MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – This week is Art Week in Marquette. WZMQ will be checking out the different artists and events around town throughout the week. The theme for the week is ‘Home’, and to celebrate all the different artists that call Marquette home, each day highlights a different area of the city.
Todays location was the Lighthouse Park behind the Marquette Maritime Museum. This afternoon, Art Weeks Artist in Resident started work on a few extra community built installations to be put attached to the main sculpture at The Jack Deo Gallery in The Center for Arts and Culture.
Marquette artist Amber Dohrenwend has been working with kids and adults in Marquette to build the interactive cardboard sculptures. A group of 5th and 6th graders were in the park today to help build the first extra piece of the sculpture that will be added onto the full installation. Mateo Rangel was one of the fifth graders helping build the sculpture along with his brothers.
“I get to work with my friends and learn new things” Mateo says, “We get to use cardboard and scissors and staples and you can do a lot with that.” Mateo and his bothers said they were excited to spend sometime outside while making something with friends.
The title is ‘We make our city/Our city makes us‘ Dohrenwend says it’s been a literal community building event working with people to complete the installation, and that working with kids has made the project that much more special.
“They really bring the sculpture to life, they bring a lot of energy and they’re so playful,” Dohrenwend says, “Their spirit of engaging with the materials, and fueling creativity. Them being a part of it has really just added more value to the sculpture.”
With more community building sessions on the way during art week, the kids say they’re excited for everyone to see what they’ve been working on. Dohrenwend will be hosting more open community building hours through the week: Tuesday, June 20, from 9:30am-1:00pm at the Peter White Public Library, and 2:00-5:00pm at Hurley Park. Then again on Wednesday, June 21 at 12:00pm Dohrenwend will be apart of the Artist Talk at Marquette Commons with a building session to follow from 1:00-4:00pm in the Marquette Commons, then 5:00-8:00pm at Niemisto Pocket Park.
