Blanket Statment
Su grad student stitches together community art installation.
By Jenna Hanchard + Illustration by Nicole Troillet
There's
an abandoned gas station that sits on the corner of East Colvin Street
and Nottingham Road in DeWitt, just outside Syracuse. The station is an
eyesore, but the presence of the old pumps is a reminiscent of big
Buicks, reasonable prices, and friendly gas station attendents (unless
you live in New Jersey, that is.)
This
now decrepit gas station is about to get a makeover by way of the
International Fiver Collaborative - the brainchild of Jennifer Marsh, a
third year graduate student of fine arts at Syracuse University.
Marsh
plans to sew together 8-- three-foot square fiber panels crocheted by
people from the Syracuse community and beyond. Once she crochets the
panels together, Marsh will use them to cover the gas station - picture
an entire building engulfed by a giant, colorful tea cozy.
Marsh
said thee panels wil represent people's feelings about thier
representative countries' use of oil for energy, as well as connect art
with a larger community. " I wanted to create a dialog."
And
Marsh has certainly struck up a conversation. She has sent hundereds of
email to individuals and fiber and sculture guild groups about her
project. She has managed to take it beyond its Central New York roots
and has traveled across the country, setting up exhibitions about the
International Fiber Collaborative at craft shows in California and New
York City. She also has tentative plans to create a similar
installation at a gas station in West Virginia and as far away as
Australia.
Now
the challenge for Marsh is collecting the panels for the project. With
only three recieved so far, she is a far cry from reaching her
projected goal of 800 panels. " It's a hard thing with art to connect
with the general public," she said. "Sometimes I feel like I only get
10 percent of what I put out there."
That'
is not to say she hasn't sparked the interest of some potential
patchworkers. Carol Lovell, a 73-year-old Syracuse native, has already
made one square and plans to donate more."I had some yarn around to I
said 'yeah, what the heck, Lovell said. The first panel took her 8 to
10 hours to make and she plans to make more during the holidays. " The
first one I had was all one color. i just sent it to Jennifer in a
hurry to encourage her," she said.
Karen
Morano, a self-proclaimed homemaker and activist from Chittenango NY is
also making squares and donating yard for the project.
"Five
or six of my friends called me after reading about it in the
Post-Standard saying, "i thought you'ed be really interested in this!"
Morano said.
All
the way from Caracas, Venezuela, Elena Tariffi, a
professional fiber artist and fiber art teacher, wrote on an
email, " I am planning to make a few blocks myself. I am also
encouraging other fiber artists locally and my students to contribute."
Marsh said one of the biggist goals of the International Fiber
Collaborative is for the participants to feel like they have put
themselves in the project.
"
The potential and importance of Jennifer's project is that it moves art
beyond the gallery setting to become a public practice,: said Samuel
Van Aken, an associate professor in the sculpture department at SU and
Marsh's graduate thesis advisor.
As
much as Marsh seeks to bridge the spatial and ideological gaps between
the artist and the public, she also hopes to make a political
statmentabout the uses and abuses of oil for energy. Lovell thinks this
project is a good start.
"Even
though we're not physically changeing the oil industry, we're making an
attempt to do something rather than sitting around the kitchen table
talking about it." Lovell said.
With
the United states currently consuming more oil than any other country,
there is alot to talk about. According to the U.S. Department of
Energy, in 2006 the United States was the number one comsumer and net
importer of oil in the world.
Tariffi
thinks Marsh's installation will help shed light on it's interlaced
political message. ' Fiber art can access different visual, tactile,
and emotional areas, not only for the artist but mainly for the
spectator," Tariffi wrote. "I am absolutly sure that this installation
will touch the crucial issue of oil dependency and oil damage in a very
significant way."