art happens

All I have to say is that, so far, ArtPrize has been one long crazy ride.  I don’t think I have ever seen art displayed like this, on this grand of a scale before.  I found myself being inspired constantly and awestruck by all of the talent that is currently all over downtown Grand Rapids.  Needless to say, I have a lot more to write about for this blog, too.  But for now, I still feel the need to wrap up this series with two more posts.

I felt the best way to prepare for this post was to go outside and take a walk around the lake and through the forest.  I wanted to get away from ArtPrize, the general city busy-ness and just clear my head.  So here it is, the second post in the “art of installation” series at 45 Ottawa.  This time, we are going to look at the collaborative effort between Scott Bishop and Carol Jurgens in their installation, “Slow Dancing at Dusk,” at 45 Ottawa.

From their artists’ profile on the ArtPrize website:

Trees represent the power and mystery of nature. In some myths the tree symbolizes a ladder between worlds, a link between this world and supernatural beings. Gods and their messengers travel from world to world by climbing up or down the tree. (Trees in Mythology, Myths & Legends of the World, 2000, bnet.com)

Forests are dying. As forests disappear we dismantle myth and legend, as well as metaphor, the poetic language that exist in the forests of our making. In preserving our myths we kindle our imagination, we construct a common language, a collective consciousness “so that we have life still”.

With the loss of our forests, the conversation we have with our natural habitat is blighted. We are “self conservators” (Edward Abby). “We” is inclusive of all nature. “Slow Dancing At Dusk” is an installation, a “conversational ladder” conveying the perpetual state of time, life and death in our landscape, giving us a choice to grow, contribute and engage in its processes’.

I watched Jurgens and her team carefully placing each word on the wall, fragments of the poetry that Jurgens wrote for the installation.  I watched them carefully place glass vases and terra cotta pots on the floor, the future homes for numerous tree saplings.  I also found myself examining this interior faux forest and wondering if people would “get” its message.  Would the viewers walk by it and disregard its silent, very quiet voice?  Or would they stop, listen, interact and then react?

Go visit “Slow Dancing at Dusk” and spend some time with it.  Watch the video.  Read the poetry on the wall.  Think about the true beauty outside of 45 Ottawa and  outside of the city.  Listen to its message and examine the natural in an unnatural setting.  Then go outside and appreciate nature in its natural setting.  It is at that moment that you will truly “get” the message of “Slow Dancing at Dusk.”