Client: Fermentation Fest

Location: Reedsburg, WI, United States

Completion date: 2014

Artwork budget: $5,000

Project Team

Artist

Gail Katz-James

Katz-James Textile Design

Artist

Jenny Hale Design

Overview

“Bubble Pub” transforms the four corn cribs at the corner of F and Churchill Rd, into shining vessels of bubbling fermentation The cribs will glow gold, sienna, russet, and brown, inspired by the palette of local home brew beers. Inside, the bubble action begins within an illuminated form. From left to right the fermentation progresses in each crib from a few bubbles to a joyful explosion.

Goals

Drive or bike along 50-miles of rolling Wisconsin countryside this fall and experience art installations exploring our collaboration with the land. Fermentation Festival celebrates fermentation as a metaphor for the dynamic life forces that stimulate creation in all mediums.

Process

Gail and Jenny visited Reedsburg, WI as guests of the Wormfarm Institute and Fermentation Fest staff to visit sites, ideate and develop a design. Following this jam packed weekend we worked together in person and via Skype to create drawings and a model which served as the foundation for Bubble Pub.

Additional Information

Our goal was to create an illuminated sculpture that would look different in the daytime, at dusk and at night. The landscape around Reedsburg is so varied and beautiful it was difficult to conceive a project that would not vanish in the landscape from afar.