During a 3-week artist-in-residency (February 25 – March 16, 2019) in Sacramento, CA at Natomas Charter School (http://www.natomascharter.org,) artist Jane Ingram Allen will create an outdoor public art installation titled “Guns into Flowers”.  The art project aims to raise awareness about gun violence and initiate public dialogue about possibilities for change. The art project will result in the creation of an outdoor sculpture installation consisting of a “flower bed” and a handmade paper quilt with a pattern of gun shapes and having seeds for wildflowers in the paper pulp to transform over time into living blooming wildflowers in the same colors and pattern.

Jane and Natomas Charter School Visual Arts teachers Jim Vetter and Chelsea Greninger

Jane standing at site for “Guns into Flowers” installation at South Natomas Community Center, Sacramento, CA.

Jim Vetter, Chelsea Greninger and Jane Ingram Allen at South Natomas Community Center, Sacramento, choosing site for “Guns into Flowers” installation.

Jane meeting with Natomas Charter School teachers, principal and Sacramento officials to plan the “Guns Into Flowers” art project

Jane and Chelsea Greninger, Natomas Charter School Visual Arts teacher hold a prototype for a quilt square for the Guns into Flowers art project. Natomas Charter School Principal Dr. Ting Sun and visual arts teacher Jim Vetter and Donald Gensler with Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission look on.

Jane meets at Natomas Charter School in the visual arts studio room to plan the “Guns into Flowers” art project in Sacramento.

The handmade paper quilt will be created by student participants working with the artist in “open studio” papermaking workshops at the Natomas Charter School, Performing and Fine Arts Academy (grades 6-12).  The quilt blocks will be created with stencils in the handmade paper sheet-forming process and individualized by each participant. The “Guns into Flowers” handmade paper quilt will be installed on a raised “flower bed” about 8 feet x 10 feet x 8 inches high with a headboard and footboard woven by the artist and participants using local trimmed tree branches. The handmade paper quilt will gradually dissolve into mulch over several weeks or months as the wildflower seeds in the pulp begin to sprout and grow, transforming the ”guns” into flowers.

The public art installation will be created in a public park at South Natomas Community Center and coordinated with city and park representatives. The public opening and installation ceremony for the “Guns into Flowers” project will be at 2PM, Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the site, South Natomas Community Center, 2921 Truxel Road. Sacramento, CA. “Guns into Flowers” will transform over time following the natural cycle of life and emphasize working together for social and environmental change.

Check this Blog often for continuing updates on this public art project.  All photos on this Blog are by Timothy S. Allen (alltentimphotos2.wordoress.com)