TECHNICOLOR GARDEN: Installation by Allyson Lipkin

AUGUST 14, 2016 - SEPTEMBER 14, 2016OPENING RECEPTION:AUGUST 14, 20167:30 PMLE PETIT VERSAILLES COMMUNITY GARDEN346 E. Houston St. / 247 E. 2nd St.RAIN OR SHINEWhat is the Technicolor Garden?The Technicolor Garden is a multi-colored glass installation consisting of fused, colored glass pieces hanging and connected by wires in a quilt-like fashion. Spaces for the sunlight to shine through as well as attention to the rising and setting of the sun. The piece is 4’ x 8’ and hangs under the beautiful pergola filling the garden with fused glass.What Inspired the installation?The Technicolor Garden was inspired by the garden tour my band and I took during the Honk! NYC street band festival in Manhattan last September. (www.honknyc.com) I was struck by the passion for these community gardens, and the struggle to keep them thriving and out of corporate hands. It moved me deeply. We toured about 10+ gardens. I saw the solace and quiet that could be brought to the neighborhood, as well as the vibrancy and color.  I came back to Austin, TX with a more activist political approach and appreciation for the land space, green, and vibrant culture and artistic community that is constantly threatened here.The glass sculpture is essentially a visual tool that illuminates the garden in order to attract visitors and foot traffic. The goal is that people appreciate the garden space, gain awareness about it’s mission and participate in it. I believe that urban green spaces calm the soul on a cellular level. I also believe that standing under the colored glass for any amount of time gives a calm healing energy. If you’re wondering if that’s true, please go to any old church and sit in amazement of it’s vibrant painted stained glass windows.Artist and musician Allyson Lipkin has been working in the creative sector in Austin, TX and abroad since 1995 after she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BFA in Studio Art. After studying artes plasticas in Guanajuato, Mexico, She started making glass lamps with her business Freedom in Glass showing in galleries all over the US including Austin, New York, New Orleans, Houston, and Atlanta. Some of her collectors include Lenny Kravitz, George Strait, and Kurt Kirkwood. She has been called a Renaissance woman because she views each new creative opportunity as an exciting adventure, regardless of the medium. At the heart of this adventure is a desire to learn, accept, communicate, and visualize. Her goals are to work with the community to educate, entertain, enliven, and communicate her original, activist artistic vision. Her favorite mediums are Site Specific Sculpture, Installation, Painting, Collage, Printmaking and composting and creating music. She has received 2 Cultural Contracts grants from the City of Austin to produce new works that combine visual art and music, a grant to produce a glass sculpture in Manhattan from Allied Productions, and is a finalist for a residency in India in 2017 to work with young creatives to expand their creative capacities.As a musician She tours with her band DD Dagger and plays baritone saxophone for the Austin, Texas community street band Minor Mishap Marching Band.Please contact allyson lipkin for more information:allysonlipkin.com