ILLUMINARY SPONSORS:
Senator M. Teresa
Paiva Weed
Rhode Island State Senate
LUMINARY SPONSORS:
Law Offices of
Joseph J. Nicholson
The 7th Annual Illuminated Garden was held on Saturday, February 25, 2012. Presented by Ballard Exploration Company, Inc., this year's event attracted over 850 people.
It was a typical winter week in New England -- setting up the lights in fifty degree weather then waking up to a snow covered ground on Friday morning! And, of course, Mother Nature had to throw in high winds and freezing temperatures to make things more exciting on Saturday. Despite the extreme weather this year's show was beautiful and featured more displays than ever.
Students at St. Michael's Country Day School created two exhibits. Fifth through eighth graders enrolled in the Studio Art Class taught by Leslie Fisk and Robert Kalaidjian produced "Avian Gathering", an installation of fifty illuminated translucent bird sculptures cast with plastic wrap and packaging tape which included owls, duck, geese, swans and loons. The eighth grade art class also made packing tape sculptures. Their display entitled "Chrysalis" consisted of thirty or so cast, student body form fragments fashioned from plastic wrap and packaging tape strung from tree branches in the quarry meadow. According to instructor, Robert Kalaidjian, the gossamer forms resembled illuminated cocoons and represented the students' evolution from their Pre-K past the present moving on to high school, their next developmental stage. Both of the displays paid homage to the works and processes of George Segal, Bruce Nauman and Rachel Whiteread.
Youth from the Kids Clubhouse program at the Boys & Girls Club worked with Lisa Tobin from the Newport Art Museum and Ed Pichette II to create "Alien Invasion" a beautiful UFO and archway display. The UFO was punctuated with cutouts of aliens and covered with a glittering plastic cover.
Cluny School children and their parents made replicas of notable Newport buildings and structures out of cardboard boxes. The display included Newport Harbor and the Newport Bridge, yachts, the Newport Skating Center, St. Joseph's Church, buildings that are home to The Red Parrot, Arnold Art, the Gas Lamp Grille and Starbucks.
Friends of Ballard Park's Educator, Jessica Lade, worked with kids at the Newport Community Opportunity Zone to create "Wild Things" animals made from recycled bottles, google eyes, tissue paper, pipe cleaners and other crafty items while art teacher Nicole Icart had her students at Thompson Middle School make "Power Stars".
Teens from the Synergy Youth Ministry of EFC Newport posed as live statues in the "Divine Accord" display.
We appreciate the support of our set up teams from TJ Brown Landscape, Bartlett Tree Experts and the City of Newport Public Works division who climbed trees, worked in bucket trucks and strung thousands of lights along with out staff. And, the event wouldn't be possible without power provided by Frank Dwyer at Stagecraft Sound & Lighting and Eamon Kelly, Tom Finn, Dave Martin and Mike Martin from CAT Entertainment.
We truly appreciate the team effort that makes this event such a success and especially thank the sponsors who help to cover the myriad of costs associated with this large undertaking: Ballard Exploration Company, Senator Teresa Paiva Weed, Stagecraft Sound & Lighting, CAT Entertainment Services, Bartlett Tree Experts, the Law Offices of Joseph J. Nicholson and Pour Judgment Bar & Grill and of course, all those attendees who made a donation.
We invite you to get into the act next year! Come up with an installation idea that you think would enhance the event. Remember, exhibits need to with stand the elements -- snow, cold, wind, rain. Send your ideas to us at info@ballardpark.org.
STAGECRAFT SOUND & LIGHTING: Frank Dwyer
TONER ELECTRIC:
Scott & Jeff
CITY OF NEWPORT PUBLIC SERVICES:
Scott Wheeler
Bob Oakley
Charlie Ridolf
Joey B.
Kristin Littlefield
BARTLETT TREE EXPERTS: Christopher Fletcher
Chris & Wade
TJ BROWN LANDSCAPE:
Tim Brown
Bill Boiani
Kyle Cahoon
Mark Estrella
Larry Robinson
CAT ENTERTAINMENT:
Mike Martin
Eamon Kelly
Tom Finn
Dave Martin
LIGHT DONORS:
Tom and Dottie Allen
Donna Barossa
Dale Bianco
John Broughan
Martin Curtis
Gloria DePaola
Pat Frizzell
Paul Higgins
Helen Imes
Leslie Lindeman
Russ and Beth Milham
John Panaggio
Judith Porter
Richard Sebastino
Paul Sullivan
Joanne Taddei
Anne Ventura
Leonard Whelan.
