Worcester Artist Takes Talent to Atlanta

Monday, May 28, 2012

Ashley Klann, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

A digital rendering of the hubcaps displayed in Elm Park.

One Worcester artist is on the move to bring her work to the largest public art exhibition in Atlanta. Susan Champeny will bring her colorful recycled material sculpture “Reincarnation” to the Atlanta Beltline, an outdoor exhibit that showcases the work of hundreds of artists along hiking trails.

Champeny has been involved in many Worcester arts projects including StART on the Street, Art in the Park and a downtown sculpture, the Wayfinder. Now Champeny will be fulfilling her hopes to spread her reach to other cities.

“My goal is to expand my venues beyond the local Worcester area. I love to travel and create art on location,” she said. “Since Art in the Park is not happening in Elm Park this year, it was the perfect opportunity for me to apply to sculpture installation projects.”

Champeny’s work to be displayed in Atlanta is comprised of over 150 giant orange and hot pink lily pads made of repurposed hubcaps that will float in the water in starburst, flower petal patters.

“The installation is made of hubcaps collected from around Worcester that have been spray painted, made buoyant and will be anchored and arranged,” said Champeny’s studio assistant, Gwen Walsh. Walsh has been working for the artist for almost four years and helped with the proposal. “We will be using pipe connected in a cross and tied nylon rope to cement it to the bottom. We tried out different arrangements on the lawn before deciding on the final pattern.”

The exhibit will be on display from August to November.

“It’s going to be exciting to see her work in a different climate. It’ll be a different working environment,” Walsh said. “One of her big goals has been to expand her repertoire and get out, and that’ll be a good way to get that done.”

“I am not abandoning Worcester, as creating art here in my neighborhood is my first priority, but my commute may be a lot longer for a while,” Champeny said. The artists and her team of assistants have been busy on future plans.

“We’re doing an application for residents in the Distillery in South Boston, as well as a proposal to the Long Island Railroad which is a rolling project to put original pieces in the station. We also submitted to Kala Arts Institute and the Market Creek Art Project in San Diego. Over the last month we must have sent out 8-10 applications,” Walsh said.

The Winning Qualities

The Atlanta BeltLine encourages recycling and repurposing in the art they accept as they exhibit art on repurposed land. In the space above Champeny’s planned exhibit will be a train trestle bridge, now used for hiking.

“There are some thematic qualities that will be reinforced. What she is doing with her art is in line with our project,” said Elan Buchen, Project Coordinator for Art and Design at Atlanta BeltLine. “There’s high artistic merit. There’s a formal beauty she brought to the work. Formally, it’s quite strong. There’s something about the simplicity that gets people interested in it. We don’t get many that go in the water.” The organization judges the work based on four criteria and gather local artists, community members, and city officials to pick which proposals are accepted.

“We score on four criteria: concept, which includes originality, not only for them but for the project; artistic merit; community engagement, which is the degree that the artist is engaging the community in creation or exhibition of the work; and last is feasibility – does the artists have the background to do it and knowledge of the materials?” Buchen said.

The Atlanta BeltLine began as a way to pull people into the repurposed 22 mile space that started in 2010.

“To get people to adopt this space as a public right of way, we came up with the idea of art and temporary exhibitions to pull people into the corridor and use these spaces,” Buchen said. The space remains the largest outdoor exhibit in Atlanta and has seen the work of hundreds of artists.