I created an outdoors recreational structure intended to spread joy, fun and play. This sculpture is meant to serve individuals of all ages and of all abilities. Additionally, it can be enjoyed with those of us that love dogs. My structure will be located adjacent to the water plane of Lindo Channel in Chico, CA. This dirty, leafy area is very special to me. I have spent many hours of my life playing with my faithful dog, Keona here—so I wanted to create a space for others to stop, hang out, play, etc.! I regularly enjoy walking and hiking here with my family because it is located close to our home. It is a wonderful outdoor environment for us to spend time together.
I grew up around flowers and plants; I have a special place in my heart for botany. I am especially inspired by the lovely colors and shape of the Californian Poppy. I want to share the beauty of this flower as a large-scale form. My structure will include features on it that can be interacted with. I have always only experienced flowers while they are blooming, so blowing one up and making it permanent felt exciting to me. The size of my structure will allow for viewing it from the air and from afar in great detail. More of my inspiration for this project came from some of my favorite sports games: basketball, tether ball and soccer. I chose to recreate these activities as an outdoor playground. Each ball is anchored to a light-weight chain that is meant to be easily connected to the iron post (stem) of the large poppy.
The petals work like a bowl for the user to throw the chained “basketball” into. Once the basketball is within the bowl of the poppy, the ball can be pulled back out with the chain it is connected to. The middle chain connection is located at the center of the post for tether ball. And the bottom most chain is connected for kicking the ball around as you would in soccer. The chains can all be detached as needed for the different components of the play structure. The materials I used for my project include a stainless-steel straw, wire, tracing paper, paint, small chains, rubber balls, modge podge and tape. The color palette; bright, light orange for the petals and a pastel, light green for the stem.