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‘GROUND COVER’ ART PROJECT TO BE INSTALLED, DEDICATED DEC. 6-7
“Ground Cover,” a public art project by Arizona artist Ann Morton (pictured right) will be installed Friday, Dec. 6, and dedicated at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at a vacant lot at First and McKinley streets in downtown Phoenix.
The project temporarily will beautify a vacant lot in downtown Phoenix and provide 300 handmade blankets for homeless individuals. Mayor Greg Stanton and District 7 Councilman Michael Nowakowski will speak at the Saturday morning dedication.
The project will be located and displayed for two days. Created by Phoenix artist Ann Morton with the help of blanket makers – affectionately called “blanketeers” – from 22 states and two Canadian provinces, the 300 finished blankets will be assembled into a 116-foot-by-50-foot “ground cover” featuring a colossal image of lush desert blooms. Each of the smaller blankets measures 40 inches by 70 inches. They are made with up to 28 squares, each 10 inches by 10 inches, which serve as “pixels” of the overall image (see the rendering below).
Crews of volunteers will work with Morton to assemble the monumental blanket at the vacant lot on Dec. 6. The blanket will remain on view until 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7. After the two-day installation, the large blanket will be disassembled into smaller ones and given to agencies that serve homeless people in the city.
Click to enlarge
The “Ground Cover” public art project was commissioned by the city of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture Public Art Program. It is supported in part by an “Our Town” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of “Cultural Connections” series of temporary artworks sponsored by the city of Phoenix, the ASU Art Museum and Roosevelt Row CDC. The project is also a part of Mayor Stanton’s PHXRenews initiative to activate vacant lots and spaces in Phoenix in conjunction with Keep Phoenix Beautiful.
To learn more, visit groundcoveraz.com and phoenix.gov/ARTS.
Images provided by City of Phoenix
