We build things that make people stop, look up, lean in, and feel something. Large-scale public art installations that don’t just decorate a space. They change it. And they change the people who move through it. Our President and Artistic Director for these projects, Wyatt Closs, employs his skills in public affairs strategies to conjure and sketch out concepts that start a journey for artists, designers, fabricators, and clients alike.
What We Believe
Art Makes The Case.
When words stop working. When a press release doesn’t land, when a panel discussion preaches to the choir, when the same audiences keep hearing from the same messengers — art can walk right through the door that logic couldn’t open.
Big Bowl of Ideas has spent over a decade proving this. Again and again, in parks and parking lots, on convention lawns and Capitol steps, on massive concrete walls and rooftop terraces, we have built immersive artful installations that make social change visible, visceral, and impossible to scroll past.
This isn’t decoration. It’s a strategy in three dimensions.
Concept with Purpose
Every installation begins with a question: what do we want people to feel, know, and do? We ideate from the mission outward. The argument follows the art, not the other way around.
Art That Earns Its Scale
We go big when the moment calls for it — 30-foot arches, 50-foot tapestries, 900-square-foot murals. But size is never the point. Resonance is the point. Scale is just how we guarantee people can't look away.
Built to Travel, Made to Last
We often engineer our installations to move — city to city, venue to venue — without losing an ounce of impact. Portability without compromise. A spectacle that works in Houston today and Detroit next month.
The Work
Proof of Concept.
Each of these projects started with a client, a cause, and a challenge. Each one ended with something people talked about, photographed, stood under, walked through, and remembered.
Houston, TX · 2022 · United We Dream
Giant Wireframe Sneakers Marching Into the Future
Two massive metal wireframe sneakers, filled with artwork from immigrant and bipoc artists across the country, installed in Houston’s Emancipation Park. Displayed for nearly 90 days. Designed to be disassembled and reassembled so it could travel anywhere. The concept: anchored in the value of multiculturalism and abundance for all, if we’re all going to march into a better future together, the shoes had to be big enough to hold that vision.
Philadelphia, PA · 2024 · SEIU
Worker Power Wonderland at Independence Park
Two monumental installations — a 30-foot high Arco de Resistencia, a Megaphone Locs Wedge, — framed a workers’ rally steps from the Liberty Bell. Seven collaborating artists and designers. Hundreds of curated icons celebrating the strength and diversity of the labor movement. As one union member put it: “Art helps us talk about serious things.”
National Tour · 2025 · Next 250
WE | BE | GOING: An American Tapestry
A 50-foot, double-sided traveling tapestry — 12 panels, four artists and designers, two sides of America’s story — that premiered at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and then hit the road. Marking America’s 250th through a progressive lens. Engineered to tour from Hawaii to Detroit to LA, sparking community dialogue at every stop. Not just artwork. A call for understanding.
Los Angeles, CA · 2021 · No Going Back LA
Revolve & Resolve: 240 Years of Black LA History
A 12-foot-tall, 25-foot-wide carousel pop-up installation with 16 suspended panels chronicling the past, present, and future of the Black experience in Los Angeles — from breakthroughs in education and business, multiple migrations seeking opportunity, experiences with police brutality to the next generation’s vision.Using archival and contemporary images curated from LA families, public libraries, and local Black artists. A love letter to Black LA.
Anaheim, CA · 2025 · Define American
Main Street USA 2050
An 8′ x 20′ immersive storefront installation on a hotel rooftop built for the influencer event VidCon — an Indian spice market, a Vietnamese donut shop, a Mexican taco stand, a mosque, an Irish fish & chips spot, all side by side — designed to redefine what “Main Street America” looks like. Every surface is grounded in authentic cultural patterns: sari fabric, Moroccan tilework, LA’s iconic pink donut boxes. The client called it transformative. It was.
Niagara Falls, NY · 2025 · Niagara Falls National Heritage Area
Painting Freedom at Niagara Falls
Nearly 900 square feet of hand-painted mural on a concrete underpass wall across the street from the Underground Railroad Heritage Center — honoring freedom seekers who crossed into Canada at this very site. Starting with words and concept, then a graphic design mock-up, completed by a trusted artist collaborator on-site with a brush, bringing history back to life on the wall.
Sacramento, CA · 2021 · SEIU UHW
Forever Essential: A Memorial for Healthcare Workers
Custom-portrait illuminated towers — designed to glow day and night — honoring California healthcare workers who died during COVID-19. A portable memorial that could travel across the state. Research-driven, deeply human, and built to carry the weight of grief and gratitude at the same time. Unveiled on the steps of the California State Capitol.
"Art helps us talk about serious things"
—Union Member at Worker Power Wonderland in Philadelphia
The BBOI Method
How a Spectacle Gets Built.
There is nothing accidental about what we make. Every installation is the result of a deliberate, collaborative, and rigorously creative process — from first brief to final bolt.
STEP 01 Research & Deep Listening
We dig into the cause, the audience, the history, and the space before a single idea gets sketched. We study memorials and monuments and pop-up shows worldwide. We talk to community members. We look at what's been done and figure out what hasn't.
STEP 02 Ideation: Always Multiple Concepts
We never show up with one idea. We come with several developed concepts so clients can choose the direction that truly fits. We pitch bold, we pitch practical, and we pitch the one that's going to make everyone nervous in the best way.
STEP 03 Artist Curation & Engagement
We pull from a trusted constellation of over 20 artists and designers and we match the artist to the message. Cultural fluency, lived connection to the story, and exceptional craft are non-negotiable. The art has to mean it.
STEP 04 Installation & Activation
We're there when it goes up. We coordinate with parks departments, national heritage sites, convention venues, city governments — whoever holds the keys to the space. And once the art is standing, we help you activate it with programming, events, and earned media strategy.
STEP 05 Built to Travel, Made to Last
We often engineer our installations to move — city to city, venue to venue — without losing an ounce of impact. Portability without compromise. A spectacle that works in Houston today and Detroit next month.
The Company We Keep
Clients Who Believe Art Can Do the Work.
Our installation clients share one thing in common: they’re serious about their mission and bold enough to try something different. They want to move people not just inform them.
| SEIU | United We Dream | Define American | Next 250 | No Going Back LA | SEIU UHW | Niagara Falls National Heritage Area |
|---|
Got a Wall? A Lawn? A Moment?
If you’ve got a cause that deserves to be seen — really seen — let’s talk about what we can build together.