Agnes Denes - Sculpture Garden

In 1996 Agnes Denes completed Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule. over the course of 3 years, she constructed a conical hill in the Finnish countryside upon which 11,000 Finnish volunteers planted 11,000 Finnish pines in a pattern derived from the seeds of the sunflower. Each volunteer also received a certificate of ownership, good for 400 years, that could be willed to future generations.

The sculpture garden of 601 Tully would include a similar installation on a smaller scale. I small mound of earth would be planted in the center of the garden. In this mound of earth would be planted 30 or so fennel plants, placed in the pattern of the fennel plant itself, whose branches, flowers, buds, and seeds, all occur in a repeating fractal pattern. A certificate of ownership would accompany each plant and the volunteers who planted it would transfer ownership each year to another member of his or her community. This exchange in possession would build a network of responsibility to a shared garden space.

6 word Memoirs: Hillside HS

Bench: Recycled Beam

Homework Club

Male Figure

Mobile Garden Cart

Blodgett in the Summer

People Started Shooting Each Other

I used to live there
in that blue house on the corner
everyday I walk passed it and I wonder
who's living there now
I seen them
coming and going
stopping and shouting
I seen them hanging out windows and sitting on the roof
they see me
they scowl
But they don't know who I am

I remember this one guy
always leaning against the wall
always smoking
always smiling
he smiled at me once
but I kept my head down

One day I walk by the house and no one's there
not even that one guy
I hear from a boy in school that he heard gunshots the night before
I think they all ran away he says
good I say
thats what I did

glad to be home

as the sun sets over the warehouses
and the leaves turn up their silver bellies in the light breeze
a boy stands by small fountain
small drops rain down like so many beads of gold

the gentle cry of a creaky swing set
the violent rhythm of the basketball courts
the patter of small feet on playground mulch
mothers wait in the shade
gossiping
i reach my stride

hey yo
hey you
look at 'dis

the rush of the rubber against my feet and hands
the wind in my ears as i rise for the shot
for split second
i feel what it's like to leave the earth
and my home
behind
we touch back down at the same time
me and the ball
as the sun sets over the warehouses
i know at least one of us is glad to be home

Near West Side

These paintings and drawings were all in done on location in Syracuse's Near West Side.

Three Landscapes

Three Landscapes
Printed Chiffon
Pages Cafe, Bird Library

The city of Syracuse is home to over 1,000 Karenni Refugees from Southern Myanmar (previously known as Burma).

The Karen are an indigenous civilization that has resided in the hills of Burma for more than 10,000 years. During WWII a group of Burmese nationalists aided Japan in invading British-controlled Burma, killing thousands of Karen in the process. In 1947, after the dissemination of Japanese rule, the Burmese nationalist drafted a constitution without the consent of the Karen and persecution continued. Since 1949, the Karen National Union has waged war against Burma in attempt to gain independence and/or establish a federal government. In the 1980's Burma was taken over by a military dictatorship which retains power to this day. For the past 22 years this military government has been exterminating all Karen Peoples within the national borders. Each year thousands of Karen cross the river to Thailand where they wait in refugee camps in the mountains until a select few earn relocation to the western world.

To many of these refugees, Syracuse has become a third home, and third landscape to which they must adjust. The first layer of this piece features four strips of chiffon with photographs of the Karen in the native land. The second layer of thirteen strips features all three refugee camps in Thailand where over 600,000 Karenni currently reside. The third layer of this piece is the window itself through which one can see the landscape of Syracuse University, a climate and geography that is utterly unfamiliar to the Karen.

By superimposing these three landscapes, the viewer is given a window to another world, an alien experience similar to that which a Karenni experiences each time he looks out of his window at a Syracuse winter.

Divisions

Divisions
Hand-dyed cotton and thread 

In order to give meaning we make distinctions. In order to make distinctions we create divisions. In order to create divisions we draw lines. We typically think of a line as rendering two things separate while in fact the line marks the crucial connection between the two sides. This line, which is neither clean-cut nor straight, shows how the two sides of any binary distinction are intricately and inextricably intertwined. Neither side exists without the other, and neither takes precedence.

47 Piece Set

As children we play with small plastic army men and recreate violent battles in our imaginations. Though we may kill a couple hundred army men in one hour, we are never made to deal with the consequences of our action. This custom hand-crafted set of plastic army men introduces the idea of mortality, and the responsibility that comes with it, to a game which usually only features action and violence. Each fallen solder has his own small pine coffin complete with little nails. The nationally ambiguous funeral ceremony is complete with a flag at half-mast. The entire set is enclosed and displayed in a hand-crafted toy box shaped like a casket. All pieces are intended to be used.