Client: Art In The Orchard

Overview

Now Here: Reflects what lies behind, frames what lies ahead, and gives you the gift of this moment. You are Now Here.

Reflect on the beauty around you and within you. In your mind climb the Looking Glass Ladder and get a fresh perspective on life, be inspired to reach for new heights.

Now Here: Is a journey through the Looking Glass Ladder to No Where. Know Where.
It’s an invitation to pause in your busy life to just be Here Now. What to you Hear Now?

Site specific installation in an apple orchard with a viewing audience of 35K people in 4 months.

12’ tall, 3’ wide, 5” deep
Wood, paint, mirror

Goals

Art In The Orchard is a bi-annual event committed to bringing art into unusual places. My installation was part of a larger sculpture park featuring work by 33 artists in all media. The orchard plays an active part in our local cultural economy. With meaningful support and encouragement from the Easthampton City government, Easthampton and Massachusettes Cultural Councils, local business donors and supporters, we are able to gather in this stunning setting to view Easthampton in a new perspective.

“Now Here: Through The Looking Glass II” is about frames of reference, where are we looking from, and how to look beyond what is known to what is possible. Both the piece and the event are a huge success. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be part of the cultural renaissance that my small city is experiencing.

Once an abandoned mill town Easthampton is now a destination for the arts. This event has drawn over 35,000 viewers who come back repeatedly with friends, family and picnics. Additional events such as music, storytelling, puppetry and theater bring the orchards alive with visual and performing arts.

Process

I collaborated with the owners of the orchard to select the perfect tree that Now Here: would partner with. This involved riding around in a golf cart, looking at possible sites and discussing the views and perspectives the art would offer. My good friend and master carpenter Jim Moore built the ladder to my specifications. Like an orchard ladder - tapered at the top, but also a bit surreal and intentionally a non-functional (and therefore not climbable) ladder shape. The ancient maple was my greatest collaborator, offering a majestic lower limb for Now Here: to nestle into and securely attach.

Additional Information

“Now Here: Through The Looking Glass II” is a conceptual and experiential installation. It’s a way of engaging with how we look at the world and what it is to experience divergent realities - present, future, past - at the same time. It questions how and what we see and where we are looking from. Can we climb to new heights and see from a bigger perspective? It’s an invitation to see the beauty within and around us in new ways, and a call to rise to meet the challenges of life from our highest self.