Deciduous art...
It's been a whirlwind here, both literally and figuratively. The installation went up without a hitch and so far has survived 15 mile an hour winds and rain. I ended up usiing all of the extra bottles I packed, widening the panels to reach not just to the bottom of the fence rail, but to the concrete beneath. I was thrilled to be met with three big bags of gorgeously painted and cut bottles from Grand Rapids Christian Elementary Evergreen Campus. Their cobalt blues and greens filled in the beginning of the wedge at the staircase providing a striking contrast to the more subtle colors I had in place. And lots of 'doingies', which is what I call the spiral cut bottles. I had not included many in the panels and was happy to be able to add them, creating a playful bounce to the installation.
John has been acting as photographer and getting bold with trying different angles. Above is a favorite of his images. The one to the right cracks me up because it looks like I am deep in prayer, and I might have been. Getting the colors right is like rearranging a room of furniture.
Being back with Chris and Oren feels like coming home from college. I was here at ArtPrize in 2011 and am so at home in my familiar room with the window above the bed and its light filtered by the leaves of a tree on the verge of bursting from green to yellow. The junior high band still practices on their street and I laughed at the thought that after three years they haven't improved; a new rotation of students has filled the ranks. I guess they are a perpetual beginner band. The streets are familiar, the season identical, but there is a difference. In 2011 cancer had not yet illumined us to a fragility of life we would come to know, and I wonder if sages recall a prior innocence.
So many contrasts. I did not anticipate the courthouse setting would add to the sense of juxtaposition already embodied in an art installation made of trash. Outside the building is a bench dedicated to victims of crime. People come and go, some enjoying their brightened walk to the office. A soon to be mother-of-the-bride chatted while I filled in gaps and adjusted the panels. So many people reach out and touch the plastic, like reaching toward a mystery, the fluttering colors, so glass-like invite curiosity and wonder. A woman walked past and said, "How uplifting" and a gentleman in suit and overcoat exclaimed "Magnificent!" and after a few steps exhaled "wow." Chris noticed the quiet faces lost in worry, some tear stained. They walk toward doors that will determine their future. They look into the colors, deep in thought. I hope that the installation helps lift their burden a bit, even if only subconsciously. Then there are the children! Drawn to the colors and the glitter, they come with a built-in sense of wonder. A little girl argued with John that no, there were definitely more than 10,000 bottles, that there were at least that many in the small portion she was looking at.
Today we are going to 'fluff' as Chris likes to call it. We will open blossoms and manipulate some with heat. I'm sure I will become fixated on what isn't instead of what is, a habit I need to break. I am forever seeing the gaps between the bottles. We decided that if a blossom falls off, surely they will tumble to someone who needs it. I am calling it 'deciduous art.'
