The team at Wickham Works, a non-profit art organization producing public events, are used to creative problem solving. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and all their scheduled youth and adult programs had to be cancelled, Melissa Shaw-Smith, Jenny Torino, Hannelore Chambers, and Aliza Schiff put their heads together to come up with a plan to make an exhibition of walk-by-art to be placed in public parks around Warwick.
Aliza Schiff, a public art consultant, had worked with the community of Parkland, FL after a school shooting in their community and knew the therapeutic power of public art. The result is “Words from Warwick,” an exhibition of word-inspired art on display from Fri., Aug. 14 through Sat., Aug. 29 on Railroad Green, Stanley-Deming Park and Lewis Park. Each of the eight women artists Wickham Works commissioned responded to the challenge in their own unique way.
Voices to Connect
Artist Cody Rounds has created a platform for community members’ voices to connect across distance and be exhibited as one. She has asked the public to share words and comments on the recent social upheaval on social media using the hashtag #HearMeHV. She collects and programs them for display on an electronic sign.
Whisper Wishes & Pause
Linda Mensch invites everyone into the sanctuary she has created where people can sit quietly, contemplate, dream, and whisper their wishes or intentions into a stone to place in the shrine. The hundreds of hand-cut flowers and butterflies made from upcycled plastic in Karen Decher’s word, Pause, reminds residents of the many things they love doing which are on hold.
Tree-embracing Sculpture
Environmental artist Aurora Robson has made a tree-embracing sculpture from plastic debris, constructed using ultrasonic and injection welding. She searched for words on household packaging that speak to the current preoccupation with health, looking for words and phrases that would offer solace.
300-year-old Tree from Oakland Ave.
The Warwick DPW opened the doors on their storage sheds and invited the artists in. Amongst the treasures Nicole Hixon found is a slice of a 300-year-old tree that until recently stood on Oakland Ave. in Warwick. She will use it as part of her shadow sculpture, Hope. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Amy Lewis Sweetman has been on a campaign to help folks eat well by passing along her knowledge of foraging for local plants. She sourced parts for her recycled metal totem, Discover, an homage to the concept of foraging, from the local area.
Universal Conversation
Heidi Lanino has chosen the words reveal, truth, fear, breathe, hope, justice, change, and love, and painted them on sheer panels suspended like veils. She invites the audience to walk beneath them, feel their emotional response, and be part of a universal conversation.
Postcards from Warwick
Deb Zimmerman is creating a mural, Postcards from Warwick, at Stanley-Deming Park. One side of the wall is a giant postcard, Greetings from Warwick. The other displays the handiwork of many local artists who have contributed their own postcards to the mural.
Things that are Essential
The Youth Task Force and Advisory Board at the Warwick Valley Community Center are making their own artwork – the word Essential picked out in recycled fabric strips printed with the things that are essential in their lives.
This project has been sponsored by the Village of Warwick and Track 7 Postal Center, and made possible by the Town of Warwick Historical Society and the Warwick Valley Community Center. For more information send an email to mshawsmith@wickhamworks.org.
The hundreds of hand-cut flowers & butterflies made from upcycled plastic in Karen Decher’s word, Pause, reminds residents of the many things they love doing which are on hold.
Amy Lewis Sweetman works on her project for the upcoming, ‘Words from Warwick,’ exhibition.
