September 1, 2010
One of the participating artists in Defiant Gardens for Fargo-Moorhead, Mark Dion will return for a public lecture on his work in architecture. Known as a sculptor, Dion has designed numerous small buildings as part of his art practice, from a bird blind in San Diego to a greenhouse in the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. During his visit, Dion also will work with students and faculty in NDSU Departments of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Visual Arts to develop more detailed designs for his proposed “Winter Fern Garden for Fargo,” his defiant garden idea. Working internationally on sculptural installations and site-specific projects, Dion has won numerous awards, including the 2008 Lucelia Artist Award for the production of a significant body of work and sustained, exceptional creativity.
Dion’s visit is cosponsored by Plains Art Museum, NDSU Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, NDSU Department of Visual Arts, and MSUM Department of Art and Design.
Christine Baeumler has returned twice to Fargo for planning meetings to develop her defiant garden idea—to combine a pollinator garden with a play space for kids and families. Her goals are to defy harmful patterns in our natural and social worlds by fostering the health and sustainability of flowers and all flowering plants, of butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds and, at the same time, of children. More than ever before in human history, children are often distanced from the natural world and can develop from what has been called “nature-deficit disorder.” Baeumler is working with Plains Art Museum in partnership with Madison Elementary School and its neighborhood to develop a detailed design proposal. Her work has been supported by an Imagine Fund faculty grant from the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis, where she is associate professor of art.
Two artists who live in Brooklyn, Kevin Johnson and Rob Fischer, are teaming up on a Defiant Garden for the Moorhead Power Plant. Their project defies expectations about beauty being connected to an industrial site. In July, they were here for two days of meetings with community residents and City officials and to study the site. They will return during the last week in September to present their design proposal. Stay tuned to the PAM website for more details on those meetings. Their planning visits are supported by a generous grant from the Lake Region Arts Council, with contributions from the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
June 1, 2010
Nine artists involved with Defiant Gardens for Fargo-Moorhead have developed proposals for their projects. Some of the proposals include:
- Kinji Akagawa proposed Best Gardens Together, a series of planning meetings that would help us re-see our cities in terms of aesthetics and beauty;
- A Pollinator Garden Skatepark to bring youth into closer connection with nature by Christine Baeumler;
- A prairie garden and gathering spot at the site of the Moorhead Power Plant by Rob Fischer and Kevin Johnson;
- An ephemeral and colorful “snow garden” proposed by Stevie Famulari;
- A small greenhouse called Wintergarden Fern Grotto for Fargo by artist Mark Dion;
- Diane Wilson, Lise Edrich, and Laura Youngbird propose to restore Native American gardening traditions with a garden of heirloom plant species based on the medicine wheel.
- Kathleen Pepple proposes a “garden wave” that would include a sculptural fence and vegetable garden for a boulevard on the NDSU campus.
The Museum is now working to identify partners and raise funds to realize these projects. Over several years of implementation, Defiant Gardens will result is a dispersed network of small-scale gardens and public sculpture that will respond to specific places and integrate with communities and neighborhoods with the aim of revivifying senses, beauty, community connections, and public life.
Defiant Gardens for Fargo-Moorhead has received notable attention, having been written about in international publications: Public Art Review, published by Forecast Public Art, and Landsape Journal, published by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. Public art curator and manager of Sacramento, California, Shelly Willis, has expressed interest in adopting the idea to public art projects in that community. Stay tuned for more as we move forward on these projects.
