Mural Complete

Kyle Confehr

UNBOUNDED II

Rachel Mica Weiss

What is it?

What you are looking at is a piece of the landscape that we hope is a starting point to let your mind meander a bit. It’s really an invitation to explore where your thoughts might go while taking in this sculpture and its surroundings. Sometimes it resonates, sometimes not. What crosses your mind if you are not trying too hard to “figure out what it is”. Come back again as each encounter is a bit different. Sculpture is about what it does, not what it is.

History

Unbounded II arrived April 18th to our beloved Canalfront Park causing excitement immediately. The lure of an artist at work was too much to resist for the folks that were visiting the park on such a beautiful weekend. Dozens of families stopped and asked questions about what was going on. Many shared their feelings as they responded to this sculpture. A special thanks to Ryan Peters and Barry Dunkin for helping to unload 800 rocks from Rachel’s truck. Please come down and take a look because pictures do not do it justice and let us know your thoughts. We will be conducting bi-weekly art discussions on site beginning the Sunday April 25 at 4 pm.

Unbounded II was funded in part by The Delaware Division of the Arts.

Efflorescence

14 stalks, 12' x 2' x 2' each, repurposed plastic water bottles and plastic netting

"Efflorescence', originally meaning "to flower out" in French, is a playful interpretation of plants in full bloom. More recently the term has been used to describe an undesirable residue, which is one way to think about the amount of plastic waste we generate.

Kate Dodd

Nick Roth. , Cape Gazette

June 10, 2021

As President Joe Biden flew overhead in Marine One June 9, artist Kate Dodd was putting the finishing touches on “Efflorescence,” the latest art piece to grace the public space of Lewes. 

It took the New Jersey-based artist a little over a day to unload 14 stalk-like sculptures from a rented U-Haul and erect them in a circular pattern near Blockhouse Pond in an underutilized part of George H.P. Smith Park, where they are expected to remain through the end of September or early October. 

Dodd said she was excited to bring “Efflorescence” to Lewes because the city is eager and enthusiastic about promoting public art. 

“Putting something in a public space creates a conversation between people,” she said. “And the fact that there’s a conversation is really important. It’s a topic that’s not as red hot as some others happening right now in the public sphere, so this is a way to talk to people who see things differently than you.” 

“Efflorescence” was commissioned in 2020 to be placed in an alleyway in Summit, N.J. Unlike Lewes, the sculptures were erected in a line along an existing garden bed.

“The idea was to take an unfriendly space and make it more friendly,” she said. 

She said it was Lewes Public Art Committee Chair Cliff Diver who offered the idea of placing the stalks in a circle down here. Dodd loved it.

“It turned out great,” she said. “It’s so much fun to see it in a completely different configuration.”

It’s immediately attracting people of all ages, from toddlers glued to the colors to adults curious to figure out what those things are. 

The piece comprises about 3,000 water bottles Dodd personally collected. They’re wrapped in colorful mesh materials and attached to poles, which are anchored into the ground. 

Dodd is very environmentally sensitive; in many pieces, she incorporates repurposed materials such as plastic bottles or old books that would otherwise find their way to landfills. Part of the message she wishes to convey through her art is to promote less reliance on disposable and single-use materials in everyday life. 

Dodd attended Pratt Institute and Columbia University, and has been a professional artist for 30 years. She’s always worked in an outdoor setting; her first public commissions came in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when she created large-scale works for five New Jersey Transit stations. 

When it was nearly time to remove “Efflorescence” from Summit, N.J., Dodd contacted Gallerist curator Karin Bravin about other potential locations for the sculpture. Bravin, who has been working as a consultant with the Lewes Public Art Committee for a few years, connected Dodd with Cliff Diver. 

Diver quickly navigated the city’s parks and recreation commission and mayor and city council for necessary approvals to ensure “Efflorescence” could stand in Lewes this summer. 

To learn more about the Lewes Public Art Committee, go to lewespublicarts.org. To view more of Dodd’s work, go to katedodd.com.

A LEWES PUBLIC ART FORUM

What’s it all about, really?

Wednesday Nov 3rd

Fall Wrap up with the artist

 The City of Lewes Public Art committee will be hosting a talk and information-sharing program on November 3, 2021, from 7-8:30 PM at the Virden Center. As part of its continuing educational mission, the program “What’s it about really?” will have speakers who will discuss Public Art as a process, a resource, a place maker, and a community builder. The speakers will be lifelong public artist, Kate Dodd and Lewes's own Rodney Robinson, utilizing his expertise as a landscape architect in open space use and design.

This will be a wrap-up session for Kate as she deinstalls “Efflorescence” currently on display in George H P Smith Park.  You have just a few weeks left to catch it.

While we will speak about the whys and wherefores of public art, we will also be requesting feedback and comments from the audience about their encounters with this summer's art installations - "Unbounded II" by Rachel Mica Weiss in Canalfront Park and "Efflorescence" by Kate Dodd in George H.P. Smith Park. We would like to address questions as well as hear your thoughts about future projects.

 Free Parking is available. Masks are required in all U of D buildings.  We hope to see you there for a great discussion!

For more visual information see the Arts segment by Paige Marley on WRDE from our Facebook page