Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 6 Sep 2017

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From YouTube: smARTS Fall 2017: Art on the Trail Lake Roland

Description

Discover Art on the Trail at Lake Roland Park.

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( ♪♪♪ ).

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Lake roland is a beautiful 500-acre park. Along falls road.

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Near the city/county line in mount washington.

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there's a new nature, center,, upgraded trails and pavilions,.

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A dog park, and a wonderful arts, connection.

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With me on, smarts are kurt davis and susan king byrne from the lake roland nature. Council.- good to see you both.

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well,! Thank you for having us. thank you. well,, I'm going to focus on the trails,, but in fact, the art and the trails.

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It's called art on the trail. on the trails.. What does that mean?.

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The concept was to bring more interest into the park.

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To get more people into the park.

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We're now averaging 400,000 people a year through the park.

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Black-Sotir: really? wow.

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Nine years ago, we were averaging 40,000 people a year through the park...

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And we thought the concept of bringing natural land art into the park.

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Would entice people to get off the manicured areas of the park.

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And get back into the inner area of the park.

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Okay. so,, I want to ask you, susan,, so there's land art,.

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And then there's like public art., there's a slight difference.. Can you explain that?

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yeah. so, with land art, land art is also known as environmental art.

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Or earth art. it's when an artist uses the materials right there in front of them.

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And typically, the art is made on-site, and you know, they'll use--.

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The artists will use soil or vegetation, twigs, rocks,.

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And create something that is ephemeral.

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so,, it doesn't last forever.

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and also,. It's very organic in nature.

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So, that was-- land art was-- initially,- that was how we started with art on the trail.

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We were looking for materials that were, you know, close to nature.

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However,, it's really evolved.

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So, now,, our artists are using more man-made materials.

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And mixing the two., but these man-made materials are environmentally safe,.

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And it just adds more permanency to the installation.

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And more flexibility for the artists, I guess, too.

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Yeah. and art on the trail occurs during the winter.

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So, you know, artists have to take in consideration the harsh elements.

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And snow or rain when they create their installations.

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Black-Sotir: yeah. okay. kurt, how many pieces are on the trail right, now?.

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Right now,, I believe 13. we just did our decision-making on the new artists,.

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And we will, this year, starting december 3rd,, we'll six additional pieces on the trail.

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Black-Sotir: really?.

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So,, what has been the reaction from the folks who have been on the trail when they come upon? One of these works of art?.

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Well, it's--, I'm out on the trails quite a bit with the dog,.

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And it's interesting to see people, because they're--.

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Obviously,, these things being natural, they're, not obvious,, in-your-face.,.

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So,, you can come up on them, and it's like,. What kind of is that?.

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And we do have signage that describes what the individual installations are.

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But it's just--. It's like walking through a museum with people.

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I mean, people will look at a piece of art and get completely different. Feelings, reaction from it.

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And that's the same concept that these people.

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That I have interacted with on the trails.

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Black-Sotir: mm-hmm. well,: do you have a favorite piece of art?.

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It's hard to pick just one,, but I do have--.

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Without mentioning any names,, there are some really wonderful pieces.

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That have a-- kind of a teaching,, an environmental kind of teaching,.

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Or the artist was really inspired: by, perhaps,, a certain environmental concern.

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And it really has projected from the artwork that they've created.

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So, in a way,, I guess, because we are an outdoor park,.

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And the people that are at that park, most of the--.

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I mean, they're volunteers,, who have a love for nature.

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So,, I do like to see the artwork have that connection to nature.

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Yeah. so, obviously,, the art, has increased your number.

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It's going from 40 to 400,000-- 40,000 to 400,000's, pretty amazing.

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How do artists find out, kurt, about this, if they would like to also have a piece of work? There?.

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How does it work?.

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Well, we initially started out--. It was kind of a throw a dart and see what we could get,, but then it kind of went a lot of word of mouth.

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We do all our marketing on social media.

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You can go to the lake roland website and go into the events.

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And click on art on the trail,, and it gives a historical background for art on the trial.

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It shows-- it speaks to many of the artists that are there,.

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Interviews with the artists,, and it has all the documents for the new year.

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Generally, in very early spring,, we put out a call to artists.

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They can go and download the proposals and be very--.

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We ask to be very specific because then it's--.

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It makes our decision easier, as to what will be finally chosen.

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Then by mid-july, the proposals are to be in.

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Beginning of august,, we notify the artists of acceptance.

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And then december 3rd, the installations are in,.

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And december 10th, we have a meet the artists, event.

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terrific. okay. in just the one second, that we have left,.

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How long does the art stay there?, the art stays there until it lasts.

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You know, some of the artists end up removing the artwork,, but most of it is-- it's there on temporary loan.

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But you know,, it stays around for a while. so.

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Well,, I think it's a terrific idea, and I love walking through it and then discovering a new piece.. I think it's quite exciting. so, thank you both, and thank you for all the good work that you're doing for lake roland.

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Thank you. thank you.

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Well, you'll never know what you'll discover at lake roland,. I promise you,. So please get out and explore art on the trail.