Owen Brown Art Project – Community Collaboration Meeting

Our world rotates and moves in space. The seasons of our lives follow one another in succession, visiting the land and then departing. Carbon pushes into the atmosphere and is pulled back to the soil. Life cycles through. Visiting artist Owen Brown is planning a new collaborative project, “Units of Measurement,” at The Land Institute to help people better understand our relationship with these dynamic Earth systems.

Brown seeks to engage the local community in the design and installation of his project during his two-week residency in Salina, October 13-27. The public is invited to learn more about the project, share ideas with Brown, and volunteer their time.

Brown will introduce the project at a community collaboration meeting Monday, October 15 at 5:30 p.m. at The Land Institute Farm, 3537 S. Ohio. He will also be giving an artist’s talk on Monday, October 22 at 6:00 p.m. hosted by SPARK Artist Resource Exchange, 146 S. Santa Fe. The installation’s opening is scheduled for Friday, October 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Marty Bender Nature Area, located at the corner of Holmes Rd. and Brad Way, one mile north of The Land Institute. 

Brown’s project will include three collections of simple sundials, placed in three stations at The Land Institute’s Marty Bender Nature Area. Brown said that the careful arrangement and measured angling of the sundials will allow him to “paint with light, and its absence over time,” on the land. He hopes the project helps people “become more aware of where we are, who we are, and how we are, in relation to the Earth.” Read more detailed information about the project here.

Brown is a painter and director of software art projects. He has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and his works are held in collections in this country as well as abroad. His paintings can be seen at www.eyesvoice.com and www.fieldworkexodus.com. Brown currently lives in Minneapolis. This will be his first trip to Kansas.