How a Centre County art installation aims to create ‘an ecosystem of gift giving’
The first plants that emerge after a barren winter are often viewed as symbols of hope and new beginnings. Starting this month, a community art installation aims to invoke those same feelings by mimicking the first plants that peek out of the ground in spring and harnessing the power of gift giving.
The Centre County art project, Buds!, will be made up of a network of small weatherproofed plant-like sculptures with removable lids for giving and sharing gifts with neighbors.
Decorated with mirrors, sand, paint and other small items, the mosaic structures will be placed in yards of hosts so that community members can share a gift inside — such as cash, packaged masks, small notes, poems, drawings or jewelry.
The idea is simple: if you visit a gift-giving location, you can pick up a sculpture, take the gift inside and replace it with a gift of your own. There will also be a sign at the locations explaining the project and providing instructions.
After being delivered to hosts, the Buds! will remain on display in their yards for two weeks. On March 28, the plant-shaped sculptures will then be delivered to the Penn State’s Zoller Gallery, where they will be displayed in an art exhibit until April 1 before returning to their hosts who can continue gift-giving with neighbors the next spring.
Alex Russell, a graduate student at the Penn State School of Visual Arts, created the project and said it is meant to symbolize hope, promote kindness and invite connections for community members.
Since moving from Nashville to State College three years ago, Russell said she finds inspiration in the first flowers that pop up after the cold winters of Nittany Valley. She hopes this project will help people find their own inspiration within the community.
Moving and acclimating to a new area has been challenging for Russell, who said that the pandemic has made meeting people tricky. For her, this project is a chance to connect with others and find community.
“People that are hosting the sculptures in their lawns are displaying such generosity and openness as well as the people freely giving gifts to put inside them,” Russell, 28, said. “I think it’s special because you can realize you’re connected to a network of people who are generous and what’s more hopeful than knowing you are a part of that ecosystem of gift giving?”
The project was funded by the Awesome Grant Foundation and 3 Dots Downtown, which has been awarding monthly $1,000 grants since 2018 for people to pursue creative projects in Centre County.
Spud Marshall, innovation director of 3 Dots Downtown, said they have given out 46 grants so far and are always looking for projects that actively and creatively engage the community.
Buds! fit the bill due to the community participation — from volunteering to host the sculptures in their yard to walking by and peeking inside them to give and receive a gift.
While many propose complicated projects for grant approval, Marshall said Buds! resonated with the trustees due to its simplicity.
“It was like, ‘we are going to build these sculptures and put them in people’s yards and we are going to bring smiles to people’s faces in the dark months of State College,’” Marshall said.
Marshall added that it’s these simple, often-overlooked projects that the Awesome Foundation and 3 Dots Downtown are investing in due to their potential to help people develop roots in the community — adding that the friendships and collaborations that form around Buds! will have a ripple effect on those that participate.
“It might help retain another young professional to the area. It might create better economic development for downtown,” Marshall said. “The more we can get people actively involved in participating, the more likely those ripple effects tend to happen.”
When the monthly grant winners were announced on social media, State College resident Ann Tarantino was excited to see Russell, someone she had formed a connection with through the School of Visual Arts, as one of the recipients. When Russell posted in a neighborhood forum looking for hosts for the project, Tarantino knew she wanted to get involved.
“This project is really exciting because it calls upon the local community to be stewards of these objects that gesture out to the broader community as opposed to being insular, discrete objects that sit in a studio, gallery or museum,” Tarantino said. “These are actually living and breathing in a public space and involving communities that might not otherwise have the opportunity to dialogue with art in such a way.”
To learn more about the Buds!, visit the Awesome Foundation’s website.
