Page 28 RAIN September/October 1984 Sculpture at Eleventh and Eagle Street community garden (photo by Paul Winkeller) is skeletal in nature, and its raw wood members frame different views of the garden and neighborhood. The overall effect is to draw attention to the interplay between the garden and the neighborhood. Thus, the work both literally and conceptually bridges the gap between the garden and its surroundings, and it highlights the sense that there is something special going on both in the garden and in the neighborhood. Art provokes and at the same time induces contemplation; a garden does the same, and although the effect is more subtle, it is no less powerful. Based on our success with the privately sponsored sculpture, we obtained a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts in early 1984 for a second public art project. We chose a wall mural, to be executed and coordinated with the neighborhood by another local artist. Our second permanent site, a much smaller garden leased to us for 20 years, is located in a low- income rehabilitation and new-construction project owned by a local nonprofit neighborhood housing corporation. Although it is less than half a mile away from the Eleventh and Eagle site, the Ninth Street garden is located in a denser, more stereotypical urban setting of tightly packed row houses. Street life is active, and the wall mural on a brick house adjacent to the garden depicts a typical scene, rendered dreamlike with images of water, fire, and nymphlike figures dancing before a background replica of the street. A musical score in the foreground evokes a feeling of the energetic street beat (and the ever-present boom box) that permeates life in the neighborhood. Space is at far more of a premium at Ninth Street than at Eleventh and Eagle. The same number of families garden at each site, but at Ninth Street each family has a 16-by-8-foot raised bed rather than a 20-by-30-foot standard-sized plot, and there are no extras such as the flower/herb/demo plots of the first garden. The site has a tight, neat, checkerboard appearance, and the two- dimensional mural tends to enlarge the space, pointing out its potential as a community gathering place—a spot the whole neighborhood can enjoy and of which residents can be proud. As with the sculpture at Eleventh and Eagle, the mural reinforces the notion that the garden will be around for a good long time. It's difficult and not really fair to try to compare these two public art projects. In each case, we worked with what was at each site, tailoring the art piece to the garden. The Eleventh and Eagle site demanded a more philosophical piece because of its monumental scale, and also because it was our first permanent site—a big, bold piece clearly announced that this site was important. With our first public art project behind us, it was easier to let go of restraints when we encountered the infectious street life of Ninth Street. In developing the idea of bringing public art to our community gardens, one of our primary motivations was to bring art to people and places lacking it. A major criticism of the art establishment in our society has been that it is elitist, inaccessible, and centralized—that art is something you experience briefly in a city center in an old, thick-walled museum. Public art and community gardening together help connect people to their environment and illuminate the possibilities inherent in their neighborhoods and their lives. For us, our two public art projects have driven home the idea that gardening in everyday life is one path toward a happier, healthier, more creative world. □ □ Paul Winkeller is the director of the Capital District Community Gardens of Troy, New York, and is a mid-Atlantic regional director of the American Community Gardening Association. You can find out more about community gardening in the quarterly Journal of Community Gardening, PO Box 93147, Milwaukee, WI53203. Membership subscriptions cost $15lyearfor individuals, $30lyearfor organizations.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz