that crawls up the gate toward the sun. The Sun shines down casting colorful flowers onto the sidewalks below.
Garden Gate - Flowers light the ground

Hexagonal "pixels" form a stained glass flowering vine that crawls up the gate toward the sun. The Sun shines down casting colorful flowers onto the sidewalks below.
Garden Gate - Rear Side View

Hexagonal "pixels" form a stained glass flowering vine that crawls up the gate toward the sun. The Sun shines down casting colorful flowers onto the sidewalks below.
Garden Gate - Child offers gift to the sun for all it gives us.

Child offers gift to the sun for all it gives us.

Baltimore Fancy (2019)

Baltimore Fancy tells the story of the Arabbers, Baltimore’s traditional street vendors. It blends traditions of the past with a futuristic vision, to create a magical experience for the Light City audience, whether they have been Arabber customers for years or are just learning that they exist. Baltimore Fancy will be a truly collaborative project, working with the Arabber community directly. Its title stems from the unique harnesses of the Arabber horses (called “Baltimore Fancy Harnesses”), but also evokes the “flight of fancy” the project entailed—and the pride Baltimoreans have in their creative, self-expressive communities, in which we can all dress up however we like, and be “Baltimore Fancy”.

The sculpture consists of a horse stable and barn yard, a horse cart and a "Baltimore Fancy Harness" all decorated with LED lights, chrome, acrylic. The horse is real and we really had it walk around the harbor each night during the Light City Festival. The Arabbers and their horses are true professionals and are comfortable working in the bustling city center each day.

Baltimore Fancy - Cart with Stable

Performance is a part of the show. Each night the horse and Arabber arrives and puts on the Baltimore Fancy Harness as the crowd watches. At peace in the city, surrounded by people the horse (named Honey), loves the work.
Baltimore Fancy - Fruit!

Each piece of fruit is an addressable LED light. As a whole piece, masterfully organized each night by the arabber, the fruit can play light patterns across the whole cart, fruit and all!
Baltimore Fancy - Stable Atmosphere

The stable as well as the barnyard around it is illuminated with a video wall of LED strips playing full color video. One pattern was wagon wheels created by crankie and papercut artist Katherine Fahey. Along with the hay bales, the barnyard created a relaxing area for the crowd to frolic and relax under the moving lights.
Baltimore Fancy - Stable with City in Background

LED strips between the boards of the stable play full video in coordination with the overhead LED light curtains.

ViewScaper (2019)

The View-Scaper is an interactive and kinetic piece allowing us to view our human family photos from our amazing TRIP TO THE MOON.

Each View-Scaper “eye” displays one of 7 specific scenes per disk, selectable by pulling the giant lever on the side. Looking through the eye pieces with one disk in place, the viewer sees iconic images of the Moon landing superimposed onto the real background of their Baltimore City surroundings. On other disks, which can be changed out just like the real toy, the viewer will see fantastical images of what NASA didn’t want us to see: Alien Pyramids, Robots, and maybe even The Dreamlanders faking the whole thing?! Blacklight effects inside the ViewScaper and lighting on the outside transform the images for nighttime viewing.

The View-Scaper is not merely something to look through and marvel at the scenery—it is a truly participatory, interactive installation. The wheels the participants turn to pan and tilt the View-Scaper are located far enough from each other that each action requires the collaboration of several members of the crowd (or for one person to move around to each wheel). Big toys require big muscles, and kids may need the help of an adult or several friends—working together to create magic is an important part of the participatory art experience.

Viewscaper gazes into the sky

The View-Scaper is an interactive and kinetic piece allowing us to view our human family photos from our amazing TRIP TO THE MOON. Each View-Scaper “eye” displays one of 7 specific scenes per disk, selectable by pulling the giant lever on the side. Looking through the eye pieces with one disk in place, the viewer sees iconic images of the Moon landing superimposed onto the real background of their Baltimore City surroundings. On other disks, the viewer will see fantastical images of what NASA didn’t want us to see: Alien Pyramids, Robots, and maybe even The Dreamlanders faking the whole thing?! Blacklight effects inside the ViewScaper and lighting on the outside transform the images for nighttime viewing. The View-Scaper is not merely something to look through and marvel at the scenery—it is a truly participatory, interactive installation. The wheels the participants turn to pan and tilt the View-Scaper are located far enough from each other that each action requires the collaboration of several members of the crowd (or for one person to move around to each wheel). Big toys require big muscles, and kids may need the help of an adult or several friends—working together to create magic is an important part of the participatory art experience.
ViewScaper - Crowd interaction

What Lies Beneath (2018)

