TALKING FENCE
A Collaborative Public Arts Project by Wiley McDowell & Design 99 (Gina Reichert, Mitch Cope)
Sponsored by -- Community Arts Partnerships: DETROIT
In Native American farming there is a practice called the “three sisters”. This is a way of
farming allowed for three different kinds of plants, Corn, Squash and Pole Beans, to work
together creating a symbiotic relationship. The Corn provides a structure for the beans to
climb, the beans replaces nitrogen to the soil that the corn consumes and the squash creates
a protective ground cover fending off pests and other plants.
The Talking Fence proposes to use this type of symbiotic relationship through the use of
different materials, but also different people to guide our practice of building a public work
of art. With the assistance of hired youth we will initiate a program of story collecting and
story telling from the immediate neighborhood. We will use the site of this historic
Brightmoor House as our Corn Stalk where we can create a winding bench and fence
artwork that hold elements of the stories the youth collaborators have cultivated as well as
historical aspects of the neighborhood. The bench and fence will be created to encourage
gathering and sharing of new stories and communication within the Brightmoor community.
The Talking Fence will incorporate several details that can interact with or be added on to as
the Brightmoor community continues to change and grow, thus encouraging a sense of place
and a bright future. These will include sculpted wind chimes out of wood and metal, cast
images of tools and imagery specific to this region and specific to the stories found within
the community, and solar powered lighting to keep the sculptures bright and active
throughout the night. These elements will run along the fence, through a sculpted archway
and onto the bench where new stories can be told and heard.
The youth involved in the project with us will learn communication skills (collecting stories
from the neighborhood), casting (metal, plaster and clay), wood carving, design and build
(site planning, wood and concrete construction with the fence and bench) and renewable
energy technologies (solar, wind, low voltage wiring and LED lighting).
