MJ Brovold

deldiosglasshouse.com/stuff-weve-made

art@deldiosglasshouse.com

Professional Summary

Lead Artist and co-founder of Glass House Arts, specializing in large-scale interactive installations and community-driven art. Extensive experience designing, fabricating, and managing complex works—including multi-story steel structures, climbable sculptures, and kinetic tensegrity forms—for major festivals, galleries, and public art venues. Proven capacity to manage budgets up to $40,000, coordinate large and rotating volunteer crews, and deliver projects that balance artistic vision, structural safety, and sustainability. Committed to integrating community participation, re-use of materials, and education into every project.

Selected Public Art & Large-Scale Installations

Uplift (2025, Burning Man – Black Rock City, NV; planned future gallery installation)

10-foot kinetic tensegrity tower constructed from steel and aluminum with custom-fabricated hardware. Built collaboratively with a volunteer crew of ~10. Large-scale tensegrity builds are uncommon and require innovative structural problem-solving. Sustainability integrated at every stage: shop powered by solar, materials sourced from scrapyards, and parts harvested from past projects.

MOOT / Star (2024  Burning Man – Black Rock City, NV; 2024 Youtopia – San Diego, CA; 2025 California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA)

30-foot great stellated dodecahedron built of aluminum tubing, custom steel fixtures, sailcloth panels, and LED flood lighting. The original MOOT installation featured 11 video screens, a video synth display, time-delay feedback loops, and a custom soundscape; all interactive via proximity sensors. Later versions (Star) emphasized climbable interactivity; at the California Center for the Arts, the piece was presented as a large-scale non-climbable public sculpture. Engineered for modular assembly/disassembly and precision-fit interchangeability. Built with a rotating crew of community volunteers across multiple installations, with about 300 people supporting the project in some form. 

Temple of Floating Compression (2023, Saguaro Man; 2023, Burning Man – Black Rock City, NV; 2023 Youtopia; permanent installation at Bombay Beach, CA)

30-foot radius, 12-foot-tall climbable tensegrity sculpture made of wood 4x4s, custom steel end caps, and tensioned steel cables. Built with 20+ volunteers, balancing compression and tension to create the illusion of defying gravity.

Tensegrity Icosahedron (2022, Burning Man – Black Rock City, NV; 2023 part of Temple of Floating Compression; 2024, Open Sauce; 2025 What the Faire, current display at Center Circle Gallery, Escondido, CA)

Large-scale tensegrity icosahedron made from wood 4x4s, custom steel end caps, and steel cables. Demonstrates unique structural balance between compression and suspension. Originally built for Burning Man with a volunteer team, later integrated into the Temple of Floating Compression, and currently exhibited at Center Circle Gallery.

(Additional projects and collaborative builds listed on portfolio website.)

Exhibitions & Installations

Grants & Awards

Leadership & Community Engagement

Teaching & Workshops

Skills & Capabilities