Making Visible

I don’t live too far away from the town of Princeton, New Jersey. Very frequently my husband and I will venture out with our two children and walk around the campus of Princeton University, go to the Princeton art museum and enjoy the beautiful sights that surround the campus as well. Two weeks ago we did just this, we got some much-needed fresh air and walked around the beautiful town. This trip was different than most, since we come here often my children know their surroundings very well, this time however they were both taken back and shocked to find a new public outdoor art exhibit. We were walking down the main street, Nassau Street, and out of the corner of my son’s eye he notice a bunch of grass on a wall and sculptures and the sounds of running water. My son, Andrew and daughter, Cora ran to the art exhibit and proceeded to enter the outdoor space. Upon entering the space, which is an alley you are surrounded by wilderness and handmade art combined together. My children were so impressed by this exhibit they didn’t want to leave, because of this we ended up staying there for over an hour.

This is very special to me, making art visible to people walking by on a mission to get to their next place, but being captured by art that they stop everything and need to explore and create time for this art to be viewed. Exploring art when it was not on someone’s busy agenda, I feel makes it more engaging and leaves an impact on that person. It stood out to them so much and grabbed their attention, and as a result they will forever remember that moment when art caught them off guard. Making art visible in spaces that normally wouldn’t have an art exhibition is a magnificent idea; it allows art to reach more people than an art museum.

This outdoor space is called, Dohm Alley, constructed in an alley. The space is sponsored by the Princeton Future, allowing nine artists to work collaboratively from all over the world. The art is medium of this art is multi-media mixing a variation of art to be seen, similar to the experience one would capture during a visit at an art museum. This current exhibition is called The English Romantic Poets; the low relief sculptures were created based off of famous English Poets with some of their well-known poems below the art piece. Along with the square shaped low relief sculptures is pipes constructed to collect water and mingle and intertwine with the art while gathering water. The pipes however are placed ever so beautifully in patterns of geometric shapes, catching the eye and circulating the viewer to walk the course of the alley way. The space in which ends the water collection is at the very highest point in the exhibit is a republication of the hand in, Michelangelo’s, Creation of Adam. Coming out of the second finger the water lands downward into a basin that recirculates the water and flows through the piece.

While allowing my children to embrace this outdoor environment they normally do not come in contact with, I analyzed others passing by and being tied into the outside of the alley way, that they stopped their journey and was captured similarity like my children. I gathered more people stopped and viewed the art than just walking by and ignoring it. That was a surprise to me, simply because everyone is usually in a rush and cannot make time for anything, especially art. Even though the art exhibition is not large, it leaves enough of an impact on the visitors that this space I am sure is there to stay.