Ridgeline: A Collaborative Art Experience by ET Projects at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation

Ridgeline: A Collaborative Art Experience by ET Projects at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation Celebrates Art and Environmental Awareness
Community members invited to participate on October 2

UPPERVILLE, VA. (Sept. 1, 2022) –  JOIN US for Ridgeline, a flash art experience, Sunday, Oct. 2, from 6 – 8 p.m. on the Rokeby Farm airstrip at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. This event brings together 500 school-aged participants and their families to create a magical community performance as drones film from above.

Ridgeline, hosted jointly by Oak Spring Garden Foundation and Piedmont Environmental Council, is ET Projects’ newest collaboration to bring community and creativity together through performance, experiential art and environmental awareness. With participants carrying LED-lit umbrellas showcasing images inspired by the endangered flora of eastern North America, the gathering becomes a dance of light, and from afar, a vibrant field of plants and flowers swelling and swaying with grace and joy against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains at sunset. Beautiful umbrella canopies, designed by renowned artist Elizabeth Turk, become “pixels” that create dynamic patterns captured overhead by drones, allowing the individual movements to be seen collectively as one.

“We are delighted to involve our local community, and especially our local schools, in this unique experience that is not only innovative and fun, but also helps raise awareness of the vital importance of environmental stewardship,” said Sir Peter Crane, president of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation.

To participate in this interactive project, registration must be completed through Eventbrite at ridgeline.eventbrite.com. After registering, participants will be sent a waiver and photography release that they must print, sign, and bring to the event as their entry ticket. Registration is available now at ridgeline.eventbrite.com.

The event will be launched with a site-specific performance by dancer Demetia Hopkins, choreographed by Lara Wilson to a commissioned piece by Dr. Dena Jennings of Imani Works. After which, live music by Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, a multi-Grammy award nominee, will invite everyone to join together. Through collaboration and involvement, Ridgeline participants become artists, dancers, choreographers, neighbors, and friends, transforming each person into the artwork itself. The event will be commemorated with prints available on ArtStar.com.

ET Projects is spearheaded by Elizabeth Turk, known primarily as a sculptor of marble, who expanded her portfolio to include public art experiences through ET Projects Foundation, a 501(c)(3). A native to Southern California, Turk is a MacArthur Fellow, an Annalee & Barnett Newman Foundation and Joan Mitchell recipient, and has been a Smithsonian Artist Resident Fellow. Her work has been represented by Hirschl and Adler, Modern in NYC for 20 years. ET Projects’ original experience, SHORELINE PROJECT, gave birth to the concept of social sculpture.

“The shared encounter brought to light humanity’s fragile relationship with nature and one another,” said Turk. “Using movement, music and technology, while surrounded by nature, we hope to inspire dialog, raise consciousness and invite individuals to transcend boundaries as a larger, creative and more optimistic community.”

The Piedmont Environmental Council is proud to bring ET Projects Foundation to the Virginia Piedmont for the organization’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. “As we celebrate 50 years of community-based conservation to protect and restore individual properties and a broader landscape from the Blue Ridge downstream to the Chesapeake Bay, Ridgeline brings us all together in a joint performance that draws attention to the beauty of the interconnections between us and the enormous benefit of our combined efforts over the years and into the future,” said PEC Board Chair Jean Perin.

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The Oak Spring Garden Foundation is an operating foundation dedicated to sharing the gifts and ideas of Rachel “Bunny” Mellon.  Its mission is to support and inspire fresh thinking and bold action on the history and future of plants, including the art and culture of plants, gardens and landscapes. Learn more at osgf.org.

ET Projects is a non-profit without walls, partnering with organizations to bring artists together to design imaginative art experiences for the public. Its work shines a light on humanity’s fragile relationship with nature by engineering events for collective creativity that inspire dialog, raise consciousness and invite individuals to transcend boundaries as a global community. Learn more at etprojects.foundation.

Since 1972, The Piedmont Environmental Council has proudly promoted and protected the natural resources, rural economy, history and beauty of the Virginia Piedmont. PEC empowers residents to protect what makes the Piedmont a wonderful place, and works with citizens to conserve land, improve air and water quality and build thriving communities. PEC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and accredited land trust. Learn more at pecva.org