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Spark Webster City (Spark WC) is continuing its series of pop-up public art events and performances, with its next event on Saturday. The pop-up events, ranging from live music, to fine art, and all that's in between, are about combining efforts with the artistic side of everyone in Webster City. Spark WC is an IEDA grant-backed initiative asking the questions: "What kind of art do you want to see?" and "What are your Webster City stories?" to gather towards a final art exhibition show next year.
With"Day Okay Jazz Project" serving as the first in this series, "Prairie Folk" is the group's latest project with its debut occurring on Saturday, November 7 between 2 and 4 p.m. The artists, Tim Adams and Emily Hill will be there during this time to answer questions about their work. After that, feel free to come check out the piece on your own!
The project deals in repurposed metal donated by Edible Gardens AG from the now defunct Vero Blue plant on the north end of town. Tim Adams (lead sculptor and Spark WC member) and his assistant artist, Emily Hill, are working with the metal to create a sculpture depicting native grasses in our part of Iowa.
Adams explains the project concept as follows:
"Prairie Folk reminds us that the native grasses of the Great Plains shaped human evolution. All native grasses have evolved over 100 million years by developing amazing adaptations in order to live with the constant wind and extreme weather conditions of the prairie."
Hill grew up 10 miles out of town on a farm with about four acres of property where she explored the experience of farm life with lots of hands-on jobs. When she had time, she'd take family walks down to the marsh with the dogs, cats, goats, and horses in tow and remembers those moments as some of her favorite memories of country life. "Moving into town at 18 was a big change", Hill says. That's why this celebration of our unique grasslands is a worthwhile art venture for her.
Prairie Folk uses plexiglass, aluminum, the Vero Blue factory panels, large rivets, and paint to bring the prairie grasses to life. With templates created by Adams, the artists cut large pieces of plexiglass into sections that have been assembled with metals and tubes to create the grasses. The process involves sanding belts, grinding discs, acid washes, and welding techniques, and Adams and Hill will put on a shiny finish.