One for the Record...

… and before the year ends, I am finally posting my Art Grows Here installation for 2013!

For those of you who have happened upon my blog, Art Grows Here is a ten day mapped-guided tour of art and performances throughout my community and I am a co-founder.

"Anything You Want it to Be" AGH 2013 and "Chime In" in the background from AGH 2012

This year I worked in collaboration with my fourteen-year-old grandson, Sam.  We began with remnants from a newly installed fence, the posts from an old fence, an old iron hoop (used for storing wood), some odd found items including an antique garden pick-hoe, a collection of keys, some vintage Erector set parts, and a rusty railroad pick. Then I told Sam our project could be "anything you want it to be" and this became the title of our work. I let him take the lead (he created all of the essential elements while I advised and wired the wood around the hoop) and initially he said that the hoop would make a good dream catcher but as he moved things around he made a wonderful eagle-like bird which became our centerpiece and kept a strong Native American influence.

Raven made from old rusty found items including a railroad pick and garden hoe. "Feathers" and "claws" made with keys!  

On the left post a "bear" made of more found items including springs for a jaw and a serrated picture hanger for teeth.

A fish made of Erector Set parts and a key.

 The opening day of the show the fish was spinning in a strong circular direction and we found this particular cigarette box (below) on the lawn nearby.  We never saw and couldn't make the fish spin like that again and we don't know anyone who smokes.

This made us pause and wonder where it came from with it's exact color match and Native American design.

I'll be posting more of what I've been up to in 2013 and coming soon plans for our 5th (!!!) anniversary tour coming July 18-27, 2014!

Play like a six-year-old!...

The other day my six-year -old niece came to play my interactive musical installation "Chime In",  for Art Grows Here 2012.  I'm not sure who had more fun- Lydia playing the chimes- or me watching her!

There's a short Ipad clip for you to listen to and enjoy here..

Bravo, Lydia!!!  'Show 'em how it's done!

Chiming In!... Art Grows Here 2012

Here's my interactive outdoor musical installation for Art Grows Here .

"Chime In"

“You are the music while the music lasts.” - T. S. Eliot

I placed my structure here beneath the shade of a tall maple tree, surrounded by birdsong to create a sense of enclosure, not unlike a sanctuary.  Each visitor is invited to discover through interaction how to create their own sound.  There are no predictable notes. To make the chimes ring, gently push the pipes back with your fingers or softly strike them with the provided sticks.

Many Thanks to my husband Michael  and my neighbor Leon, for their help with the construction of my installation.

This is one way to play...

...and this is another.

  I encourage visitors to make their own kind of music!

I'll be back with more soon!

Capturing the Magic...

It's one thing to create and experience an installation but the way it's photographed is equally important for future reference. This is why I wanted to share these photos, taken by my daughter Alissa Mead. She has a natural eye for composition and a storybook way of capturing and enhancing images... just perfect for my "Perfect Fairytale" installation.

Many thanks Alissa!

"Bird" needle, thread and scissors, installed atop the birdfeeder...

There it is hiding at the left behind the Rose of Sharon. Notice the beautiful birdhouses made by my Dad. All of them were occupied for the installation! So, with all the birds present and the "ribbons being carried" across the side yard, nature did cooperate as I had hoped!

A slightly different view and color range.

This one looks like a bride walking down the aisle... I think I must have been influenced by the fact that this IS where Alissa walked into the back yard and under the arbor on her wedding day in 2005. That was the first Perfect Fairytale, but with a candy-themed, lollipop twist!

"American Dream"...

This is my second installation for 2011 Art Grows Here , a self-guided tour of neighborhood art installations and performances in my community. It is a Home Sweet Home icon made out of stitched and quilted coin wrappers and burlap that I glued to wood and framed. I then hung it from antique chain like an old sign on my front porch. The story behind it is based on my personal challenges with home ownership yet it also speaks to the larger and vastly changing landscape of the American Dream.

photo Alissa Mead

Detail of coin wrappers and burlap.

(There were many who didn't notice this installation at first and said it looked like it belonged there. It was fun to see their faces once they saw what it was made of!)

photo Alissa Mead

On the porch.

photo Alissa Mead

I have re-posted this one below for you to compare the day and night effects on this installation that I mentioned in my previous post.

photo Kimberley Hincman

(Apologies for the color/contrast issues of my art in some photos, due to who-knows-what?)

I have many artful photos, some with details not yet shared, that I will add in my next post!

A Nighttime Story...

I had to share these images of my Art Grows Here "Perfect Fairytale" installed at night. It gives her an other-worldly feeling, more like a Tim Burton movie than Disney's Cinderella. My second installation, "American Dream" is an iconic "Home Sweet Home" sign made from quilted coin wrappers and burlap is pictured at the bottom of the page. It too changes from it's overall feeling of old-time front porch charm into a more Burton-like feel at night. I hope to post daylight photos and more info about that installation in a future post.

Hauntingly beautiful.

photo: Alissa Mead

I can almost feel the flowers waking at her feet, beginning to grow and bloom in vines around her. My sparrows fly out from their birdhouses in the dark light, still cast perfectly for their starring role.

photo: Kimberley Hincman

From the sideyard and onto the porch for my second installation for Art Grows Here, "American Dream". (I love the way the wind knocked my trellis back creating the perfect mysterious mood for this photo.)

photo: Kimberley Hincman

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home... for ART!

"Perfect Fairytale" installed outside

This is one of my two 2011 Art Grows Here installations, "Perfect Fairytale". It was inspired by the scene in Cinderella where the birds make her dress. (More info in my previous post.) I made it from over a years-worth of True Value birdseed bags. The idea was born from the question about what happens to these bags after I throw them away. The birdhouses (made for me by my father and painted by me), were included in the installation along with the birdbath and small portions of birdseed scattered around to produce bird activity. This has created a magical environment with plenty of birdsong and flying back and forth which was what I had hoped for!

all photos Priscilla Herrington

A few more details to come!