What most people might consider garbage forms the basis for a new work by two Vernon artists.
Carolina Sanchez de Bustamante and her 19-year-old son Maxwell Sterry have created an outdoor installation entitled Pieces of What, currently displayed as the third in the Kelowna Art Gallery’s artist’s garden project series.
The installation is located in the gallery’s Rotary Courtyard.
“Max and I spent last winter making spherical shapes of clean trash, creating three transparent columns, measuring from eight-to-12 feet,” said Sanchez de Bustamante.
The pieces of clean trash are attached to fishing line so that patterns of shapes and colours visually spin in the air in the centre of the courtyard, said KAG curator Liz Wylie, adding the installation is fitting for both mother and son, as it focusses on architectural elements.
“Both of them are passionate about architecture, and Sanchez de Bustamante has worked for several years on commissions for site-specific creations and installations of ceramics in architectural spaces,” she said.
The installation is also surrounded by a real vegetable garden planted in graffiti painted pots, which Sanchez de Bustamante calls the Italian garden as the vegetables being grown can be made into an Italian-style sauce.
“The whole installation has a feeling of an urban garden created for the community… We have decided to share the harvest with the guests visiting the gallery garden,” she said.
A well-known artist in Vernon, Sanchez de Bustamante creates architectural tiles at her Ashpa Naira Gallery and studio located above Westside Road. She also runs Arte Funktional, a contemporary art gallery in Kelowna.
The public art installation at the KAG not only bonded mother and son, but was also a sort of farewell project.
“It was a great experience for both of us, taking it as a farewell time to Maxwell, who will be going to architecture school at McGill University in Montreal in September,” said Sanchez de Bustamante. “As a mother, I hope the experience will allow him to open his wings wider, to be able to fly higher.”
The public can meet both artists at an opening reception for Pieces of What at the KAG Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. Both will give a talk at 7 p.m. The installation will be up at the gallery until April, 2016.
The gallery is located at 1315 Water St. downtown Kelowna. More information is available at kelownaartgallery.com or call 250-762-2226.
