Words from Warwick, is a project that address the social upheaval brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic by using the written word and art-making to help our community reconnect. Wickham Works commissioned eight local artists to produce word-based art in response to the pandemic. The artworks are on display in Railroad Green, Lewis Park, and Stanley Deming Park.
Artist: Karen Decher
Title: Pause
Materials: plastic produce containers and soda bottles, wire, beads, mesh, acrylic paint.

Karen Decher created Pause from hand-cut repurposed plastic waste. Each flower that makes up the words is wired with a bead, painted and attached to a mesh screen.  Decher selected the word “pause” to reflect on the many things that we have been asked to put on pause during the pandemic, including many activities we love and value. She hopes that this association will not deter us from recognizing what she calls “the amazing power of the pause.” Decher explains, “Pausing makes us better listeners and allows us time to think before responding. Pausing before reacting helps us to be better decision makers. Pausing provides the opportunity to see beauty in the ordinary.”
Karen Decher is a nurse practitioner and multimedia artist, whose work includes–– painting, costume design, prop building, and making large scale puppets. Annually she participates in puppet building for the NYC Halloween parade. She has created public art for the Warwick Summer Arts Festival, Wickham Works Treecycle, Warwick Community Center Haunted House, Orange County Pride parade, Planned Parenthood and Orange County Arts Council special events.
Artist: Nicole Hixon
Title: Illuminating Hope
Materials: repurposed material––metal, wood, hay, wood composite

When the sun illuminates this sculpture, the shadow casts the word Hope on Railroad Green. The work is arranged so that in the morning the shadow faces west, then disappears at noon making all hope seem lost, until it reappears in the afternoon facing east. The shadow fades as the moon rises and the sun and the shadow rests for a new day. Artist Nicole Hixon writes:
Sometimes Hope is hard to see,
Sometimes Hope seems to arise in the strangest of places,
Sometimes Hope is so much bigger than ourselves,
Sometimes all Hope needs is to be seen,
Sometimes Hope can change shape & direction and can even seem to vanish
Sometimes Hope can change your perspective

To create the sculpture, Hixon collected objects related to Warwick's history including a waterway culvert, hay bale, ring of an historic Warwick tree that George Washington passed, and materials from the 2019 Warwick Playground Dreams build.

Nicole Hixon works primarily in repurposed materials. She hopes to provoke the viewer to explore and assess her media and question its value in a parallel relationship to themselves. She holds a BFA from Cal State, San Bernardino and an MFA from Stony Brook University, with an emphasis in Public Art & Installation. Her exhibitions include Urban Trees 4, San Diego California 2007, Portal: Governors Island Art Fair 2019, and PAC MAC Art Festival 2014.
www.nicolehixonart.com

Artist: Heidi Lanino
Title: Seven Veils, Seven Words, Seven Feet Apart.
Materials: Lace curtains 9 x 8’, 12’ Bamboo Stalks, Acrylic paint.

With this interactive artwork, Heidi Lanino invites us to pass through seven sheer veils, each imprinted with a single word. The artwork offers us a chance to reflect on each word, possibly revealing new meanings or emotions and deepening our understanding of how we move through the world and are each part of a universal conversation.  

Heidi Lanino is a figurative abstract painter with a strong base in gestural drawing influenced by the transformative nature of movement. Her artistic practice includes drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, teaching and community installations. She is a passionate educator of the arts, who understands the importance of bringing art and the creative process to young people and the community at large. She studied drawing and painting at Pratt Institute. Lanino’s work has been exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Orange County and around the country. More info at: Heidilanino.com or on Instagram @heidilanino
Artist: Amy Lewis Sweetman
Title: DISCOVER Agrisculpture
Materials: recycled metal
Amy Lewis Sweetman created this artwork to prompt a closer examination of humankind’s relationship with nature, particularly during the pandemic crisis. It is both a sculpture and an homage to the concept of foraging, which she has been exploring through a film project called "Foraging, Firebuilding & Feasting" available for free viewing at www.agrisculpture.com/films. Lewis Sweetman began publishing the films at the beginning of the pandemic shutdown, intending to share her plant knowledge and highlight 101 wild, organic and free edible plants that can be found on Sweetman's Dairy Farm where her studio is located. DISCOVER is a vertical word totem crafted from locally-sourced recycled metal objects, inviting viewers to see familiar things in new ways - such as the plants in your own backyard.

