Public Art Opportunities by Kristen Maddox
August 13th, 2010 10:35 PMI chose to create the word "RENEW" out of sticks I found in my backyard. I live in Lakeview, in Chicago and I'm very thankful for this tree. Even though our actual yard is a gravel crock of crap. Anyways, this word just popped into my head. I think it works because I used the tree to create something else, whereas the fallen branches could have just been thrown away. It goes from existing just in my backyard, to existing out in the open, even though they are just like other branches in the neighborhood. Then I thought of the significance of renewal, in different instances including the green movement, art, and creative destruction in business. Because of all these different connotations of the word, I hoped other people would connect their own meanings to the art.
But this would be only their first interaction with it.
Next, they would be invited to create their own art. I provided twigs by a piece of found paper and a sign saying, "FREE! Art Supplies! Please take!". I was trying to be tongue-in-cheek and give something to people that they already had. Not to be condescending but as a comment on people's perception and how ordinary things can go unnoticed. I never would have thought to make art with twigs late at night if it weren't for this task, for instance!
I hope people perceived this art as something public. I took my own private twigs into the open and shared them. (haha, that makes me sound like a twig hoarder) and invited them to make their own art.
The public aspect was very important even though it may be more understated and unexpected. Usually when I see street art, there isn't an accompanying invitation for me to make my own art. In this simple way, I hope others become inspired to make something and leave it for people to find. Hopefully they'll do something more artistic, more daring. Something that will renew their environment and also their creativity.
Close-up of sidewalk art
Made with twigs bound together with the stringy parts of other twigs (not sure the real name...hopefully this makes sense). I hope people actually saw this. I tried finding it the next day, but forgot the intersection I left it at because I had purposefully chosen not to know it.
Close-up of sign
Just to be tongue in cheek, I left a sign saying "Free! Art Supplies! Please Take!". I wanted people to pause and take their environment into account. Everyone grumbles about "not having any trees" in the city, but then they don't pay attention to the nature that is around them. I wanted to show people in this small way, that not everything has to be used in its "accepted" manner.
Side View
The word 'renew' just popped into my head as I was thinking of what to make. I also made it interactive because I hoped people would take the sticks, the letters themselves, or at least do SOMETHING with it. Even just walk by, or wonder what I was doing at 1 in the morning with sticks in my bag. My favorite part is that the sticks were already there for the taking. (well similar ones at least...the twigs I used were gathered from fallen ones in my backyard). Interactive art opportunities are everywhere! But people like to be invited, so I left an invitation.
