Warm weather is here, and the Denver Art Museum (DAM) is taking art outside!
WORKSHOP8 and Blue Spruce Design & Construction have transformed the Martin Plaza at the DAM to include a three-month participatory installation, called Summer Is…
Bringing visitors together for a shared experience, the design teams have created a series of urban campfires, encouraging guests to pull up a tree stump, relax on the plaza, and exchange stories of summer with friends and family.
Visitors are invited to write what Summer Is… to them on a tag and attach their memories, thoughts, and feelings. As the summer progresses, a canopy of tags will form across the plaza, creating a covering of shared summertime stories.
The project was selected from a call seeking local artists/architects to conceive of and build a sculptural installation for the busy plaza space allowing for visitor interaction. The selected team brought in four “campfires” in the form of platforms with stools. The project features:
- Beetle kill pine and reclaimed lumber donated by Wood Source in Thornton;
- Retired climbing ropes donated by Movement Boulder Climbing + Fitness;
- Hardware from Boulder’s local McGuckin’s Hardware;
- 3,000 tags made of recycled, biodegradable paper;
- Dispenser boxes made from Boulder’s local Colorado Plastics;
- Centerpieces made from Colorado flood debris;
- 96 percent use of Colorado businesses; and
- 300+ creative hours.
The installation runs until September 15.
Photos by Crystal Allen Photography
