Take to the sky: 'Flora in Flight' brings aerial art to New England Botanic Garden

Art merges with nature in "Flora in Flight," a brand new large outdoor aerial art installation at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill in Boylston.

Patrick Shearn, founder and creative director of Poetic Kinetics based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has created three works of large-scale colorful kinetic art that are suspended overhead in three different parts of the Garden to create an immersive experience. You not only can feel the wind, you can see it, too, Shearn said. "Flora in Flight" runs from June 22 through Oct. 31.

"What I find is they're very calming and meditative," Shearn said of his outdoor aerial art works during a recent Zoom interview before he was due to come out to New England Botanic Garden to set up "Flora in Flight."

"You feel the wind blowing on your skin but you see it in a bigger scale ... You become aware of the larger motions and it grounds you and connects you to nature in a different way," he said.

"You meet other people as well, and I think there's connectivity that I find really inspirational ... And it functions as a way to further explore the Garden in a way you might not have otherwise."

From all around the world to Tower Hill

"Flora in Flight," created for New England Botanic Garden, is the latest open air exhibit in Poetic Kinetics’ Skynet Art Series, a series of site-specific aerial installations that have exhibited in the United States and around the world. Poetic Kinetics exhibited at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in the summer of 2021.

"When visitors encounter my work, they step into a realm where art merges with nature, responding dynamically to the environment. As they walk through installations like 'Flora in Flight,' they will see vast, fluid canvases of color, constantly in motion, dancing with the wind,” Shearn said.

New England Botanic Garden calls "Flora in Flight" "unlike anything that’s come to the Garden before."

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring the unique work of Patrick Shearn and Poetic Kinetics to the Garden,” Lea Morgan, exhibitions manager for New England Botanic Garden, said in an announcement about "Flora in Flight."

A 'beautiful, immense project'

Each summer, the Garden hosts outdoor sculpture installations, and "Flora in Flight" will be one of its largest and most spectacular to date. It spans 3,317 total square feet with 53,932 feet of colorful flowing fabric, and 4,929 linear feet of rope. “It’s been a joy to see this beautiful, immense project come to life and to collaborate with such a talented and thoughtful group of artists,” Morgan said.

Shearn grew up in Colorado Springs and has said he was raised by hippie college teachers. His artistic background is in animatronics and visual effects and he had an early career in the film industry working on movies including "Jurassic Park” and "Interview with the Vampire." He has also created art at the annual Burning Man event in Nevada. He said his 100-foot tall kinetic flower for Burning Man in 2005 led to an invitation to write, direct and build an oversized marionette show, "Warrior and the Girl," to take place during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"To do that I started a company ... That was the beginning of Poetic Kinetics."

Shearn and Poetic Kinetics have become renowned for captivating, large-scale public art installations that transform urban spaces and engage audiences around the globe. "I kept getting calls to do this art work," he said.

Asked if he misses film, Shearn said "actually building these crazy installations is really satisfying."

'Dramatic, colorful and engaging'

The Skynet Art Series began in 2016 inspired by wanting to create a sense of nature moving around us. The pieces "are very dramatic, colorful and engaging. With a little bit of a breeze they're meditative and clam. With a stronger wind they're very dramatic and dynamic and ever-changing, so really an opportunity to come and see art on a scale that calls for a garden and a big open space," he said.

"We've sort of engaged the public garden community because it's a perfect fit," Shearn said. The installations attract both people "who are already familiar with the garden and also bring in new visitors."

Shearn strongly believes in the ecological and educational missions of botanic gardens. “These spaces are biodiversity sanctuaries and provide a unique canvas that enhances the dialogue between my work and the living landscape. They are places where art shouldn’t compete with nature but complement it, allowing a harmonious interaction that is both grounding and inspiring," he said. "If my art can bring a greater and more diverse audience into the Garden, I see this as a positive influence."

The artworks are constructed from bright lightweight fabric strips attached to netting rigging to create an illusion of of artwork floating independently from an anchor point, Shearn said.

'Treasure hunt'

At New England Botanic Garden the three locations for "Flora in Flight" include a grassy grove area, a "long beautiful walkway" enclosed with trees that ends with a fountain, and an archway leading to larger trees. The height will range from the artworks almost meeting the water at the fountain to about 40 feet overhead and more when the wind lifts them higher, Shearn said.

"We collaborated very closely with the Garden on the places they want people to discover. It's a little bit of a treasure hunt, little bit of wayfinding and once you're there an opportunity to immerse yourself into the artwork."

Shearn said staff at New England Botanic Garden have "just been a a really fun and wonderful group to work with."

The staff communicated information about color palettes found in the garden beds, the visual effects of the trees in certain garden spaces, and other elements of garden design that all informed Shearn’s creative process.

He had yet to actually visit the Garden in person. "We've done everything remotely," he said.

But that was about to change. He estimated it would take about two to three days to install "Flora in Flight" and said he would be working with professional arborists.

"We'll be very careful not to do any damage or leave any traces of damage," Shearn said.

"Flora in Flight" can be seen seven days a week at New England Botanic Garden and is included in the cost of general admission. The Garden is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; Wednesday summer evenings are 5 to 9 p.m. starting July 3, 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 7 to Sept 4; Thursday summer evenings are 5 to 9 p.m. to July 26, 5 to 8 p.m. August. Weekday admission: $20; seniors, $17; child (4-12) $10; NEBG members, child 3 and under, free. Weekend admission: $21; seniors, $18; child (4-12) $11; NEBG members, child 3 and under, free. For more information, visit nebg.org.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Art and nature merge in Flora in Flight at New England Botanic Garden