AiOP 2011 artist Doreen Kennedy has something to cheer you up during Hurricane Irene

Do you like flowers? I have somebody who has a lot of them

As we patiently wait for the arrival of Hurricane Irene, allow me to introduce you to one of our artist for 2011 who will brighten up our day today , and during the festival. Get to know Doreen Kennedy and hopefully her work will help our East Coast friends get through this impending mess. She is definitely sending her love from Ireland.

Doreen Kennedy

AiOP: Tell us about you?
DK: I am an Irish artist based in Dublin, Ireland. I work mainly with photography to make installations, photomontages and prints.

Bookgrids 1 – 6, from Portrait of a Library, 2011, 40cm x 84cm x 6, Giclee prints
Photo provided by artist

Endless Seascape, photographic prints, 30cm x 42cm x 10, 2009
photo provided by Doreen Kennedy

One Thousand Flowers, installation, 2007
photo provided by Doreen Kennedy

AiOP: How did you hear about Art in Odd Places?
DK: I stumbled across the AiOP website. The image of 'Invasive Crochet' by Crystal Gregory caught my attention.


AiOP: Walk us through your thought process in creating your piece for Art in Odd Places.
DK: Flower Bed is a photo-based installation designed to appear in a public park environment. It is made up of aprox 600 photographic prints, placed upright in the grass to make up a ‘flower bed’ rectangular shape. The idea for the installation began with an earlier piece I did at the Electric Picnic Festival in 2007 ‘1,000 Flowers’. 1,000 flower prints were placed on to the bark surface of trees in a woodland area. While making it I began to think about the everyday action viewing of flowers / plant life in a public park over repeated visits. It's almost nostalgic. The work explores themes of the external environment, time capture and the process of recording time with the use of single or repeated images. The flower images can provide a type of evidence or findings from a location. The recreation of an artificial photo-based ‘Flower Bed’ in a public space aims to surprise the viewer and to reconsider the idea of what art in a public space can be.

"Flower Bed" Photo provided by Doreen Kennedy

AiOP: How is the preparation coming along?
DK: I'm looking at the logistics side of things at the moment, travel dates and checking out flight times....


AiOP: Where will see you along 14th street during the festival?
DK: The Flower Bed installation will be in a park space with a grassy area somewhere along 14th Street, the specific location is to be confirmed.



AiOP: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
DK: It'll be great to engage with the local community there, any feedback on the artwork is welcome.


AiOP: Where can we reach you
DK: website: www.doreenkennedy.com
twitter: @doreenk

AiOP: Any final words?
DK: This will be my first time making an art installation on location in New York, I'm really looking forward to taking part in the festival.

Thank you, Doreen. Your photographs made me feel better to brace the storm. The Art in Odd Places team will see you on October.