Jane Ingram Allen’s latest public art installation is now on view at Rincon Ridge Park in Santa Rosa, CA. You can come to the Park at any time over the next 6 months to see the progress and how nature transforms the artwork. The public art project “Living Quilt for Santa Rosa” was installed yesterday, Nov. 25, on a beautiful Fall day of bright sunshine and clean fresh air at a city park in the Fountaingrove area that was severely affected by the October 2017 wildfires in Santa Rosa. Many people helped with the installation and participated in decorating the headboard and footboard with colorful flowers and leaves brought by volunteers. Tara Thompson, art coordinator for the City of Santa Rosa, made an introductory presentation about the City’s public art “fire response” program and introduced the artist for this project. Then, Jane lead volunteers and community people in laying out the handmade paper quilt with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp and having the same colors and patterns. Jane used the “flying geese” traditional quilt pattern for this handmade paper quilt that was formed in strips to cover the 8 foot x 10 foot raised bed filled with soil. A group of sketchers were also there at the installation to record this public art project. Here is the website about the fire response sketching group in northern California: (https://sketchingclimatestories.com/index.php/sketching-fire-stories/
After the “Living Quilt for Santa Rosa” was all installed and staked down with wooden skewers that had a cork attached at the top, Jane and volunteers watered the quilt with a pump sprayer since there is still no water available at the site after hose connections and water lines were damaged by the wildfires in the area last October. The City is working hard to restore water in the Park, and several houses in the area are being rebuilt after the fires. It is hoped that this artwork will bring healing and new life with colorful wildflowers to this devastated area.
Here are some photos of the installation ceremony on November 25. The photos were taken by Timothy S. Allen, and you can see more of his photos at https://allentimphotos2.wordpress.com
Please continue to watch this Blog for more photos of the public art installation as rains come, and the seeds in the handmade paper quilt start to sprout and grow over the coming months. We are all thankful that rain is predicted for later this week in Santa Rosa. Thank you again to all those who volunteered to help with this art project by making handmade paper for the quilt and building the headboard and footboard for the “flower bed.”
