"What if ...
...We were all just a little kinder?
...everyone smiled and said Hi! :) to anyone they see?
...We lead our lives with love & gratitude?
...We had an articulate President?
These are the first What Ifs ... that were written in just the first hour of the installation. So awesome! I told Sarah my definition of success was if just one person wrote on the pillar. :) And to top it off, one little girl in a white dress walked over to draw a happy face.
I was just over at the park 10 min ago with my dogs and the entire pillar is now filled! I will go take a screen shot -- or some kind person can email the words to me -- before they get erased. It's a wonderful collection of voices that silently capture and energetically contribute to the overall mood at the park today, with the brilliant colors blooming (check out the pink tree to the west) and sweet smells of crabapple trees in the air.
So Sarah and her dad, Joe, spent the entire morning yesterday installing What If ... and it took quite a bit of ingenuity but in the end, with the right tools in hand, they did it with ease and expertise. The City land of POG had already taken out the picnic bench so that helped a lot! Sarah's truck bed was full of a huge pile of sand to weigh the pieces down, but they didn't need it; the long concrete bolts sufficed. She donated the sand to Ryan Elementary.
I could see it right from the parking lot -- the big blue heron overlooking the park.
Sarah told me that as they had earlier dragged the pieces of What If ... across the lawn toward the boathouse site, passers-by were remarking how cool it is. And that they love Lafayette for its unique and amazing public art.
As we sat down to enjoy the piece, a couple walked by.
"Is this a new one?" the woman asked smiling?
Sarah pointed out all the many critters in the paintings -- a bull snake slithers around the base toward the seat that is covered in red-eared painted turtles, there are butterflies landing on the hop scotch board, along with ladybugs, frogs, all kinds of fish you can find in Waneka Lake and of course the fox, squirrel and my favorite -- one fabulously happy catfish.
Sarah pointed out how tickled she was to create her vision of What If ... as a hopscotch to the sky. We quickly got comments online:
"I love all the art in our town. This one fills my heart with hope." Jane Sprague
"...this is wonderful. I would love to duplicate it in Lousiville!" Diane Lindahl
"I ran across this yesterday. It Rocks!! Keeping chalk there may be an issue." Sara Rockinger
Any way gotta run over there now to take photos and get these down!