Frogtown Park and Farm
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The Artist: Gita Ghei Art Title: Mariposa (2015) Song to Listen to: Iron Butterfly In-a-gadda-da-vida https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIVe-rZBcm4 |
When you walk into Frogtown farm you’ll likely pass through an archway by Gita Ghei. As she designed each entrance, she kept in mind the history of the land she was on. From 1863-1967, the “Home for Wayward Girls” stood where the farm is now. At each entrance, Ghei incorporated imagery from the girls that lived there.
This entrance, coming from Milton and standing at the human sundial, is titled Mariposa. Two iron wings frame the sidewalk as you enter. “It has kind of a curtain, as a walkthrough,” says Ghei. “I was thinking of an old fancy house where you walk into the big drawing room and there’s the curtains on each side.” Below the sculpture Ghei planted hops plants, to climb up the strings and create a living curtain. “They are just now starting to grow,” she says. “Hopefully this year we’ll get some real hops — if anyone’s making beer, they can grab a few!”
The image of the butterfly also evokes the idea of transformation — transformation of the space, repurposed by the community, and of the people who have lived here.
Between the hops roots and the butterfly wings are a variety of fantastical garden flowers. “I placed the flowers at the level of really little kids so they might be able to peer into them,” says Ghei. “There are pumpkins and sunflower seeds. One of them is a giant marigold pod!” You can also see lichen, an algae that live symbiotically with plants, at the height of small children, symbolizing the interdependent bond between people and plants.
At the top of the sculpture you’ll find the butterfly’s antennae and bike wheels, reminding us all of the ways we can live in symbiosis with the earth.
As you walk through the farm, you may notice that the archway at the playground entrance is incomplete — this summer, Ghei plans on hosting workshops with youth from the community to finish the final archway collaboratively.
Gita is a multiethnic metal sculptor specializing in public art and teaching. She is self-taught, with a degree in ancient studies and archaeology; she learned her trade of lost wax casting in an an art foundry. Gita celebrates strength in diversity in people and nature, and she utilizes solar electric and passive light stencils. Her art inspires responsibility for public space and reverence for life creative and sustaining forces. She maintains a studio mentorship program (and hopefully a future teen operated gallery!) for teens to learn metal casting and to collaborate on community art projects.
https://www.stareyeart.com/
This entrance, coming from Milton and standing at the human sundial, is titled Mariposa. Two iron wings frame the sidewalk as you enter. “It has kind of a curtain, as a walkthrough,” says Ghei. “I was thinking of an old fancy house where you walk into the big drawing room and there’s the curtains on each side.” Below the sculpture Ghei planted hops plants, to climb up the strings and create a living curtain. “They are just now starting to grow,” she says. “Hopefully this year we’ll get some real hops — if anyone’s making beer, they can grab a few!”
The image of the butterfly also evokes the idea of transformation — transformation of the space, repurposed by the community, and of the people who have lived here.
Between the hops roots and the butterfly wings are a variety of fantastical garden flowers. “I placed the flowers at the level of really little kids so they might be able to peer into them,” says Ghei. “There are pumpkins and sunflower seeds. One of them is a giant marigold pod!” You can also see lichen, an algae that live symbiotically with plants, at the height of small children, symbolizing the interdependent bond between people and plants.
At the top of the sculpture you’ll find the butterfly’s antennae and bike wheels, reminding us all of the ways we can live in symbiosis with the earth.
As you walk through the farm, you may notice that the archway at the playground entrance is incomplete — this summer, Ghei plans on hosting workshops with youth from the community to finish the final archway collaboratively.
Gita is a multiethnic metal sculptor specializing in public art and teaching. She is self-taught, with a degree in ancient studies and archaeology; she learned her trade of lost wax casting in an an art foundry. Gita celebrates strength in diversity in people and nature, and she utilizes solar electric and passive light stencils. Her art inspires responsibility for public space and reverence for life creative and sustaining forces. She maintains a studio mentorship program (and hopefully a future teen operated gallery!) for teens to learn metal casting and to collaborate on community art projects.
https://www.stareyeart.com/