My outdoor installation “Flower Power” for the Women Eco Artists Dialog (WEAD) exhibition at Yolo Arts (Gibson House) in Woodland, California, is changing and growing and should have some blooming wildflowers in a few more weeks. The installation consists of handmade paper “guns” with wildflower seeds in the pulp to sprout, grow and over time transform the “guns” into living blooming wildflowers. I used dyed abaca pulp and blue jean pulp with wildflower seeds for flowers in the same colors, and I formed the various gun shapes with stencils. Today, Janice Purnell, Creative Director at Yolo Arts, placed 4 more “guns” that I sent to her by mail on the ground in the installation, and she also took these photos today (April 26) to show the wildflowers growing from the initial installation that was done on March 5 just before the “shelter in place” directive for the Coronavirus.

In these photos you can see the small green plants, especially the distinct foliage of California golden poppies. There are also other wildflowers in red, blue, yellow and white in the installation. It is great to see the flowers growing and hope to see blooms in a few more weeks, totally transforming these “guns” into flowers.  This exhibition will remain on view through August, and it is online only for now. Galleries are closed because of the Coronavirus, but neighbors can walk around the grounds of the Gibson House and see the outdoor installations keeping social distancing and wearing masks .

Here is a link to the online exhibition: https://yoloarts.org/online-galleries/

The exhibition at Yolo Arts Barn Gallery at the Gibson House in Woodland has artworks by selected WEAD (www.weadartists.org) members that focus on the environment. There are indoor pieces as well as several outdoor installations on the grounds. I also have an indoor installation (California Delta Rivers) in this exhibition.

Thank you to Janice and the groundskeeper at the Gibson House for taking good care of the outdoor installation and for taking photos to document the changes. We did have some trouble at the beginning of this installation I call “Flower Power” with critters digging in the flower box and maybe trying to eat the paper pulp, the tiny plants or the seeds! With theses outdoor installations meant to change over time with Nature as a partner, you never know exactly what will happen, and that is one of the exciting things that keeps it interesting.