The following proposal is to help fund the installation of "Nature Preserve" for the Third Annual Art Prize being held in Grand Rapids, Michigan this Fall. This is one of the largest international art competitions in the world where the public votes to award over $450,000 in prize money to visual artists working in all media. www.artprize.org. I competed last year where I had the chance to exhibit my work before a crowd of visitors estimated at over 300,000 over a period of 3 weeks. With this experience under my belt I feel my current proposal to re-install my very successful Tube installation at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, www.uica.org, will be sure to grab people’s attention and votes.
"Nature Preserve" is a site-specific installation that will transport the viewers of the Art Prize into a futuristic dimension where, like Alice in Wonderland, they will have the sensation of walking through the Looking Glass into a lab-like environment inhabited by extra large test tubes nurturing what remains of Michigan's native landscape. The space for this installation will be darkened in order to accommodate 30 eight foot hanging clear tubes filled with nutrient enriched water, individually lit by narrow spot halogen lights. Floating in each tube will be locally collected native seedlings, their spring green glistening in the white halogen light.
"Nature Preserve" is part of a range of projects in my portfolio that I have been exploring for several years now based on the observation of how even though we may have the best intentions of preserving Nature in National Parks, gardens and landscaping, these actions come across as compartmentalized and limiting when we try to neuter the wildness of Nature to co-exist within the confines of our ever increasing built environment.
But whether by force or by slow encroachment, Nature will always find a way to break down our barriers as seen with hurricane Katrina, the Japanese Tsunami and the recent flooding of the Mississippi. "Nature Preserve" is about putting these events into perspective and raising public awareness to see how our treatment of Nature and the surrounding environment needs to be re-evaluated.
I am very excited to have been chosen by the UICA to exhibit in their highly visible venue for this year's competition. With almost 200 venues participating in the exhibition of over 1,700 artists, it is a great honor to have been curated along with such a select group of respected artists. The opportunity to bring "Nature Preserve" back to its roots of the Midwest where it was first created as "Prairie Experiment," continues my goal of wanting to sensitize the public to the practices of nature preservation in conjunction with urban development and the role it plays in sustaining our environment. I am also excited to re-introduce my work to a whole new community, which will hopefully lead to future opportunities of sustaining my career.
By reaching my ideal goal of $5,000, your support of my first project with United States Artists will help to fund my transportation to and from Michigan where I will purchase and gather most of my materials, room and board while creating and installing the show, the ability to afford to hire a licensed electrician as well as general assistance, and finally my time spent traveling, installing and promoting Nature Preserve for the 2011 Art Prize.
Thank you so much! And I look forward to your support.
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