Oakland University professor hopes new art installation will connect, inspire viewers

Oakland University Associate Professor of Theatre Jeremy Barnett and theatre alumnus Jason Maracani recently unveiled a new art installation in the East Garden of the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, Mich. that they hope will help people feel connected to and inspired by the gallery's outdoor space. 

“Our project differs from past East Garden projects,” Barnett said. “Rather than create a separate artistic experience in the East Garden, we were interested in unifying all of the outdoor spaces at the Krasl Art Center.”

Founded in 1979 by Geroge and Olga Krasl, the Krasl Art Center provides southwest Michigan residents and visitors with an opportunity to experience high-quality art exhibitions, installations, events, and more. Located in a 17,600-square-foot building, the center also has public galleries, art-making studios, a black-and-white wet darkroom, a gift shop, and a permanent collection of more than 41 sculptures.

The East Garden was dedicated in 2018 as an intimate outdoor space that inspired a sense of play, wonder, and reflection through interactive contemporary art installations.

“The primary features (of the East Garden) are the oval lawn, the line of benches that borders it, and the walkway with entrances near the main building entrance and through Richard Hunt’s colossal sculpture, Rising Crossing Tides,” Barnett said. “There are a number of important art pieces already present, including Dale Chihuly’s magnificent Beacon Gold Chandelier, hanging in the entry to the gallery.”

When they were asked to create an installation for East Garden, Barnett and Maracani drew inspiration from a series of pieces they worked on last summer while they were in residence at the Cerdeira Home for Art in Cerdeira, Portugal.

“Those sculptures were made out of toothpicks, and because they were so light they could be made to appear to challenge gravity in ways that we hadn’t been able to achieve with our large-scale work,” Barnett said. “The more sinuous shapes we created in the smaller sculptures felt right for this project, so we worked to develop a way to engineer that same effect with our larger and heavier materials.”

Working with Sam Transleau, visiting assistant professor in design and production at OU, and Trish Brown, a first-year theatre student, Barnett and Maracani sought to create an installation that linked the spaces in the garden while enlivening and activating the walk through the garden to the gallery.

"This meant that different parts of the piece would need different things,” Barnett said. “In the East Garden, we wanted to create a shape that would invite people onto the grass, which we accomplished with an undulating circle of arches and coming to an end point like a serpent’s tail.

“In the next section to the north, our installation curves around a new sculpture (to be installed in August) before arching over the walkway, creating a sort of entry gate to the art center,” he added. “Then it lands on the berm near the oval lawn, where it arches behind benches before rising to a 20-foot-high ending point.”

The piece is made out of 400 sticks of lumber that were painted three different shades of purple to contrast with, and emphasize, the Hunt and Chihuly pieces.

“We worked with the Krasl Art Center to ensure that we would not impede their summer events or the way that people use their spaces,” Barnett said.

The installation was completed at the end of May and will remain up until the beginning of September, or possibly longer if the installation proves to be popular with visitors.

For more information, visit https://krasl.org/art/we-heart-public-art/sculpting-community/east-garden.