The Kreeger Museum
Washington, DC, 2011
Maybe because of my broken roots, melancholy, in all its aspects, has long been intertwined with my life, hence, with my artistic work.
When selected to create a site-specific sculpture on the grounds of The Kreeger Museum, I was immediately drawn to the tennis court. Surrounded by five and one-half acres and an exquisite building, designed by architect Philip Johnson, the tennis court exemplified the Kreegers' former lifestyle until the Museum opened in 1994. Throughout the years of non-use, the floor cracked, the poles for the net rusted, and the metal fence was slowly covered with roots and vines of Ivy, Wisteria and Honey Suckle. The gardeners over time tried to get rid of those weeds but to no avail - they grew integrally into the fence and could not be separated. This situation offered me the opportunity to take advantage of the "broken roots" before the tennis court is destined for demolition.
My intension is to give importance, with my installation, to these remnants of roots and vines that could not be removed, by painting them bright red and adding some painted steel "roots" sculptures. I concentrated my attention on what there was and is no longer there - "When Nature Takes Over."
Chelsea Beroza, "When Nature Takes Over", National Museum of Women in the Arts, March 15 2012
Katlin Chadwick, "When Sculptures takes Over Kreeger Museum", Pink Line Project, October 3 2011
Kriston Capps, "Nature Trumps Tennis at Kreeger Museum". Washington City Paper, November 8 2011