Heights Arts brightens up construction site

Fencepiration, a temporary public art project of Heights Arts, is in full bloom through the month of August. For a second summer, artists Carol Hummel and Debbie Apple Presser are transforming the utilitarian construction fence that runs along Cedar Road, at the site of the now-razed Cedar Center, into an eye-catching and unexpected landscape, using recycled materials.

The idea for Fencepiration was hatched by Peggy Spaeth, Heights Arts director, at a meeting with the Coral Company in early 2010. Spaeth suggested, “While you’re waiting to build, why don’t we do something with the fence?” The group liked the idea, and Heights Arts recruited Carol Hummel and Debbie Apple Presser, professional artists who use nontraditional materials in site-specific installations. In spring 2010, their collaborative efforts resulted in a vision for Fencepiration, and the project was launched.

Last summer, with the support of sponsors and community volunteers, Hummel and Apple Presser created the first phase of Fencepiration, installing hundreds of tree blossoms, colorful flowers and sparkly leaves made from plastic bags, milk jugs and aluminum cans on approximately 200 running feet of the construction fence. Through the winter and spring, passers-by were treated to a burst of cheerful color, as Fencepiration endured the snow, wind and rain.

Responding to positive feedback from the community, and learning that the redevelopment of the site had stalled, Heights Arts, with a nod from the Coral Company and the Great Lakes Fence Company, put the project’s wheels back in motion. Heights Arts found new and renewed support from several Cedar Center merchants, from the Dominion Foundation, and from private contributions. 

Heights Arts connected Fencepiration with youth in the Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio’s ArtWorks program – an arts-based jobs-training program for high school students and the Heights Youth Club. The students learned about Hummel’s and Apple Presser’s artistic careers and the complexities of site-specific installations. They also collected recycled materials for the project, created pieces for the fence, and assisted the artists during a day of installation.

Heights Arts provided after-school workshops at the Heights Youth Club, where students became engaged in the community-based public-art project, learned about recycling and reuse, and created many imaginative elements for the fence. Always intended to be a temporary public art project, it will be removed from the fence in early September.

Hummel, a resident of Newbury, Ohio, is best known in the Cleveland area for her “Tree Cozy” and “Knitscape” projects. She has completed large-scale, site-responsive installations in Utah, Colorado, India and, most recently, at Chicago’s Morton Arboretum.

Apple Presser, a graduate of Heights High and a longtime resident of Cleveland Heights, has created many site-specific installations, including ones at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes and at Akron’s Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens. She teaches at Hathaway Brown School and at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Heights Arts needs to raise an additional $500 by Aug. 15 to capitalize on a generous matching grant of $1,000 from the Dominion Foundation. To make a donation, call Heights Arts at 216-371-3457.