A participatory installation for the “Starting Over Festival” springtime event in Somerville, MA. These 4-foot scrap plywood animals depict urban wildlife: the Eastern coyote, backyard chicken, and wild rabbit. They were primed in “coloring book” style, and made available with paints during the afternoon of the festival for participants (mostly children) to paint.
Following the event I did some work to clean up and finish the animals as a whole. The childrens’ efforts included lively brushstrokes and innovative pattern choices, and I made every effort to retain the spirit and a lot of the details of their work. I did decide to add back in the black outline elements as a way to bring them back together stylistically and add more definition to the objects so they will stand out when installed on the wall of the park.
These finished animals are now installed as decorations for the summer season, on the wooden back fence bordering Quincy Street Open Space.
