Our 2019 Winter HooPla was a magical event thanks to many artists, community volunteers and ARTeen interns.
Work bees at The Art Garden are often intergenerational.
Together we imagined, built, glued, painted, tied, taped, hauled, constructed and lit up our railyard home with numerous ephemeral art installations.
One of Samantha Crawford’s Frozen Pond installations
Wind gusts and icy conditions made it particularly challenging this year as many installations could not be completed until the last moment. Each year, the HooPla is a testament to creative problem-solving and resilience born through collaboration.
And then there is the absolute heart-strengthening wonder of people coming out in the dark and cold…to a raw February rail yard landscape…to experience and celebrate this particular place, our particular community…through art, LIGHT and the unexpected.
Many community artists helped Laura Iveson paint her installation of lit houses that reflected some of what we love about home.
The houses were made from re-purposed corrugated plastic, tissue paper and cheesecloth.
Samantha Crawford, Mia Radysh, Kate Hennessey and John Hoffman built four stick structures in the rail yard and covered them with re-purposed and upcycled materials: tissue paper glued onto used plastic bags and an “udder house” made from overstock shirts.
The plastic bags (each individually-wrapped shirt came in) were also re-purposed into giant pompoms.
We honored the life and work of Mary Oliver with a few installations inspired by her poetry.
The opening reception for our community exhibit Small Kindnesses took place inside The Art Garden where people also enjoyed hot cocoa generously donated by Deans Beans.
There are 48 works by 33 artists in the exhibit, which runs through April 6.
You can view the exhibit during our March drop-in art-making hours:
Fridays & Saturdays, 1-5pm or
during our Adult Open Studio hours on Wednesdays, 10am-1pm.
If freezing temperatures in March are getting you down, use the cold to make these beautiful ice bowl candle holders:
Fill medium sized round balloons with water and put them outside over night in below-freezing temperatures. In the morning, test whether they are done by puncturing one. The water in the center will not have frozen, leaving a delicate ice bowl. If freezing temps persist, you can leave them unpunctured longer, to make the bowl stronger.
