Summer Pop-up: Leaves of Hope & Healing Installation

During the summer Bamboo is welcoming art pop-ups and installations that inspire hope and healing, as we re-emerge together and recover in a post-pandemic world.

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This summer we’re hosting Detroit Artist Olivia Guterson’s work at Bamboo in Downtown Detroit. Below she shares with us her inspiration and hope for others.

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Tell us about the design of the pieces you installed at Bamboo. What do you hope they inspire?

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Working in collaboration with another art mama and creative entrepreneur, Laura Earle, we created this installation as an offering of hope and healing to the community. We felt moved to create a site-specific sculptural piece that was not bound to traditional shapes of forms and that would redefine space and time in an endless, expansive and joyful way. It is our hope that our work creates a sense of wonder and peace, but also ignites a playful curiosity and a moment to be present.

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Your work often balances intricate detail and light. Tell us about the mediums you choose.

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This specific work in Bamboo really takes into consideration Bamboo, the energy of Bamboo, and how the community moves through the cafe space. It was important to create something that breathes in a way...something that picked up the movements of people and the air. That movement was foundational in thinking through elements of pattern and positive and negative space within each leaf, as well as, choosing to work with a heavyweight paper and clear fishing line. Elements of healing, hope, growth, vibrancy, energy, possibility, expansion, abundance, and balance are embedded in the patterns.

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As an artist in Detroit, what do you hope ahead for our city and community as we emerge from the pandemic?

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My hope is that we create thoughtful spaces for healing and safe, supportive ways to gather. I think art is a huge part of that. This emergence or re-entry is going to look like a lot of different things and I hope as a community we solidify ways of caring for one another and take time to really check in and hold space for each other.

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How can the Bamboo community follow your work and support you?

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Definitely check out my collaboration mural with the poet Jessica Care Moore down at the Monroe Street Midway roller rink, as well as, can check out my website www.midnightolive.com or learn about more of the work Laura and I do together at www.lumenality.com. As far as support, it's taken me a really long time to get to a place where I really love the work I am doing and the communities I am a part of. I think encouraging the creatives around you and also the young ones to express themselves is so important.