Amy Lewis Sweetman, known as AGRISCULPTURE Amy, creates metal sculpture informed by nature and farm equipment, often incorporating abandoned agricultural machinery into her artwork. She teaches  environmental awareness workshops involving recycled materials, the creative process of adaptive reuse, and sensitivity to nature. And, she forages wild organic food, available for sale at Sweetmans Farm Stand - 33 County Route 1A.  
Artist: Linda Mensch
Title: Whispering Wishes
Materials: repurposed decorative metal fire pit, stones, flowers, clay, locally found objects, and bench. Weaving made by community members.

Linda Mensch has created a sanctuary where people can sit quietly, meditate, contemplate, and dream. She invites us to whisper our wishes or intentions into a stone and place it in the shrine.

Mensch is currently the Creative Director and teacher of the Moving Company Modern Dance Center and Front Porch Arts. She holds a BA in dance from Bard College and, as a professional choreographer, has worked with theater groups, schools, and dance companies in Warwick, New Jersey, New York City, and London. Linda is also a jewelry designer and visual artist. More info: Movcodance.com
Artist: Aurora Robson
Title: Infinite Content, 2020
Materials: Welded plastic debris

This site-specific work is a tree-embracing sculpture made from plastic debris, provided to the artist from Warwick residents. Intended for short term outdoor exhibition the piece is delicately constructed using ultrasonic and injection welding technologies. The meandering text and form offer intimate and playful engagement and speak to the excess quantity of plastic waste materials generated by humans.  To create this artwork Robson scanned debris,  “looking for phrases or bits of text that would offer us some solace.” She explains, “ I chose words that speak to our current condition in which we are all hyper aware of cleanliness, contagion, sickness, health and the potential for danger - even while isolating or quarantining.”

Aurora Robson is an intersectional environmental artist known for her meditative work intercepting the plastic waste stream. Her practice is about subjugating negativity and shifting trajectories. Robson was born in Toronto in 1972 and grew up in Hawaii. She lived and worked in New York City for more than two decades, during which time she studied art history and visual arts at Columbia University. Robson recently moved to the Hudson Valley to raise her two daughters with her husband Marshall Coles. More info: aurorarobson.com

Artist: Cody Rounds
Title: #HearMeHV
Materials: Electronic sign

Responding to the ways in which recent lockdowns and upheavals have fractured our sense of community and created an environment of unprecedented separation and discordance, Cody Rounds has created a platform for community members’ voices to connect across distance and be exhibited as one. This interactive artwork relies on the community’s contributions. Rounds asked the public to submit responses, comments, and opinions about recent global and social events, which she collected and programmed for display on this sign. During the course of the exhibition, the sign will be updated with additional community contributions. To submit, use the hashtag #HearMeHV on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter posts of 150 characters or less.

Cody Rounds is a contemporary visual artist who uses modern technological media to explore the relationship between identity and perspective. Her recent works examine the subjectivity of reality through performance, installation, and video. Rounds’ practice is heavily informed by her personal studies in philosophy, meditation, and biology. She has lived in the Hudson Valley since 2015 and enjoys exploring outdoors and foraging local plants.  Alongside her art, she teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to children and writes social-emotional children’s books and curricula for school systems.   http://codyrounds.com/

Artist: Deb Zimmerman and community youth and adult artists
Title: Mural - Postcards from Warwick
Materials: Exterior house paint

The mural Postcards from Warwick is a compilation of images painted by local adult and teen artists, reflecting their impressions of Warwick. The project was directed by local artist Deb Zimmerman who has also created the large postcard on one side of the wall.
Wickham Works is a creative reuse, community driven Maker Space welcoming all, based at Warwick Valley Community Center, 11 Hamilton Ave., Warwick, NY. We offer workshops and produce public art events. We support sustainability through creative re-purposing. Our vision for Wickham Works is to enrich our community by providing a workspace and materials exchange where new and experienced makers can learn, collaborate, offer work-shops, and spark new business opportunities.
Stay in touch with us and learn about upcoming workshops and events