John Mackey's "Lightning Field" takes its title from a work of art by Walter De Maria. That work is a massive expanse of New Mexico desert, claimed and transformed by the artist via an installation of steel rods: planted in the earth and reaching toward the sky, they call down its power ? literally creating man-made lightning storms. Like them, Mackey's piece speaks to the ancient impulse to summon nature's power, and the magic such acts unleash. A sense of energy runs throughout the work, with the driving onstage percussion enhanced by the sound of thunder (provided by inexpensive hand-held percussion instruments called "thunder tubes") surrounding the audience.
