Sand Garden

Gallery 16’s window exhibition project ‘Double Strength’ is pleased to present a two-person show featuring Ari Bird and Ian Parlett-Schaefer. There will be an opening reception on Friday, June 7th, from 6 to 9pm.

Sand gardens, the precursor for playgrounds and sandboxes, were popularized in the US in the 1880s. They were essentially giant piles of sand. These spaces allowed children a safe place to free play, creatively engage, and use their hands. For this show, Ian Parlett-Schaefer and Ari Bird explore the power of maintaining an internal ‘sand garden’. Both artists, who are also art educators, are inspired by the creative energy and sense of wonder that children so naturally have.

Parlett-Schaefer depicts still life scenes rooted in connection with nature and the healing that accompanies. The trash swept up at the end of a long day-remnants of half completed doodles, scraps of paper, discarded toys-become a sort of circumstantial composition that is worth holding on to and documenting.

Bird distills symbols from her environment to create tactile and soothing self-created worlds. She seeks to elevate everyday objects/actions to become symbols of ritual, transcendence, and connection with others.