Indy Art & Seek

During the summer of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, I was grateful to participate in Indy Art & Seek - a program (and phone app) of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and the Arts Council of Indianapolis - through which over a hundred art interventions (or "moments of delight") were placed in Indianapolis’ neighborhoods.  I worked with the community of Martindale-Brightwood to install The Spreading Garden.  This installation was my attempt to spread a bit of beauty and wisdom rather than disease.  The garden was located in the Unity Park beds of the Felege Hiywot Center.  It involved planting a circle of canna lilies - a rhizome of tall, lush beauty, whose flowers look eerily similar to the spikes that adorn the coronavirus molecule.  These plants multiply and spread rapidly underground. The Martindale-Brightwood community group, One Voice, provided me with one-word ideas that they’d like to see spread in their community.  These words were etched onto ceramic blocks, stacked and placed within the garden of lilies. "unity, peace, justice, faith, collaboration, family,
                                  community, leadership, resilience, transformation and education"

2020 Spirit & Place Festival

A final element of this piece was the digging-up and dispersal of the multiplied canna lily rhizomes… thus spreading beauty to more gardens in the future. This was done on Sunday, November 8, as part of the 2020 Spirit & Place Festival.