Join installation artist Tory Tepp on Saturday, November 7th in kicking off The Spirit Ferry Project, a public art piece conceived during his Changing Landscapes Residency at A Studio in the Woods. The celebration will take place with food and fun from 2-4pm, but you are also are invited to get your hands dirty while helping Tory in his “art-scaping” of a site in the Bywater from 10am-2pm.
The Spirit Ferry Project
Date: Saturday, November 7th, 2009
Location: 3429 Burgundy (at the corner of Gallier)
Art-scaping: 10am-2pm
Festivities: 2pm-4pm
The Spirit Ferry Project is manifested by a mobile installation Tory has fabricated in the form of a boat from a 10-foot flatbed trailer that he is calling a portable “art-scaping” unit. The curved prow boasts a figurehead in the form of a kinetic sculpture of a bee drinking from a flower and its cargo will include two cubic yards of soil, seeds and the tools and equipment to build and plant living installations / earthworks in Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes. The project will involve volunteers from both areas and will include physical earth shaping and structural fabrication. Tepp holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Otis College of Arts and Design in Los Angeles and has been involved in exhibitions in a variety of media.
Changing Landscapes are 6-week residencies based on the premise that Southern Louisiana can be seen as a microcosm of the global environment, manifesting both the challenges and possibilities inherent in human interaction with the natural world. We ask artists to describe in detail how the region will affect their work, to propose a public component to their residency and to suggest ways in which they will engage with the local community. Four accomplished artists have been selected to participate in this year’s program, funded in part by the Ford Foundation, the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. The upcoming artists in this round of residencies are David Sullivan of New Orleans (November-December 2009), Karen Rich Beall of Lebanon, PA (January-February 2010), and Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts of New York (February-April 2010).
