Glass Roots

North Philly artists find a new message in the bottle tree.

by Shaun Brady

sculpture

PRECIOUS LOVE: Martina Johnson-Allen's creation pays tribute to soul singer and Marvin Gaye duet partner Tammi Terrell. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Given the ever-increasing statistics that mar the front pages of the our newspapers every day, it would be understandable if the bottle trees sprouting up in North Philly were planted to ward off evil spirits. Although that was once the function of these trees adorned with bottles and other light-reflecting objects — a tradition that came to the States from Africa and spread through the post-slavery South — the purpose of a new exhibit in North Philly's Baobab Park is just the opposite: celebratory, not defensive.

"We are taking a great deal of liberty in saying that we're not warding off evil spirits," insists Kumani Gantt, executive director of the Village of Arts and Humanities, which has commissioned the exhibition. "Actually, we're evoking and honoring people who are from North Philadelphia through the various objects that we're placing onto these sculptures."

The exhibit, "Evoking Spirit, Embracing Memory," which opens this weekend, pays tribute to a dozen North Philadelphians who have contributed to the history or culture of the neighborhood, with 12 bottle tree-inspired sculptures to be installed in the park.

"If you know what a bottle tree is," says Baltimore artist Joyce Scott, the exhibit's lead curator, "you should suspend your disbelief about that, because we've allowed artists free rein to use the bottle tree as a title, but not to be locked in to the tradition."

Those interpretations include Martina Johnson-Allen's branching pipe shapes adorned with colorful folk art-inspired designs, in tribute to soul singer and Marvin Gaye duet partner Tammi Terrell; or Gretchen Shannon's mobile-like wheel perched atop a totemic base, in honor of singer Brenda Payton. In addition, artists from found-object sculptor Mr. Imagination to Barbara Bullock to Leroy Johnson pay tribute to famous residents from various walks of life, including activist lawyer and ex-NAACP President Cecil B. Moore; Quaker minister and abolitionist Lucretia Mott; and mosaic artist James "Big Man" Maxton.

The honorees were chosen by a neighborhood advisory group, the only caveat being that the honorees be deceased and important to North Philly. Two factors dominated the conversations between the Village, curators and local residents, says Gantt. "One, that the conversation around this neighborhood in the media tends to be extremely negative. Secondly, people talked about how many icons of the neighborhood have passed away recently, so there was the strong feeling that they needed to be honored in some way. These were people who had done amazing things by turning their own lives around and being supportive of people who live here."

The Village, founded in 1986, has long championed the beautification of neighborhoods by way of public art, so the bottle tree exhibit fit perfectly, according to Scott. A resident of a "challenged neighborhood" in Baltimore herself, Scott has been impressed that the parks transformed by the Village have remained relatively untouched by what she terms "viewer intervention" — basically, vandalism. "I'm always mesmerized by how it takes so little to brighten an area, and how we do everything we can not to make life better for ourselves."

Scott hopes the exhibit attracts an audience from throughout the city, for different reasons. "The viewers should be the people who walk by it and see it every day from their window," she says. "But we'd like everybody in Philly to come, because it talks about heroes and sheroes who helped develop a strong path for Philadelphia. And I just hope people who love art will come, because there are 13 artists who do stellar work. This will be an enchanting thing for people to see, and they'll be able to walk around it and be a part of it, and that of course is different from being in a museum unless you want bells to go off and guards to drag you out screaming."

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

Opening reception Sat., Sept. 15, 12:30-4 p.m.; performance by Ysaye M. Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock, 6 p.m.; exhibit runs through Oct. 22, Baobab Park, 11th and York streets, www.villagearts.org.