by Victoria Stavish
Parking lots on the University of Maryland campus were transformed into art exhibits on April 12 as part of the Art Park initiative from the UMD Department of Transportation Services.
DOTS Art Park allows university community members to submit proposals for art exhibitions that, if accepted, are displayed in empty parking spaces around the university campus.
The idea for a DOTS Art Park exhibit was inspired by the annual Park(ing) Day celebration, which aims to re-imagine the urban landscape in creative ways. This year, seven university community members and organizations applied for exhibits. All seven applicants were accepted.
Tanvi Gadhia, a sustainability outreach coordinator at UMD who worked on the “Cultivating a Sustainable UMD” project with the Office of Sustainability and the Green Terp program, said that the idea behind the DOTS Art Park resonates with the values of the Office of Sustainability and Green Terp program.
“We’ve always loved Park(ing) Day, and the movement to reclaim public spaces for the well being of people and nature and supporting the shift towards a less automobile-dependent society,” said Gadhia.
The project used upcycled materials to bring attention to multiple aspects of sustainability. The piece, which was put together by about 10 people from the sustainability office and Department of Resident Life, includes a bird bath, a wooden planter with seasonal vegetables and herbs, a bike, a wooden bench and solar powered LED lights.
“We wanted to encourage and inspire people to upcycle and re-imagine their own outdoor spaces, whether it’s an apartment balcony, small backyard or parking pad [in] their own home, and how they might redesign the space and give new life to discarded materials. Even in a small space we can grow food and create an inviting outdoor space for people, plants, and wildlife,” Gadhia said.
“We wanted to create a physical representation of our Green Terp sustainability action areas: transportation, food, water, waste, energy and action,” said Paige Hawksworth, a senior American History major and intern for the Office of Sustainability.
Daniel Merkowitz-Bustos, a senior studio art and computer science major, created a sculpture made of bike wheels titled “Cyclical”.
“I wanted to create a piece that was both sustainable and exhibited UMD pride, so I went with a sculpture that included recycled materials painted in UMD colors. Additionally, I chose to use bike wheels for the connection with the department of transportation.” Merkowitz-Bustos said.
Merkowitz-Bustos says his favorite part of this project was designing and creating all of the components of the sculpture to be put together and taken apart with ease. This aspect made it easier to move his sculpture to and from the parking space where it is located.
Merkowitz-Bustos is just one of seven University of Maryland students who contributed to this year’s DOTS Art Park. Undergraduate students including sophomore film studies and journalism major Ami Oberg and freshman pre-nursing student Amanda Nwokoro have pieces on display. Other UMD departments such as the Residence Hall Association, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and theInformation and Education Technology team also participated.
The art exhibits are on display in various parking lots around the UMD campus through May 11, and DOTS has created a story map to promote the pieces.
Merkowitz-Bustos said he hopes that, “people see that art can be made using sustainable and recycled materials, inspiring them to make their own creations from old items they may have lying around.”
Different art structures in Dots Art Park. Photos by Victoria Stavish.