The Midwest sky
It’s vast and often patterned like a quilt. The clouds are very homogenous, with flat-bottoms and with a fluffy tops. I love cloud watching and what happens when I stare up there– the phenomena of one’s sense of time melting away.
PLAY part 1 and 2 are positioned in spaces where people passing by are likely to be playing, or by association can imagine playful activities. PLAY in Mickleson Park is positioned in a ball park where the act of playing is the architects’ intention. PLAY on the swing set is positioned along the river near a pedestrian/bike path, a space where people are likely to be biking/walking/jogging, and the swing itself suggests a childhood image. In other words, I’ve been seducing empathetic audiences with leading questions.
Michael brought up a quote a while back that I’ve been ruminating on internally:
“You are either supporting or subverting the existing power structures; there is no neutral.”
I recently posed the thought to my drawing seminar peers. It made them uneasy.
With that, I decided to take my message to a more public space, one where I might nudge the trajectory of passers’ thoughts. I’ve been doing recon on overpasses in the Fargo/Moorhead area. Many of them are great locales for art, a public message, graffiti, etc but few of them are accessible without some serious safety gear. One of my classmates suggested a pedestrian bridge that overlooks I-94, a major freeway through town and the great thoroughfare of the Midwest. I visited the bridge to experience the space, get a sense for the foot and car traffic.
After experiencing the space, what struck me was that the bridge was pleasantly colored, like the sky. Viewing it from the freeway below, the color makes the steel-concrete structure less domineering and distasteful. The other notable observation was the gross volume of traffic that passes under at any given time.
A trip to Joann’s for some batting, felt, thread and needle, some expert advice from a practiced quilter, and I was set to start computing clouds. I bought high-loft batting and doubled it up to make the letters fluffy and thick. I sewed the double layers together to make on-site construction easier.
On Saturday, I installed PLAY- part 3. It was cold and windy with a little sprinkle here and there. I hadn’t anticipated how cold it was going to be but rather dreaded the thought of being above the freeway for hours. I pushed the letters through the chain link to the other side, safety pinning it to the fence to prevent it from falling on the cars below (that was a little nerve-racking). I proceeded to sew the batting to a felt backing on my side of the fence. I liked the idea of sewing onto chain link over a freeway. It was an interesting experience as sewing is usually a relaxing, in-home activity and well, standing on a freeway overpass is not. After some deep breathing, my first letter on the fence, a few pedestrian visitors, lots of honking from below, and some extra layers courtesy of Michael, I started to relax and be in the moment. Four hours later, the installation was complete.
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