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Prairie Grove, AR, 72753
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Journal

News from Dowd House Studios: places to find our pottery, exhibitions, classes & workshops, new forms and exciting projects.

Filtering by Tag: Public art

FoundSpace 2018: Part 2

Jenny Dowd

This week FoundSpace 2018 was unveiled at Emily Steven's Park! This art will be on display until August 8, and there is plenty to explore. I'm one of 5 artists invited by the JH Land Trust and JH Public art to create a temporary installation that will bring awareness to our public wild spaces. At FoundSpace, the challenge is to create something that will help visitors see the space in a different way- and hopefully discover something new every time they visit.

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This awesome map, designed by Cal Brackin, was screen printed onto bandanas by Walt Gerald. 

FoundPrints by the Sun

Brittany Hill took inspiration from the organic material found in this location to create naturally dyed flags. Each represent a species that has been transferred to the fabric through printmaking processes that rely on the sun.

Looksees

Bronwyn Minton invites viewers to come over and take a looksee. Her large sculptures are hard to resist and each offer spyglass holes- look through and you might just see something.

The Small Village of Treepoli

Bland Hoke enticed the small occupants of Treeopoli to construct a tiny village of hanging houses and rope ladders. Look closely, many details are hidden within the village.

Chronicles of the Introverted Minifauna

Matt Daly and I have created thaumatropes (check out last week's blog post for details) that tell stories about the little critters that are easily overlooked. So far we have installed 4... but keep an eye out, we will be installing more around the park over the next month!

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categories Community Projects, New Ideas, Projects, Sculpture
tags FoundSpace, JH Land Trust, JH Public Art, Bronwyn Minton, Bland Hoke, brittany hill, Matt Daly, Public art, thaumatropes

Passages

Jenny Dowd

A few weekends ago, with the help of Jackson Hole Public Art, I installed Passages over the patio of Persephone Bakery. This installation will be up through Jackson's Fall Arts Festival, so if you are in Jackson be sure to stop by!

Passages is part of a series I have been working on since 2009, each installation is unique with its own challenges (see them here.) This is the first opportunity I have had to install these pieces outdoors, I found the main challenge to be working in a public space. I strove to find a balance between visibility while not creating hazards in a busy, popular restaurant. 

Each form is welded steel that has been dipped in Egyptian Paste and fired in a kiln. I strung them from a spiderweb of wires stretched between the canopy of trees that makes this patio so cozy and inviting. The boats (or leaves or fish or birds or bats...) form lines and groups, drips when they meet a tree and swirl around overhead. Sometimes they seem to hide in nooks between branches, offering moments of discovery.

I am so happy to have been able to add something extra to one of my favorite spots in Jackson; every installation of Passages offers new ways to activate space. This has been beautifully written about by Katy Niner on the Persephone Blog. 

Next time you are looking for a coffee or beautiful baked treat, be sure to stop by Persephone... then see if you can find all the boats!

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categories Art Exhibitions, Community Projects
tags Jenny Dowd, Passages, Public art, Jackson Hole Public Art, Persephone Bakery, Jackson Hole

FoundSpace 2016

Jenny Dowd

This week I had an incredible experience while working with the FoundSpace project at Rendezvous Park. Partnering with the JH Land Trust, FoundSpace connects people with land through art and conservation, ultimately educating the public about open spaces in the Jackson Hole area. 

This year my role as an Assistant Gardener meant that I helped artists install multiple sculptures that interact with the R Park space. 

Installations include a Pond Flute by Bland Hoke, a Ring of Fire installed by Ben Roth designed to encourage a refreshing jump off a bridge into a pond. A mobile art studio became a place to create nests as well as Leaf and Secret Message Poems with Matt Daly as well as an Uncommon Garden that encourages the use of all senses by Bronwyn Minton.

In the mobile art studio participants were also encouraged to make pirate ships that contained treasure maps. The ships were let loose into the stream or pond. In order to help find out where treasure might be found in the park, I made a few wacky, awkward nets that could be used to fish out a ship so the map could be read.

There is much more happening within this space. While best experienced in person, you can find some great videos here.

The best part is that the artworks will remain in the park until September, so you can visit and interact with R Park through the eyes of artists all summer!

Now I have a year to think about this experience and prepare for next year. I'm thinking a lot about how I interact with open spaces and also how I can encourage participants to discover these special places.

Standing in a grove with a poem that can be read in any order:Me (wearing part of the poem) Bronwyn Minton, Matt Daly

Standing in a grove with a poem that can be read in any order:

Me (wearing part of the poem) Bronwyn Minton, Matt Daly

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categories Community Projects
tags FoundSpace, JH Land Trust, Rendezvous Park, Public art

Wonder Spot

Jenny Dowd

Part I: The Gathering

For the past several months I have been working on a large-scale project: creating a sculpture capable of living outdoors for 6 months. The Wonder Spot is 10 feet tall X 6 feet wide and stands about 10 feet off the ground along highway 191 as it winds north into Jackson, WY.

This tiny maquette is a simplified view of my vision. You've just arrived in Jackson (or you are heading to work) there might be summer traffic slowing down your progression... what's that? A group of clouds have gathered on a sign?

Here is the first installment of the process behind what will be a month long installation... The Clouds are Gathering.

I started out by making hundreds of ceramic balls, using plastic bowls as moulds. This has been a great way to use up the mounds of recycled porcelain piling up in my studio. 

My husband, Sam was the muscle behind bending the steel rods (our landscaping came in handy) and has helped brainstorm and problem solve at every step.

The porcelain orbs are beaded onto the steel armature. Then more are strung within the cloud structure to help fill the space. After a long day of troubleshooting and heavy lifting, we were tired and when the weather turned nasty we had to call it quits. (I didn't even have the energy to take a decent photo!)

I'm finishing the huge cloud that will go on top, plus making tons more ceramic orbs to help fill in some gaps in the 2 small clouds. In a few weeks we will meet for the final install and the clouds will finish gathering. In the meantime, they subtly hover on the Wonder Spot.

I had a team of awesome helpers- thank you! Now I'm looking forward to finishing the next step!

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categories Projects, Community Projects
tags Jenny Dowd, Center of Wonder, Wonder Spot, Clouds, Ceramic Sculpture, Public art