During the holiday season, most people take the time to relax, spend time with family, reflect on the previous year, etc. Not Artfarms, however. The organization that aims to bring such amenities as vertical gardens, public artwork and cultural outposts (East of Main Street), is spending the holiday season plotting its upcoming moves this spring. One of the biggest splashes that Artfarms intends to make is the construction of a significant sculpture at the Michigan-Riley Farm. The model has been completed, and now the logistics are being mapped out.
Artist Michael Beitz has come up with the work of art, which is intended to create a place where farmers, artists, thinkers and the entire community can come together to talk, teach, learn and create. The tree-like sculpture will be an anchor for a spot that has already drawn progressive minds to the proverbial table. So why not build an actual table?
This utilitarian sculpture is one of the first to come, and represents a significant moment along the relatively young timeline of this constructive, and desperately needed, organization. Take a look at the following video, and get behind the Artfarms movement East of Main Street.
*Funding for two sites came from a $35,000 Artworks grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and also a $5,000 grant from Councilmember David Franczyk. The second site to be outfitted with public art is the Wilson Street Farm (more on that coming soon).
Learn more about Artfarms here. Follow the group on Facebook.