A giant 120ft x 40ft L.E.D. video screen floating in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. This installation was hand built by Formstone Castle collaborators using over 2km of LED light strips with over 60,000 individual lights protected by clear vinyl tubing and controlled by an elaborate power and software design. Animations were created by Michael Bowman, Andrew Dixon, Justin Duvall and Kate Haberer. What lies beneath the waves has always been mysterious. In the darkness of night, the mysteries intensify. Everyone who has swum in a lake, ocean or river in the dark knows this feeling—it is a feeling so ingrained it most definitely has followed life from prehistoric times. Clearly, there are creatures just below the surface, but what kind? Are they friendly? Are they big? Small? Are they trying to tell us something? Will you find answers or more questions? Will illuminating these mysteries help you to understand these feelings… to understand WHAT LIES BENEATH?

What Lies Beneath Title Card

A giant 120ft x 40ft L.E.D. video screen floating in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. This installation was hand built by Formstone Castle collaborators using over 2km of LED light strips with over 60,000 individual lights protected by clear vinyl tubing and controlled by an elaborate power and software design. Animations were created by Michael Bowman, Andrew Dixon, Justin Duvall and Kate Haberer. Music by Adam T. Rush. What lies beneath the waves has always been mysterious. In the darkness of night, the mysteries intensify. Everyone who has swum in a lake, ocean or river in the dark knows this feeling—it is a feeling so ingrained it most definitely has followed life from prehistoric times. Clearly, there are creatures just below the surface, but what kind? Are they friendly? Are they big? Small? Are they trying to tell us something? Will you find answers or more questions? Will illuminating these mysteries help you to understand these feelings… to understand WHAT LIES BENEATH?
What Lies Beneath - Panorama to show scale

The scale of the piece What Lies Beneath in comparison to the crowd. The video displayed on the LED screen in this photo is of tropical fish filmed by Formstone Castle artists just feet away in the National Aquarium.
What Lies Beneath - Animation by Kate Haberer "Sea anemone"

Mixing old and new techniques What Lies Beneath animators used digital and hand drawn animations to be displayed on the giant LED screen.
What Lies Beneath - Control & Power (1 of 12)

Not only did Formstone Castle develop the concept for the piece, but we engineered a modular and robust power and control system to allow for greater flexibility in installation.

Kinetic Kouchii Dekosofa (2017)

The DekoTora truck craze began in Japan during the 1970s, around the time Americans were having a similar craze decorating their vans. The Japanese created wildly decorated trucks outfitted with gratuitous chrome, lights, murals and decadent chandelier lit interiors. Films pushed the craze into the mainstream and within a generation the trucks had evolved to the robotic, hypnotic light shows they are today. Their visual appeal has crossed the ocean, with dekotora trucks woven into the background of feature films by Ridley Scott and Gaspar Noe. The visual aesthetic of DekoTora and these films is the inspiration for Formstone Castle’s Light City 2017 entry, the Kinetic Kauchii DekoSofa—an evolution and transformation of our already proven 2016 Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race entry, the Kinetic Kouch.
A second Japanese inspiration for the Kinetic Kauchii DekoSofa is the works of Studio Ghibli. The celestial mystical creatures embodying nature in Miyazaki’s underlying critiques of the relationship between humans and their environment are the source for our vision of the pilot of the DekoSofa. This mysterious swamp creature has emerged from the Chesapeake Bay into the Baltimore Harbor as a cryptid: a manifestation of a cautionary tale of bay and harbor sustainability. It has found our Kauchii and is delighted in its own exploration of LIGHT CITY, taking along those who wish to explore by couch. Who or what it truly is remains a mystery. Perhaps a captain lost in the bay, trying to find the way home? Over time, the line between human and nature has been lost with natural flora and fauna from the harbor entangled with trash… merged together embodying the inseparable relationship of humans and The Bay.

Lead Artist: Michael Bowman, Costuming by Charlotte Hager, Mural by Katlyn Wyllie, Music by Adam T. Rush

Dekosofa - Safety Crew Chillin

With a publicly pedal powered piece, safety in crowds was a major concern. This was made integral to the piece with a crew of costumed safety officers keeping a safe perimeter around the craft as well as helping the riders to get on and off. Part performance piece, part assistant, the safety crew needed all the rest they could get each night.
Dekosofa - Artist Katlyn Wyllie w/ her 3D mural

Dekotora style usually incorporates a mural. In our case the rear of the couch is actually a multilayered and lit 3D piece created by artist Katlyn Wyllie
Dekosofa - Teamwork!
Dekosofa - Aquarium

Kinetics couches, costumes and cryptids, oh my!