Persephone/Art Gardens Project
Stephanie Flom (2003)
The Persephone Art Gardens Project connected the public to art and to the environment by promoting gardening as a contemporary art medium and by recognizing gardeners as artists. Project Founder and Director Stephanie Flom ultimate goal was to establish the Art Gardens of Pittsburgh–a first-of-its-kind, large-scale outdoor installation gallery where the medium of the art is growing plants.
Phase One of the ArtGardens was developed at Frank Curto Park, a green space owned by the City of Pittsburgh along Bigelow Boulevard. Magic Penny Gardens were the community component of the project. They are gardens created by artists using plants contributed from the perennial gardens of neighborhood residents. Gardeners also responded to a “Call for Gardens” issued earlier, by sharing snap shots and comments about their gardens.
The project takes its name from the Greek goddess Persephone whose return each year from the underworld brings the change of a dark barren world to that of light and growth – to spring.
The Persephone Art Gardens Project was supported by American Water, the Grable Foundation, and the McCune Foundation.
SFCI Archive: Persephone Project on Q (2003) from STUDIO for Creative Inquiry on Vimeo.
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