Main Street Park is a public park located behind our library and art museum. It usually is a place for the homeless to hang out, and very rarely do we see anyone using the space for anything. During our recent Jazz Festival the park was full and it was clear that the space could be utilized for the enjoyment of the public if there was something interesting there to see. I’ve been working with Dolf James and his Art in Strange Places project for the past year, and he envisioned placing several “pop-up galleries” in the park with contributions from local artists. I volunteered to produce a piece, and we opened the park to the public for August Art Walk to a big crowd of enthusiastic supporters. After the pop-ups we installed my Blu Gras piece in the park which got me to thinking about what was next. The park is a wonderfully designed open space with linear planters and a plaza. It is a perfect venue for installation sculptures and events.

I’ve been recently inspired by artists such as Andy Goldsworth and Maya Lin, whose large scale artworks are able to engage their viewers and present alternate views of common materials. I envisioned a large scale installation in the park, and arrived at using recycled water bottles as a material that was readily and cheaply available, was structural, lightweight, and waterproof, and had properties of translucency. I was excited to do something with this material. My original communication with Dolf about an idea to collect bottles with messages was on 9/10.

The next day I watched the memorials on 9/11. I was inspired to do something that would bring awareness to those who serve our country and thought that the message could be directed to our troops. I knew that this would bring an element of community involvement to the project, and could ultimately be something that could lift the spirits of our troops for the holidays.