Visual Art

at the Wilson Center

Public Artworks

New to the Wilson Center in 2010 was the creation of the very first community involved, site-specific work of art built on the Wilson Center grounds during the annual Hidden River Art Festival in September. We are excited to announce another great project in the works for the 2011 Festival.

"I am most interested in connecting people with nature...and creating experiences that are outside people’s normal expectations of what art is and where to find it," says Brenda, about her work.

View photos on Flickr

Introducing...

Pause by Brenda Baker
built September 16-18 at the Hidden River Art Festival

Madison based artist, Brenda Baker, invites the public to participate in the creation of Pause, a temporary gathering space made from a number of natural materials found in and around Wisconsin. Participants will help build a large sanctuary using willow and other plant material.

Pause will begin construction the week leading up to the Festival and be completed with community participants during the Festival weekend. The environment will then provide a place of refuge, a feeling of shelter, and a place to take a slight pause, however brief for Festival goers.

Definition of Pause:

—a temporary stop
—a break in verse
—a brief suspension of the voice to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts
—temporary inaction especially as caused by uncertainty
—the sign denoting a fermata
—a mark (as a period or comma) used in writing or printing to indicate or correspond to a pause of voice
—a reason or cause for pausing (as to reconsider) a thought that should give one pause
—a function of an electronic devices that pauses for a recording

Public Art

by Brock Rumohr

Constructed September 17–19, 2010

Returned to earth April 21, 2011

Under the direction of artist Brock Rumohr, visitors to the Festival incorporated wood lathe and natural organic materials throughout the framework all weekend long. The project was completed at the end of the festival, and left on the south lawn of the Center to decompose over time.

View photos on Flickr

Watch videos on YouTube