We’ve asked past AiO artists to share their thoughts on how taking part in AiO shaped their art practice, the value of the experience and so on and will share their responses in the coming weeks. Nicole Donnelly writes: Professionally, Art in the Open meant a LOT of local exposure, as well as the opportunity and challenge to present the artwork cohesively both outdoors and eventually indoors as well (at the Independence Seaport Museum). This local exposure also meant that I was asked to participate in a wonderful group show with artists I admire called "Surface as Signifier"; the curators found me through AiO. Personally, I met and talked with a whole new group of artists (those participating in AiO), whose work and process I appreciate, and many of us continue to keep in touch. I also spoke with what seemed to be half the population of Philadelphia(!!), including past mayor John Street and his family, explaining the process and the purpose of what I was making. Artistically, aesthetically, and environmentally, AiO creates a situation where I need to trust my instincts in working at a given site, and to allow the sculpture to grow organically as it responds to the land, the river, and the people who inhabit the space. What was truly astounding to me is that in the best possible situation ‘public art’ becomes public not simply due to its location in a well-traversed area, but because passers-by take a vested interest in its presence, and they respond to it so strongly that a sense of ownership, a kind of intimate relationship, grows in response to the artwork. I experienced this phenomenon as I continued to build my sculpture "Sun Stone" by the river. While some artists were concerned about vandalism, all pieces of my structure remained untouched throughout the duration of AiO, and it remained standing for four months (until September). It was not uncommon when I passed by the sculpture on the trail, to see someone circling the sculpture or even climbing inside. I created "Sun Stone" as a metaphysical structure, meant to give the person inside the experience of reflective solitude, providing an open structure through which they could still see. It was not an actual barrier to the rest of the world, but the concept of an enclosure, the concept of a shelter, in which one could sit and think or meditate or watch the river, or do nothing at all.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 16:43:14 +0000