A sense of place between where we were, and where we’re going
Where was the idea. When Kim Dickey was first commissioned to create a piece for the Denver International Airport, a vision came to life in many pieces.
A total of 12,000 pieces, to be exact. Thousands of hand-painted terra-cotta quatrefoil pieced together to create the 15-by-15-foot piece titled Parterre. Assembled, they create an aerial view of an enormous formal landscape that subtly incorporates the language of airports and airfields.
Now, the sculpture finds a new home at Baird Center as part of the We Energies Foundation Art Collection. Just like the airport, it finds people where they are but inspires them to reflect on where they’ve been and where they’re going.
What better place for it than resting between floors as guests pass up or down the escalators and stairs, travelling between meetings and events.
“It’s that notion of betweenness,” Dickey said. “It’s an aerial perspective that allows you to be suspended over the land from a bird’s eye view, but it’s also an aspect of dreaming of the places we’re going, the places we want to visit.”
The artist’s touch ran in the family for Dickey. Her great-great cousin, Margaret Redmond, was a renowned stained-glass artist, believed to be one of the earliest women in that field, with works still on display from New Jersey to Maine. Dickey’s mother took a more amateur approach, always filling her free time with painting and drawing.
It seemed preordained that Dickey would take on an artistic pursuit. She happily received the baton and has created decades of art working in multiple media formats.
When commissioned for this piece, she chose the sculpture route. Somewhat a patchwork quilt, Parterre came together with a mosaic-like quality in 5-by-5-foot pieces. In total, the process took six months. It required a team of 12 artists who helped hand paint and assemble each quatrefoil.
“There’s always this vision of a solitary artist, but working on this scale, usually requires teams of skilled artisans and craftsmen to produce,” Dickey said. “If I, alone, was working on this, it would take years, not months.”
The original install took 12 hours with many curious onlookers inquiring about the sculpture with a dream-like landscape.
Whether in the airport or in Baird Center, Dickey said it transports its viewers the same way.
“I’ve always been interested in what I call my escape narratives,” Dickey said. “Images of a place that we can go to escape. My interest is providing a vision of a backdrop that we take for granted and putting that in the foreground of our minds rather than the background. It brings things forward that we often overlook or dismiss.”
Parterre is part of the We Energies Foundation Art Collection located at Baird Center. Kim Dickey is one of the thirty-three artists, most from Milwaukee, Wisconsin or with special ties to the area who have works featured in the collection. You can discover more about the artists and their works at https://bairdcenter.com/art-collection/.