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Project to focus on revitalizing EcoArts Sculpture Walk
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — The Middletown Art Center invites the public to join the first of many “Reciprocity” events that will revitalize the EcoArts Sculpture Walk at Trailside Park.
On Saturday, July 29, and Sunday, July 30, renowned Pomo basket weaver Corine Pearce and sculptor Laura Kennedy will lead community-engaged artmaking to cocreate sculptures of animal species that once inhabited park lands from natural materials.
This and all Reciprocity events are free and open to people of all ages and abilities.
Gathering at the park at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Pearce will share with the group stories and the wisdom and practice of caring for the trees, land, and all of its inhabitants as we work together to create larger than life animal sculptures from oak and manzanita branches.
Participants will spend some time learning to tend to sprouting oaks at the park with sensitivity to their role in, and health of, the ecosystem.
Before it gets too hot, the group will move to the MAC studio where they will work together as the sculptures begin to take on life.
No experience is required. Please bring clippers, loppers and gloves if you have them, plenty of water and a lunch as work will continue into the afternoon.
Everyone is invited to join again, or for the first time on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at MAC with hopes to install the first sculpture later that day.
This event is sure to be not only fun and educational, but meaningful as well. Please RSVP at MACLake.org.
The MAC received grant funding from Upstate California Creative Corps and the California Arts Council for Reciprocity.
MAC has brought 19 artists and culture bearers together to embark on an artmaking journey designed to bring people together in nature as we learn about what it means to be stewards of the land and honor one another’s cultural and personal identity.
Over the course of a year, free public art-making workshops will be held offering variety of opportunities to create from natural and discarded materials, learn about fire mitigation, native and nonnative species, the role of pollinators in our environment, the plight of the Clear Lake hitch, organism habitat, cultural diversity and using plants to make cordage, as they engage in creative expression and problem solve collaboratively.
Following 12 years of annual, temporary exhibits, the 13th annual EcoArts sculpture walk was destroyed in the 2015 Valley Fire. Tens of thousands of trees and shrubs were removed from the park.
In 2019 EcoArts reopened in a fire damaged venue with half the number of artists. COVID, combined with park conditions, discouraged artist participation. The sculpture walk has been dormant for three years.
“We designed Reciprocity with tremendous enthusiasm, hope, and commitment to the people, land, and all living things in this beautiful place we all call ‘home’ — Lake County,” said project lead artist and MAC’s Artistic Director Lisa Kaplan. “Reciprocity is a vision not only to revitalize the sculpture walk, but to utilize the trail as a way to bring diverse people together in a meaningful experience that models healthy and sustainable ways of living with the land and each other.”
Drawing on ancient and traditional knowledge that modern society haphazardly discarded in the name of progress, organizers recognize that it is vital in these rapidly changing times to slow down and reevaluate how we choose to move forward together.
The MAC believes It is imperative to find a new way of being that embraces old wisdom, to be willing to learn from the past, and cultivate an openness to creating a more beautiful and sustainable world our hearts know is possible. As we learn about how to tend the land through the lens of the first people of this place, we also learn how to work, learn and grow together.
Middletown Art Center is a Lake County nonprofit dedicated to engaging the public in art making, art education, and art appreciation. Through exhibitions, performances, workshops and community events, the Art Center provides a platform for diverse voices and perspectives, striving to create an inclusive and accessible space for all.
The MAC is located at 21456 State Highway 175. Trailside Park is located about three minutes away at 21435 Dry Creek Cutoff off Highway 175.
To learn more or support MAC’s work visit www.middletownartcenter.org or call 707-809-8118.