Tag Archives: transformative art

Living Quilt for Steckborn, Switzerland, is Starting to Bloom

14 Monday Jun 2021

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My outdoor public art installation in Steckborn, Switzerland, that was installed on April 14, 2021, with Haus zur Glocke Art Center in the town of Steckborn on the shores of Lake Constance, is beginning to bloom! The handmade paper quilt had seeds for wildflowers in the pulp in the same colors and patterns.  Tiny white flowers (maybe Baby’s Breath) are showing up now, and there is a lot of lush green foliage for other wildflowers.  The different colors of the other wildflowers in this “living quilt” should start to bloom soon.  I am happy to post these photos sent by Haus zur Glocke Director and Curator Judit Villliger on June 7, 2021. 

I plan to make a slide show that will show the process of the “living quilt” in more detail after all the flowers bloom, maybe by mid summer. I will post the complete slide show on YouTube with a link from this Blog.  Also, I will continue posting photos sent by Judit in coming weeks.  A very big thank you to Judit and the staff at Haus zur Glocke for taking such good care of the Living Quilt and sending all of this great documentation.

Hope everyone is having a good summer.  Now it is very hot and dry here in Northern California, and it looks like my “living quilt” installations in California are maybe finished for this year.  They should come back again with blooms and new growth next Spring after our Winter rains.  

“Bed” made and filled with dirt on April 12, 2021 for “Living Quilt for Steckborn”
Installation of Living Quilt for Steckborn, on April 14, 2021
Living Quilt for Steckborn on April 19, 2021
Plants starting to grow and paper pulp disappearing as mulch on May 14, 2021
Plants growing on May 23, 2021, and all the paper pulp has dissolved into the earth.
Tiny white flowers starting to appear on June 7, 2021. Hope to see other blooms soon!

Updates on my Art Installations and Writing

12 Wednesday May 2021

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My “Living Quilts” outdoor art installations to change over time are featured in the June 2021 issue of an Australian magazine, TEXTILE FORUM. The living quilts are outdoor public art installations that consist of a handmade paper quilt with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp to sprout, grow and bloom as the paper pulp dissolves into mulch. Each bed also has a headboard and footboard woven of local branches. The feature article about my “Living Quilts” is in the June 2021 issue, and there are many photos of the installations in different places and with different quilt patterns. You can see more about this magazine and the article at this link: https://www.artwearpublications.com.au/product/single-issue-textile-fibre-forum-magazine-142/

Below are some photos of my “living quilts” included in this article.

Living Quilt for Santa Rosa, installed on Nov. 25, 2018, Rincon Ridge Park, Santa Rosa, CA
Living Quilt for Santa Rosa blooming in May 2020
Volunteers installing Living Quilt for Steckborn in Steckborn, Switzerland, on April 14, 2021.

My Living Quilts are also featured in the latest Bulletin titled “Power” of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (www.iapma.net) that was published in April 2021. This publication is available at this link: https://www.iapma.info/Bulletin

The article is about my artist-in-residency project during the pandemic and the process of creating “Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth” that was installed in November 2020 at Sojourner Truth Park in Sacramento, CA. This project was part of the Sacramento Office of Arts & Culture 2020 Artist in Residency Program, and because of the pandemic I had to do most of the work in my own studio and involve people virtually. You can see the Zoom programs at this YouTube link about the creation of this “living quilt”:

Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth, installed at Sojourner Truth Park, Sacramento, CA, on Nov. 21, 2020
Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth blooming in April 2021 in Sacramento, California

I also had the opportunity to visit the Desert X outdoor sculpture exhibition in the Coachella Valley of California in late March 2021, and wrote a review of this exhibition for SCULPTURE magazine that is in the April 23, 2021, online edition. Desert X includes 9 large-scale outdoor sculpture installations in a variety of media by artists from around the world, and the works focus on the experience and culture of this Southern California desert valley that encompasses Palm Springs. You can read my review of Desert X online at this link: https://sculpturemagazine.art/desert-x-2021/

“The Passenger” by Eduardo Sarabia, featured in my review of the 2021 Desert X Exhibition in SCULPTURE magazine.

Living Quilt for Santa Rosa Is Installed

26 Monday Nov 2018

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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.”